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.
Top 8
CodGod
Gerrard's Mom
Jau
Maokun
Phyrexian Editor
Timothy, Mimeslayer
Twilight Kiwi
TwilightSpark
The Narrative
You watch, more than a little disturbed, as more and more of the other competitors dissolve into raw data, then blow away like pillars of salt in a strong wind. There are now only eight of you remaining, and you know you have survived into the fourth round. Instinctively, you begin to walk towards another competitor, mentally preparing for a head-to-head match.
You expect this challenge to take quite a bit of cunning, and you prepare your bag of new tricks to do some damage. Just before you reach striking distance, a mirror pops up halfway between you and your adversary. You can see your reflection from here, but it looks... distorted in some way. A moment later, you find yourself cursing the name of Lewis Carroll as your reflection steps out of the mirror and advances at you.
The Challenge
Design a Mythic Rare Legendary Creature that is your polar opposite. Using the two or three colors you did not initially choose (if your sign up card is :symw::symu:, this card must be :symb::symr::symg:), create a "negative" of yourself, embodying not only those color philosophies, but also styles of play you despise.
The card should have two abilities (activated, triggered, and/or static) that prominently display mechanics or aspects of MtG which you would rather not see ever printed - or loathe when you do see them.
Critiques
You will have three days after the end of the submission period to post Top 3 and/or Critiques for the other seven contestants. The four highest scoring submissions will advance.
Round 4 ends at 23:59 Eastern on 28 July 2011. Top 3/Crits will be due by 23:59 Eastern on 31 July 2011.
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.
Phyrexian Editor2BRG
Legendary Creature - Horror Spellshaper {MR}
Whenever a creature enters the battlefield under an opponent's control, you may pay 1BR and discard a card. If you do, that player discards two cards at random.
Whenever a creature enters the battlefield under your control, you may pay 1RG and discard a card. If you do, destroy target land.
4/3 He makes his corrections with a red pen and a gore-stained sword.
Things I don't like that this card epitomizes: Discarding cards as a cost. Being forced to discard cards at random. Repeatable land destruction (!!!!!). Keeping track of "when a creature enters the battlefield you may" triggers. Guys that R&D gives uneven P/T so that they die to Lightning Bolt.
Everyone has style of play/deckbuilding they enjoy, as well as styles they can't stand playing or facing. A number of people on this site tend to complain about Mill. Personally, it's one of my favorite deck styles. The dark reflection can also enable/enhance what irks you without having a "direct" ability.
Some examples:
Aggro has Urabrask
Control has Teferi, Circu, Augustin, etc.
Mill has Laquatus
Discard has Gwen Di Corci
Combo has Johnny
If you don't have a particular style you despise, then make it as strong of a polar opposite to your card as you can.
EDIT: Talk about timing. From today's Making Magic:
Quote from Mark Rosewater »
Magic is many games to many different players. No Magic designer is going to be all types of players, so it's very important that you understand what type of player you are so that you can recognize your own prejudices. I'm a Johnny. I love wacky cards that let me do things that no one else has thought of. But if every card I made was a Johnny card, I would drive a lot of people out of the game.
One of the hardest thing new designers have to learn is how to create cards they wouldn't enjoy. They have to get into other players' mindsets and learn how to make them happy. It's easy to make a card you care about. It's much harder to make one you're indifferent to. To become a good designer you have to embrace the challenge of creating things others will enjoy.
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
Kiwi, the Closed Circle3BG
Legendary Creature - Human Wizard (M)
Whenever a creature an opponent controls is dealt combat damage, its controller sacrifices it.
The first time a card goes to a graveyard from anywhere each turn, you may put that card on top of its controller's library instead.
2/2
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
Business PlansU Instant {R}
Counter target green spell. Draw a card for each spell countered this turn. Nature must make way for progress.
Round 4: Face Yourself
The Challenge
Design a Mythic Rare Legendary Creature that is your polar opposite. Using the two or three colors you did not initially choose (if your sign up card is , this card must be ), create a "negative" of yourself, embodying not only those color philosophies, but also styles of play you despise.
The card should have two abilities (activated, triggered, and/or static) that prominently display mechanics or aspects of MtG which you would rather not see ever printed - or loathe when you do see them.
The Submission
Larc, the Static World4WBG Legendary Creature - Spirit Wizard {MR}
Non-black creatures can not attack unless they are enchanted.
Enchantment spells cost 1 more to cast for each creature in your graveyard. Only those who possess the gift may walk before me.
5/5
The Notes Obvious Differences:
The name is a misspelling. (Carl -> Larc).
My colors were UR and the colors of my opposite are WBG.
My guy makes spells cost less while this guy makes them cost more.
My guy is a 1/1 and this guy is a 5/5.
Things I hate:
1. Stuff that slows the game down.
2. Makes the game non-interactive.
3. Fatties without protection/evasion.
4. Cards that are casual only.
Why this card is what I hate?
1. This slows the game down by making combat nearly non-existent. Only allows black creature to attack.
2. Little to no combat makes it pretty non-interactive. Heaven forbid the opponent is playing an enchantment deck.
3. This guy is super easy to kill.
4. Pretty much a casual only card. The cost and lack of protection make it very prohibitive in competitive play.
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.
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.
Man, this is going to be interesting. I really have a lot of trouble thinking of much in the way of strategies I don't like, it's much more certain attitudes some people have which make me not enjoy playing than what their deck does.
Ouch, barely edged out. Oh well. Good luck to all you guys! (Rootin' for you, CodGod! :thumbsup:)
Thanks! This is my first time in the CCL, so I'm happy to have made it this far (that was really close), but I'll be doing my best to win, and more importantly, have fun.
Nemesis: SalmonDeity3BBG
Legendary Creature - Human Reflection
When SalmonDeity enters the battlefield, you may search target opponent's library for a number of nonland cards less than or equal to the total power of creatures you control and exile those cards. If you do, that player shuffles his or her library.
Spells with the same name as cards exiled by SalmonDeity cost an additional "Sacrifice a creature" to cast.
2/2 "Feel the might that opposes you... Let the fear of it drive you from sanity" - SalmonDeity
I don't tend to dislike strategies in general, as I think pretty much everything's fine in moderation. Counterspells, mill, discard, land destruction are all fine by me, provided you put that deck away for the next game and do something different. But I do have a certain dislike for having the ability to have ever tried to play my spells taken from me - I have a tendancy to make decks around one or two cards I think are cool (I have a Spellbound Dragon deck, for example, based pretty much entirely around Spellbound Dragons). I don't mind that someone's probably going to remove or counter my stuff if it looks like a threat, but pulling all of them out of the deck before I see them removes a lot of the fun.
I couldn't really decide whether it was worse to simply remove all copies of a thing or remove one and then stop others from being played, so to increase the versatility of the card, it can play both games - if you remove only one of each card, you prevent a lot more spells being cast, but lose that when he dies. If you take all copies of something you're not blocking further copies, but they won't have any even after he dies.
This card prevents other people from drawing the cards they want, or being able to even try to get them out. It picks on one opponent in a big way, where I prefer my nastiness to be able to be more evenly distributed, as I play multiplayer and prefer not to have one guy get all the pain and then sit there uselessly while the rest of the game finishes. The card punishes running random one-off interesting cards in favour of playsets, where I love throwing a couple of singleton cards int he deck to spice things up and add variety.
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.
Mother of Vuel2UBR
Legendary Creature - Human Advisor (M)
If a card would be put into an opponent's graveyard from a zone other than the battlefield, exile that card instead. Ignore this effect for cards you control.
You may play cards exiled with Mother of Vuel.
2/4
Thanks Phyrexian Editor, it does appear that the wording requires me to use red as well. Truth be told, I may prefer red to white in many cases, what I like least is the sneakiness and trickery of blue and black, but I guess red occasionally has aspects of that as well. This card lets you steal cards which you mill (UB), discard (B), or counter (U), and also any instants or sorceries that opponents play (UR). My avatar shows how I prefer to win through creature combat; coming out with a good curve, buffing/protecting your creatures, straight beatdown. My card for this round cares about everything but the battlefield, the antithesis of that strategy, and it is particularly good with counterspells, which are probably my least favorite major mechanic to face.
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
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
Jackie the Inciter1BRG
Legendary Creature - Human Warrior (M)
Whenever Jackie the Inciter attacks, untap target creature an opponent controls and gain control of it until end of turn. It gains haste until end of turn.
At the beginning of each player’s end step, if no creatures attacked this turn, that player sacrifices a creature he or she controlled since the beginning of the turn. "Live by the sword, or die by my sword—the choice is yours."
3/3
Given that I'm a dude and my persona is completely passive and opposes conflict (or at least my Round 0 card does), my polar opposite should obviously be female and have elements that strongly encourage fighting and combat. For the record, I actually don't hate aggro. But I find Goblin and Red Deck Wins decks (and red in general) to be an absolute bore. They're just completely one-dimensional in how they play and every single card seems to have an ability/effect that has to do with dealing damage. Like I said - boring.
As for my most despised mechanic, that would be creature stealing. Okay, I find it rather enjoyable when I'M doing the stealing. But at recent Prereleases (which is the only time I play Magic), I have had people Mind Controlling my Serra Angel and my Baneslayer Angel, and Act of Treasoning my blood-thirsted Furyborn Hellkite right after I casted it. C'mon, if you're going to attack me, do it with your own cards, alright?
Here's my critiques for this round.
CodGod: The power/toughness to casting cost ratio seems a little underwhelming to me. I know it’s a human, but legendary creatures are usually competitively costed. Then again, the CITP effect on SalmonDeity is rather strong. You voiced your dislike for Extract-like effects, and this card does exactly just that – stripping 5-10 of the best cards from an opponent’s deck is nothing short of crippling. The second ability, the additional cost of sacrificing creatures to cast exiled spells, is unique and I like it. It can potentially lock players out from playing anything if they run few or no creatures, but I guess that’s the whole point. This card isn’t meant to be fun to play against. I’m not sure if that part of the card feels inherently black or green; it’s more white or blue if you ask me. Overall, a good card.
Gerrard's Mom: On the surface, Mother of Vuel looks exceedingly strong. Like you said, discard spells and milling would fill up the exiled zone real quick, but how this automatically exiles instant and sorcery spells that opponents play without you needing to do anything is bonkers. There needs to be some sort of cost for the triggered ability to limit the craziness of this card. Given Mother of Vuel’s three colours, it would not be difficult to play your opponent spells, and you’ll probably take a few of their :symg:- and :symw:-producing lands along the way as well. It doesn’t hurt that Mother of Vuel also stops graveyard tricks such as Dredge in their tracks.
What is worrying though, is where the cards go when you play one of the exiled spells. There doesn’t seem to be anything stopping you from replaying the spells over and over again. Considering the card’s brokenness, I think Mother of Yawgmoth would be a more appropriate name. It’s definitely very control-ish, but it is slightly less powerful against creature-based decks, which is what your avatar symbolises. Creative? Yes. Unbalanced? Also yes.
Maokun: Ouch, an excellent counter to the Magic persona of yourself. Based on your Round 4 card, I take it that you dislike playing against discard, burn, and cards that are generally punitive in nature?. Omanage, the Odious is pretty strong, and either naming artifact or creature against the right deck would have opponents think twice about playing further spells if they don’t have a removal spell. I can’t fault this card at all; it looks very printable as a Blood Oath variant, and it would see play if it was printed. Excellent card.
Phyrexian Editor: You don’t like discarding cards as a cost? Man, you must not have been a big fan of the Mercadian Masques and Odyssey blocks then. The mechanics of the card I don’t like…..but that’s only because you have done such a fine job of creating a creature that people (yourself included) would hate! Otherwise, I feel that the triggered abilities cost too much to use – for example, paying an additional 1RG on top of any mana you have to pay to play a creature spell seems like a big ask compared to a big creature that destroy lands such as Helldozer. The flavor text is written very nicely and connects perfectly with your online persona. But I have no idea what role a Phyrexian editor would play if it actually existed in the Magic storyline.
Timothy, Mimeslayer: I also share your intense dislike of Infect. Poison just sucks! Your card, however, does not suck and actually seems pretty damn good. Two swings, and the opponent is as good as gone, while you Vindicate any flier or potential threat along the way. In that sense, I think adding 1 or 2 more mana to its casting cost would make it more balanced. An angel without flying does seem a little weird though – I guess it’s okay since there have been times when something as iconic as dragons don’t automatically have flying either (e.g. Hellkite Hatchling). I like the name of this card – Harbinger of Compleation just sounds very, very cool.
Twilight Kiwi: I’m a little confused as to how Kiwi, the Closed Circle, opposes your ideology and the aspects of Magic that you like. I’m guessing that your avatar thrives on interactions (from the redirecting and copying of spells) but the first ability of your Round 4 card doesn’t? It basically grants all your creatures deathtouch, which doesn’t make the combat phase particularly fun or entertaining to play out. I’m also scratching my head at the purpose of the second ability. It’s a combo enabler of sorts, it allows things to be replayed over multiple turns, it’s an anti-graveyard strategy, and there’s a connection with the name of your card. There is some synergy between the two abilities but I don’t think anyone would want to return an opponent’s creature from their graveyard to the top of their library. The card seems to lack a bit of focus. An explanation of the design decisions for this card would have been helpful.
TwilightSpark: For the record, I like this FAQ set-up explaining the reasoning behind the design of your card. Larc, the Static World, feels most like a mythic rare and a legendary creature than any other entry in this round. I think it might be because of its high casting cost and the fact that it’s one big fattie. As a variant of Moat, Larc is very unique and I like its creativeness. It would fit right into an inevitable enchantment block that R&D would (hopefully) one day make. It’s a little disappointing that the abilities of Carl and Larc don’t interact with each other, but otherwise it’s a very likeable card that you have designed here.
Team Superego represented! Oculus: good game, I reckon I beat you for half a point or something. I'll try to do well in your stead.
Maokun of a Thousand Skills :symg::symw::symu:
Legendary Creature - Human Rogue (M)
Vigilance
You play with your hand and the top card of your library revealed.
Maokun of a Thousand Skills has all activated abilities of nonplaneswalker permanents you control and nonplaneswalker permanent cards in your hand and on top of library.
1/3
Profitable BanishmentWU
Sorcery (U)
Exile target creature. That creature controller's draws a card.
Draw a card.
Alertness1
Enchantment - Aura (C)
Enchant creature.
Enchanted creature has hexproof.
:symgu:, return Alertness to its owner's hand: Untap enchanted creature.
Discerning Justice1W
Instant (R)
Exile target permanent, then choose one - Return that permanent to the battlefield under its owner's control, or return that permanent to the battlefield under its owner's control at the beginning of the end step.
If that permanent is black or red, you may choose not to return it to the battlefield instead.
A nemesis appears:
Omanage, the Odious1BR
Legendary Creature - Human Wizard (M) Imprint - When Omanage, the Odious enters the battlefield, look at target opponent's hand. Exile a nonland card from it.
Whenever that player casts a spell that shares a card type with the exiled card, Omanage deals 3 damage to him or her.
2/3
I'm calling it right now- worst rare in the set. Even good limited players will find better bombs at common and uncommon no sweat. Worst. Episode. Ever.
I really do predict this to be our worst rare in set award winner. I'd be happier opening a jar of eyeballs, so I think anything worse is highly unlikely. This card wont just have zero constructed potential, but not be significantly better than a mass of ghouls in a draft.
Harbinger of Compleation :3mana::symw::symb::symr:
Legendary Creature - Angel Horror (M)
Infect
:1mana::symw::symb::symr:: Harbinger of Compleation gains Flying until end of turn. Destroy target nonland permanent. Activate this ability only once each turn and only any time you could cast a sorcery.
5/5
There are multiple things about this card that are antagonistic to my play style. First, I hate, hate, hate, hate Infect. Absolutely loathe it.
Second, I hate when you can play a three color card competitively with almost no drawback, three color decks should be inherently risky but it seems that really isn't the case at the moment.
Third, I hate a card that can completely change the game without any real interaction between players. With the angel, I could sit back all day and just start pegging away at permanents.
Lastly, I hate cards that completely invalidate everything I can play with a casting cost of 4 or less which is where I love to play at, stompy is one of my favorite decks of all time.
CodGod - Seems a bit too powerful for me as it can completely lock anyone down if you have a decent size creature out when you play this and there can be nothing they can do about it if this resolves. 7/10
Gerrard's Mom - I love it, I also like how you included Magic Lore into it. But yeah, the fact that you still have to pay the mana cost totally balances this. Also that when you play the spells it then goes to their graveyard keeps this from being really abusive. Love it 10/10
Jau - Probably should say "Whenever Jackie the Inciter attacks, gain control of target creature an opponent controls until end of turn. That creature becomes tapped and attacking." or something to that effect which I am sure is what you are going for. Once you play this guy then it essentially becomes a slugging match back and forth since they don't want to waste a creature so they will most assuredly attack and you probably won't block and then from that point forward, creatures would probably just keep going through unblocked. 7/10
Maokun - It is targeted discard in a body and then can punish them for it later. I kinda don't see this as mythic, more of a really good rare. I mean, if it had flying and was a spectre, hell yeah that would be mythic. 8/10
Phyrexian Editor - I agree, repeatable land destruction is overpowered. It being 3 colors though and boltable/incinerateable though kinda helps make up for that. Overall, I would say that it is of the correct power level. 8/10
Timothy, Mimeslayer - Obligatory Best Card Ever To Be Imagined. Just coming up with this idea should guarantee him a job at WotC R&D. Card is all around perfect in every way from mechanics to flavor. I wonder why it hasn't seen print yet. 12/10
Twilight Kiwi - That would be pretty sick in EDH. Would also be awesome as a general in a resurrection deck since you could continuously bring back cards like exhume. 9/10
TwilightSpark - This card kinda annoys me as it does exactly what you say, slows down the game to a crawl since nobody can really do anything until this guy is destroyed. Seems balanced enough for his cost. 8/10
Round 0: 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.
[I]He knew his knack for language would serve him well in rallying others to his cause.[/I]
1/2
Round 1: 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.
[I]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.[/I]
Round 2: 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.
[I]Contrary to popular myth, any kiss will do.[/I]
Round 3: Illuminating Spark3UU
Instant {R}
Damage dealt to you by red sources this turn causes you to draw that many cards.
[I]Inspiration comes easiest when the heat is on.[/I]
Phyrexian Editor2BRG
Legendary Creature - Horror Spellshaper {MR}
Whenever a creature enters the battlefield under an opponent's control, you may pay 1BR and discard a card. If you do, that player discards two cards at random.
Whenever a creature enters the battlefield under your control, you may pay 1RG and discard a card. If you do, destroy target land.
4/3
[I]He makes his corrections with a red pen and a gore-stained sword.[/I]
Things I don't like that this card epitomizes: Discarding cards as a cost. Being forced to discard cards at random. Repeatable land destruction (!!!!!). Keeping track of "when a creature enters the battlefield you may" triggers. Guys that R&D gives uneven P/T so that they die to Lightning Bolt.
Since red blows up lands more than green, the green doesn't feel like a necessary part of this card - but neither does it feel out-of-place. You've got a good explanation of how this card hit's your hate-buttons. The mirrored abilities for creatures entering under you control or an opponent's control are quite cool, and both seem reasonable. Feels more like a rare than a mythic to me, but does seem like a fitting pair of abilities for a legend. I get the impression we're similar in some respects, as I see this as a card I wouldn't like to play with, but I look at the design and it seems to be a really nicely designed card, for what it is. My only concern is that the land destruction ability might be a bit too good alongside green token production and ramp, but the discard a card cost keeps it from being broken. I do think this is above the power level point Wizards wants to have land destruction abilities these days, but not by much. All in all, well done.
Round 0: 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.
Round 1: Diplomatic Solution1W
Sorcery (U)
Target player chooses a creature you don't control. Exile that creature.
[I]"I'm certain we can reach a compromise that serves everyone's best interests."
- Lioka, Grand Ambassadrix
[I]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.[/I]
Round 2: 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
Round 3: 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.
[I]"The welcoming warmth of the Light is a harsh, burning glare to those who thrive in the shadows."
- Lumaros, the Resplendent[/I]
Kiwi, the Closed Circle3BG
Legendary Creature - Human Wizard (M)
Whenever a creature an opponent controls is dealt combat damage, its controller sacrifices it.
The first time a card goes to a graveyard from anywhere each turn, you may put that card on top of its controller's library instead.
2/2
This effect feels like it could be monoblack, but given cards like plow under the top-of-library part doesn't seem out of place as part green. But the card is definitely more black than green, and it would have been nice to see that reflected in the mana cost. I'd say it passes the bar for being cool enough for mythic, but it's a borderline case. I like that it's not in the colours which traditionally get first strike, so it's "super-deathtouch" isn't too easy to combine with that.
I the second ability is way too powerful, as far as I can tell.
If they block any of your creatures then they'll lose the blocker, and that means you've got at least one card to pop on top of the deck. So they have to chose between not blocking at all or never drawing a new card. Given that even if they don't block any removal spell means you can keep up the lock this is really brutal. And of course you can do the same again if they attack, putting another card between them and anything new they could draw. If they don't have removal for this guy in hand, they're going to have a really, really tough time drawing it. If they do kill it and it's the first thing to die, it's own ability can put it on top of your deck.
And then on top of that, it can instead let you reuse an instant or sorcery spell every turn provided you don't let things die before that spell resolves. So you can play time walk in your precombat main phase, and you'll be able to put that on top of your deck to cast again next time unless the opponent has an instant to play in response. I think that ability needed to be limited to only apply to opponent's graveyards, and even then it's still really good.
It does a good job of opposing the boring, static gamestates you expressed dislike for in your round 0 post, and generally does a good job of fitting the challenge, but unfortunately the card is just way too good.
Round 0: Carl, Firemind Tactician2UR Legendary Creature - Human Wizard (MR)
Instant and sorcery spells you cast cost up to UR less to cast.
[I]Elegance and Flare[/I]
1/1
I like efficiency in all things. In my life and magic. Probably one of the many reasons why I like cube so much. HIgh power to cost ratio cards make for killer decks and fun games. I am also a fan of thinking impulsively. I often do not bide my time and just jump in with my mind racing. If I can do something, I probably will. Something new appears I am thinking about what to do with or about it. This applies to magic and my life.
Round 1: KoboldizexUR Sorcery (U)
X target creatures become 0/1 red kobolds.
[I]They are like sheep, but harmless.[/I]
Round 2: 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."
[I]Kamigawa is a land of dreams and spirits. Tricks played upon the living from gods beyond the human realm.[/I]
Round 3: Business PlansU Instant {R}
Counter target green spell. Draw a card for each spell countered this turn.
[I]Nature must make way for progress.[/I]
Larc, the Static World4WBG
Legendary Creature - Spirit Wizard {MR}
Non-black creatures can not attack unless they are enchanted.
Enchantment spells cost 1 more to cast for each creature in your graveyard.
[I]Only those who possess the gift may walk before me.[/I]
5/5
The Notes Obvious Differences:
The name is my name spelled backwards (Carl -> Larc).
My colors were UR and the colors of my opposite are WBG.
My guy makes spells cost less while this guy makes them cost more.
My guy is a 1/1 and this guy is a 5/5.
Things I hate:
1. Stuff that slows the game down.
2. Makes the game non-interactive.
3. Fatties without protection/evasion.
4. Cards that are casual only.
Why this card is what I hate?
1. This slows the game down by making combat nearly non-existent. Only allows black creature to attack.
2. Little to no combat makes it pretty non-interactive. Heaven forbid the opponent is playing an enchantment deck.
3. This guy is super easy to kill.
4. Pretty much a casual only card. The cost and lack of protection make it very prohibitive in competitive play.
Man, this card hates enchantments bad. As the game goes on, it'll essentially make enchantments unplayable as more and more creatures hit the bin. You say this card slows the game down, but if you're running this card it's likely because almost all, if not all, of your creatures are black - so it only slows it down for the opponent, which doesn't really slow the game in general down unless you're not in any position to attack at all. That's unlikely in a deck running the best creature removal colours to remove opposing blockers, and with a 5/5 on the field, so it just means you continue towards victory at the same speed while your opponents get slowed. You're right that this card is unlikely to see competitive play (outside of reanimator or some similar deck which is cheating creatures into play, perhaps), but the card is definitely powerful if you do get it out, although not to the point that the opponent couldn't recover from it. It feels right for a mythic, although I'm not sure on the colours - I don't see what about this card is green. I like the opposites between this card and your avatar, particularly this card making spells cost more compared to your avatar reducing costs.
Round 0: 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.
[I]A mother's love is strong enough to transcend barriers of space, time, and even species.[/I]
1/1
Seems like as good a time as any to repeat my "origin story:" Gerrard's Mom is the nickname friends and I had given to Ramirez DePietro because of the similarity to Gerrard Capashen's art and the fact that the Italian copy of DePietro made the gender somewhat unclear. I'm not any kind of mother, or female even, but it's been a fun forum identity. I am pretty supportive though, both in Magic where I am always trying to get my play group to do things better (casting in Main Phase B!) and in non-gaming life, where I'm currently teaching Japanese. The restriction on the ability was mostly inspired by Rootwalla stuff, but I do prefer to help a bunch of people in turn instead of one person forever. It used to be 2/2 and give +2/+2, but I didn't think that was mythic enough, so I added an ability to make non-creatures lose abilities, reflecting my ability to question and critique, but Eventide says only one ability, so I'll go with this. I guess I'll have to go 1/1 also, definitely not physically a 3/3. On the current Wizards logic that Watchwolf could be mostly outdone (there is the legendary drawback) by a mythic the same way that Baneslayer Angel outdoes Serra Angel.
Round 1: DeposeW
Sorcery (U)
Exile target creature if you control fewer creatures than that creature's controller.
[I]Rule with justice, and rule long. Rule with tyranny, and rule no more.
-Inscription on the Heartcrown of the Vaderan Kings[/I]
Round 2: 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.
[I]Saprolings have developed unusual symbiotic relationships with many other creatures of the forest.[/I]
Round 3: 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.
Mother of Vuel2UBR
Legendary Creature - Human Advisor (M)
If a card would be put into an opponent's graveyard from a zone other than the battlefield, exile that card instead.
You may play cards exiled with Mother of Vuel.
2/4
Thanks Phyrexian Editor, it does appear that the wording requires me to use red as well. Truth be told, I may prefer red to white in many cases, what I like least is the sneakiness and trickery of blue and black, but I guess red occasionally has aspects of that as well. This card lets you steal cards which you mill (UB), discard (B), or counter (U), and also any instants or sorceries that opponents play (UR). My avatar shows how I prefer to win through creature combat; coming out with a good curve, buffing/protecting your creatures, straight beatdown. My card for this round cares about everything but the battlefield, the antithesis of that strategy, and it is particularly good with counterspells, which are probably my least favorite major mechanic to face.
I really like the way you made a card which works really well with the strategies you dislike, but doesn't need them to be useful. It feels really well on colour for the effect, which is hard to pull off with three-colour cards. At first I though it was overpowered, but you need to pay for the cards to cast through it, and you might not have the right colours (unless you first exile and play some of their lands). Having considered it a bit, I think it's in about the right spot, CMC-wise. I'm honestly struggling to say much negative about the design - all I can come up with is that 'Advisor' as a type doesn't seem to fit the ability.
I could see this card being printed with the name and type changed, although I suspect Wizards would have the P/T on this card differently (maybe 3/3).
Round 0: 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
Like most Aussies, I'm a pretty laid-back guy. I don't take things seriously, I have a great deal of patience, and there's nothing I enjoy more than relaxing and taking a nap. But there's nothing I hate more than conflict, especially between other people. I'm okay if it's happening to me, I usually take things on the chin, shrug it off, and avoid the situation rather than addressing the problem directly. But seeing my friends or my parents fight and argue with each other over the most mundane things makes me sad. It pains me to read and hear in the media about the violence that happens everyday all over the world. But I'm a rather lazy sort of person, so I don't do anything about it. I guess my biggest flaw is that I'm not proactive enough and I rarely take the initiative in any given situation.
I don't play Magic anymore (I attend the Prereleases and that's pretty much the only time I play) but I used to be a casual Spike. I never attended tournaments or anything, but played with my friends at my high school. My decks were usually full of powerful rares and other tournament-worthy cards but for some reason, I would still lose to my friends' Johnny-inspired decks (Splice deck anyone?). So I only care about the best cards, but am not really willing to spend more than $5-10 on a piece of cardboard. When I read the latest set spoilers, I usually go "Crap, terrible, that's awful, this is the worst card I have ever seen in my life...ooh, this could be good! Oh wait, it's 10 to cast, etc..." I find myself often declaring that the latest set is the worst set of all time. My favourite colour is green, but I have a soft spot for blue's ability to annoy and irritate my opponents through counterspells, bounce spells, stealing creatures, and taking additional turns. And there's nothing more Spike-y and blue than good old card advantage (even if there's some sort of drawback involved).
Round 1: Rectify :symw::symw:
Sorcery (U)
Exile target nonland permanent. Its controller gains life equal to its converted mana cost.
[I]“Lay down your weapons. Dispel your magic. Swear a vow of nonviolence and make amends for your wrongdoing.”
—Jacky, Antagonist of War[/I]
Round 2: 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
Round 3: 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. [I](Spells cast or abilities activated before this resolves are unaffected.)[/I]
[I]“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[/I]
Jackie the Inciter1BRG
Legendary Creature - Human Warrior (M)
Whenever Jackie the Inciter attacks, untap target creature an opponent controls and gain control of it until end of turn. It gains haste until end of turn.
At the beginning of each player’s end step, if no creatures attacked this turn, that player sacrifices a creature he or she controlled since the beginning of the turn.
[I]"Live by the sword, or die by my sword—the choice is yours."[/I]
3/3
Given that I'm a dude and my persona is completely passive and opposes conflict (or at least my Round 0 card does), my polar opposite should obviously be female and have elements that strongly encourage fighting and combat. For the record, I actually don't hate aggro. But I find Goblin and Red Deck Wins decks (and red in general) to be an absolute bore. They're just completely one-dimensional in how they play and every single card seems to have an ability/effect that has to do with dealing damage. Like I said - boring.
As for my most despised mechanic, that would be creature stealing. Okay, I find it rather enjoyable when I'M doing the stealing. But at recent Prereleases (which is the only time I play Magic), I have had people Mind Controlling my Serra Angel and my Baneslayer Angel, and Act of Treasoning my blood-thirsted Furyborn Hellkite right after I casted it. C'mon, if you're going to attack me, do it with your own cards, alright?
First thing I notice is your card doesn't work the way it seems like you want it to - the ability triggers when Jackie attacks, by which point you've attacked, so gaining control of another creature and giving haste is useless unless you're going to get another combat phase, as you've already declared your attackers for this one.
You said in your Round 0 post you "have a soft spot for blue's ability to annoy and irritate my opponents through counterspells, bounce spells, stealing creatures" (emphasis mine), yet here you're putting creature stealing as something you hate, so I'm not convinced that that aspect of your card is really working for strategies which you're opposed to, since you admit you like stealing when you do it. I also don't think the 'encouraging combat' part came off well as being in opposition to your first card here - you're avatar encourages your opponents to be aggressive by giving you card advantage if they're not, where this one punishes them if they're not aggressive - the methods used are different, but in fact they're both encouraging the opponent(s) to attack. They do however, require you to act in completely opposite ways to get the benefit from them, so it does work in that respect.
I don't really think the colour combination fits this card well, as I think this card (assuming the first ability was changed to let you attack with the creature you steal, which seems t be the intent) could be mono-red, or red-black. Green doesn't seem to fit here at all.
I admit it's a sometimes a fine line, but this one doesn't feel mythic to me, but seems more at home as a rare. It just doesn't really have the 'wow' factor a mythic ought to (although I'd say the same about some cards which have been printed as mythics).
Round 0: Maokun of a Thousand Skills :symg::symw::symu:
Legendary Creature - Human Rogue (M)
Vigilance
You play with your hand and the top card of your library revealed.
Maokun of a Thousand Skills has all activated abilities of nonplaneswalker permanents you control and nonplaneswalker permanent cards in your hand and on top of library.
1/3
Round 1: Profitable BanishmentWU
Sorcery (U)
Exile target creature. That creature controller's draws a card.
Draw a card.
Round 2: Alertness1
Enchantment - Aura (C)
Enchant creature.
Enchanted creature has hexproof.
:symgu:, return Alertness to its owner's hand: Untap enchanted creature.
Round 3: Discerning Justice1W
Instant (R)
Exile target permanent, then choose one - Return that permanent to the battlefield under its owner's control, or return that permanent to the battlefield under its owner's control at the beginning of the end step.
If that permanent is black or red, you may choose not to return it to the battlefield instead.
Omanage, the Odious1BR
Legendary Creature - Human Wizard (M)
[I]Imprint[/I] - When Omanage, the Odious enters the battlefield, look at target opponent's hand. Exile a nonland card from it.
Whenever that player casts a spell that shares a card type with the exiled card, Omanage deals 3 damage to him or her.
2/3
Pretty much perfectly on colour, and seems the right cost. But it doesn't feel mythic to me, and it seems almost a shame that it's legendary as it seems like you'd want to have multiples out. You didn't give an explanation of what you hate about this card, nor did you explain in Round 0 why your avatar card fit your playstyle, so in terms of that part of the challenge all I can look at is how well you've set the cards up as opposites. To be honest, I don't really see it. The avatar card benefits from the top card of your library, where this card punishes the opponent for their hand. The best I can guess is you like being able to set up interesting interactions with your own cards and don't like cards with effects which can interfere with those plans (such as removing specific cards from your hand). A bit of explanation would really have helped here, I think.
On a side note, it amuses me that it seems like the class types of this card and your avatar would fit better with the effects if swapped.
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.
Round 2: 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.
Round 3: Witness's Protection :symg::symu:
Instant (R)
Counter target red or black spell or ability that targets you or a permanent you control. You may return target card from your graveyard to your hand. If you do, exile Witness's Protection.
Harbinger of Compleation :3mana::symw::symb::symr:
Legendary Creature - Angel Horror (M)
Infect
:1mana::symw::symb::symr:: Harbinger of Compleation gains Flying until end of turn. Destroy target nonland permanent. Activate this ability only once each turn and only any time you could cast a sorcery.
5/5
There are multiple things about this card that are antagonistic to my play style. First, I hate, hate, hate, hate Infect. Absolutely loathe it.
Second, I hate when you can play a three color card competitively with almost no drawback, three color decks should be inherently risky but it seems that really isn't the case at the moment.
Third, I hate a card that can completely change the game without any real interaction between players. With the angel, I could sit back all day and just start pegging away at permanents.
Lastly, I hate cards that completely invalidate everything I can play with a casting cost of 4 or less which is where I love to play at, stompy is one of my favorite decks of all time.
This definitely has the splashiness to be mythic, although the name doesn't really sounds legendary to me - it sounds more like a type of creature than a unique individual.
I think this card has fallen on the too powerful side. It kills in two hits, has evasion, and can blow up a flying blocker each turn if they do have one. This is basically going to win the game if you get to untap with it most of the time, and while not having protection from removal means it isn't completely broken in half, reducing the game to "I win if you don't have an answer this turn" means it's too swingy. At 4/4 I think I'd be a lot more okay with it (can't kill all by itself in two hits, so more chance for the opponent to get an answer), or otherwise if destroying things didn't grant it flying as well. As is, I don't think this could see print.
The card for the most part fits the things you hate as you describe, but I find it interesting to note that you said "I hate a card that can completely change the game without any real interaction between players. With the angel, I could sit back all day and just start pegging away at permanents", when it seems to me this could be applied to a large extent to your avatar card from round 1 as well - you can sit back and not play creatures to gain significant card advantage without necessarily interacting with opponents. I'm also not sure I agree that it can "completely invalidate everything I can play with a casting cost of 4 or less", since the only thing keeping the card from being ridiculously broken is it doesn't have any protection from removal (other than being black, which only matters for a small subset of removal cards), and most removal costs less than 4.
I don't see any reason this card is red other than to fit the round requirements, especially since it can't hit lands. This feels like a straight WB card to me.
Top 3: 1: Gerrard's Mom 2: Phyrexian Editor 3: Maokun
EDIT: Since I seem to be the first to post crits, I'm posting in the spoiler below the template I made before inserting my crits into it, with my own one added as well, so you can all copy that and remove your own card if you want to save the trouble of copy-pasting all those cards around to your own posts. I went back to the Round 0 thread to grab people's explanations of why their avatar fit them if they were given, since those seemed relevant to judging how well the cards for this round opposed those values.
Round 0: 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
[I]Colours[/I]: 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.
[I]Ability[/I]: 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.
[I]Power and Toughness[/I]: 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
Round 1: 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.
Round 2: Machine Mastery1UW
Enchantment - Aura (C)
Enchant Creature
Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 for each artifact you control. W: Return ~ to owner's hand.
Round 3: 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.
SalmonDeity3BBG
Legendary Creature - Human Reflection
When SalmonDeity enters the battlefield, you may search target opponent's library for a number of nonland cards less than or equal to the total power of creatures you control and exile those cards. If you do, that player shuffles his or her library.
Spells with the same name as cards exiled by SalmonDeity cost an additional "Sacrifice a creature" to cast.
2/2
[I]"Feel the might that opposes you... Let the fear of it drive you from sanity" - SalmonDeity[/I]
INSTER CRIT HERE
Round 0: 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.
[I]He knew his knack for language would serve him well in rallying others to his cause.[/I]
1/2
Round 1: 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.
[I]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.[/I]
Round 2: 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.
[I]Contrary to popular myth, any kiss will do.[/I]
Round 3: Illuminating Spark3UU
Instant {R}
Damage dealt to you by red sources this turn causes you to draw that many cards.
[I]Inspiration comes easiest when the heat is on.[/I]
Phyrexian Editor2BRG
Legendary Creature - Horror Spellshaper {MR}
Whenever a creature enters the battlefield under an opponent's control, you may pay 1BR and discard a card. If you do, that player discards two cards at random.
Whenever a creature enters the battlefield under your control, you may pay 1RG and discard a card. If you do, destroy target land.
4/3
[I]He makes his corrections with a red pen and a gore-stained sword.[/I]
Things I don't like that this card epitomizes: Discarding cards as a cost. Being forced to discard cards at random. Repeatable land destruction (!!!!!). Keeping track of "when a creature enters the battlefield you may" triggers. Guys that R&D gives uneven P/T so that they die to Lightning Bolt.
INSTER CRIT HERE
Round 0: 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.
Round 1: Diplomatic Solution1W
Sorcery (U)
Target player chooses a creature you don't control. Exile that creature.
[I]"I'm certain we can reach a compromise that serves everyone's best interests."
- Lioka, Grand Ambassadrix
[I]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.[/I]
Round 2: 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
Round 3: 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.
[I]"The welcoming warmth of the Light is a harsh, burning glare to those who thrive in the shadows."
- Lumaros, the Resplendent[/I]
Kiwi, the Closed Circle3BG
Legendary Creature - Human Wizard (M)
Whenever a creature an opponent controls is dealt combat damage, its controller sacrifices it.
The first time a card goes to a graveyard from anywhere each turn, you may put that card on top of its controller's library instead.
2/2
INSTER CRIT HERE
Round 0: Carl, Firemind Tactician2UR Legendary Creature - Human Wizard (MR)
Instant and sorcery spells you cast cost up to UR less to cast.
[I]Elegance and Flare[/I]
1/1
I like efficiency in all things. In my life and magic. Probably one of the many reasons why I like cube so much. HIgh power to cost ratio cards make for killer decks and fun games. I am also a fan of thinking impulsively. I often do not bide my time and just jump in with my mind racing. If I can do something, I probably will. Something new appears I am thinking about what to do with or about it. This applies to magic and my life.
Round 1: KoboldizexUR Sorcery (U)
X target creatures become 0/1 red kobolds.
[I]They are like sheep, but harmless.[/I]
Round 2: 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."
[I]Kamigawa is a land of dreams and spirits. Tricks played upon the living from gods beyond the human realm.[/I]
Round 3: Business PlansU Instant {R}
Counter target green spell. Draw a card for each spell countered this turn.
[I]Nature must make way for progress.[/I]
Larc, the Static World4WBG
Legendary Creature - Spirit Wizard {MR}
Non-black creatures can not attack unless they are enchanted.
Enchantment spells cost 1 more to cast for each creature in your graveyard.
[I]Only those who possess the gift may walk before me.[/I]
5/5
The Notes Obvious Differences:
The name is my name spelled backwards (Carl -> Larc).
My colors were UR and the colors of my opposite are WBG.
My guy makes spells cost less while this guy makes them cost more.
My guy is a 1/1 and this guy is a 5/5.
Things I hate:
1. Stuff that slows the game down.
2. Makes the game non-interactive.
3. Fatties without protection/evasion.
4. Cards that are casual only.
Why this card is what I hate?
1. This slows the game down by making combat nearly non-existent. Only allows black creature to attack.
2. Little to no combat makes it pretty non-interactive. Heaven forbid the opponent is playing an enchantment deck.
3. This guy is super easy to kill.
4. Pretty much a casual only card. The cost and lack of protection make it very prohibitive in competitive play.
INSTER CRIT HERE
Round 0: 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.
[I]A mother's love is strong enough to transcend barriers of space, time, and even species.[/I]
1/1
Seems like as good a time as any to repeat my "origin story:" Gerrard's Mom is the nickname friends and I had given to Ramirez DePietro because of the similarity to Gerrard Capashen's art and the fact that the Italian copy of DePietro made the gender somewhat unclear. I'm not any kind of mother, or female even, but it's been a fun forum identity. I am pretty supportive though, both in Magic where I am always trying to get my play group to do things better (casting in Main Phase B!) and in non-gaming life, where I'm currently teaching Japanese. The restriction on the ability was mostly inspired by Rootwalla stuff, but I do prefer to help a bunch of people in turn instead of one person forever. It used to be 2/2 and give +2/+2, but I didn't think that was mythic enough, so I added an ability to make non-creatures lose abilities, reflecting my ability to question and critique, but Eventide says only one ability, so I'll go with this. I guess I'll have to go 1/1 also, definitely not physically a 3/3. On the current Wizards logic that Watchwolf could be mostly outdone (there is the legendary drawback) by a mythic the same way that Baneslayer Angel outdoes Serra Angel.
Round 1: DeposeW
Sorcery (U)
Exile target creature if you control fewer creatures than that creature's controller.
[I]Rule with justice, and rule long. Rule with tyranny, and rule no more.
-Inscription on the Heartcrown of the Vaderan Kings[/I]
Round 2: 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.
[I]Saprolings have developed unusual symbiotic relationships with many other creatures of the forest.[/I]
Round 3: 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.
Mother of Vuel2UBR
Legendary Creature - Human Advisor (M)
If a card would be put into an opponent's graveyard from a zone other than the battlefield, exile that card instead.
You may play cards exiled with Mother of Vuel.
2/4
Thanks Phyrexian Editor, it does appear that the wording requires me to use red as well. Truth be told, I may prefer red to white in many cases, what I like least is the sneakiness and trickery of blue and black, but I guess red occasionally has aspects of that as well. This card lets you steal cards which you mill (UB), discard (B), or counter (U), and also any instants or sorceries that opponents play (UR). My avatar shows how I prefer to win through creature combat; coming out with a good curve, buffing/protecting your creatures, straight beatdown. My card for this round cares about everything but the battlefield, the antithesis of that strategy, and it is particularly good with counterspells, which are probably my least favorite major mechanic to face.
INSTER CRIT HERE
Round 0: 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
Like most Aussies, I'm a pretty laid-back guy. I don't take things seriously, I have a great deal of patience, and there's nothing I enjoy more than relaxing and taking a nap. But there's nothing I hate more than conflict, especially between other people. I'm okay if it's happening to me, I usually take things on the chin, shrug it off, and avoid the situation rather than addressing the problem directly. But seeing my friends or my parents fight and argue with each other over the most mundane things makes me sad. It pains me to read and hear in the media about the violence that happens everyday all over the world. But I'm a rather lazy sort of person, so I don't do anything about it. I guess my biggest flaw is that I'm not proactive enough and I rarely take the initiative in any given situation.
I don't play Magic anymore (I attend the Prereleases and that's pretty much the only time I play) but I used to be a casual Spike. I never attended tournaments or anything, but played with my friends at my high school. My decks were usually full of powerful rares and other tournament-worthy cards but for some reason, I would still lose to my friends' Johnny-inspired decks (Splice deck anyone?). So I only care about the best cards, but am not really willing to spend more than $5-10 on a piece of cardboard. When I read the latest set spoilers, I usually go "Crap, terrible, that's awful, this is the worst card I have ever seen in my life...ooh, this could be good! Oh wait, it's 10 to cast, etc..." I find myself often declaring that the latest set is the worst set of all time. My favourite colour is green, but I have a soft spot for blue's ability to annoy and irritate my opponents through counterspells, bounce spells, stealing creatures, and taking additional turns. And there's nothing more Spike-y and blue than good old card advantage (even if there's some sort of drawback involved).
Round 1: Rectify :symw::symw:
Sorcery (U)
Exile target nonland permanent. Its controller gains life equal to its converted mana cost.
[I]“Lay down your weapons. Dispel your magic. Swear a vow of nonviolence and make amends for your wrongdoing.”
—Jacky, Antagonist of War[/I]
Round 2: 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
Round 3: 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. [I](Spells cast or abilities activated before this resolves are unaffected.)[/I]
[I]“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[/I]
Jackie the Inciter1BRG
Legendary Creature - Human Warrior (M)
Whenever Jackie the Inciter attacks, untap target creature an opponent controls and gain control of it until end of turn. It gains haste until end of turn.
At the beginning of each player’s end step, if no creatures attacked this turn, that player sacrifices a creature he or she controlled since the beginning of the turn.
[I]"Live by the sword, or die by my sword—the choice is yours."[/I]
3/3
Given that I'm a dude and my persona is completely passive and opposes conflict (or at least my Round 0 card does), my polar opposite should obviously be female and have elements that strongly encourage fighting and combat. For the record, I actually don't hate aggro. But I find Goblin and Red Deck Wins decks (and red in general) to be an absolute bore. They're just completely one-dimensional in how they play and every single card seems to have an ability/effect that has to do with dealing damage. Like I said - boring.
As for my most despised mechanic, that would be creature stealing. Okay, I find it rather enjoyable when I'M doing the stealing. But at recent Prereleases (which is the only time I play Magic), I have had people Mind Controlling my Serra Angel and my Baneslayer Angel, and Act of Treasoning my blood-thirsted Furyborn Hellkite right after I casted it. C'mon, if you're going to attack me, do it with your own cards, alright?
INSTER CRIT HERE
Round 0: Maokun of a Thousand Skills :symg::symw::symu:
Legendary Creature - Human Rogue (M)
Vigilance
You play with your hand and the top card of your library revealed.
Maokun of a Thousand Skills has all activated abilities of nonplaneswalker permanents you control and nonplaneswalker permanent cards in your hand and on top of library.
1/3
Round 1: Profitable BanishmentWU
Sorcery (U)
Exile target creature. That creature controller's draws a card.
Draw a card.
Round 2: Alertness1
Enchantment - Aura (C)
Enchant creature.
Enchanted creature has hexproof.
:symgu:, return Alertness to its owner's hand: Untap enchanted creature.
Round 3: Discerning Justice1W
Instant (R)
Exile target permanent, then choose one - Return that permanent to the battlefield under its owner's control, or return that permanent to the battlefield under its owner's control at the beginning of the end step.
If that permanent is black or red, you may choose not to return it to the battlefield instead.
Omanage, the Odious1BR
Legendary Creature - Human Wizard (M)
[I]Imprint[/I] - When Omanage, the Odious enters the battlefield, look at target opponent's hand. Exile a nonland card from it.
Whenever that player casts a spell that shares a card type with the exiled card, Omanage deals 3 damage to him or her.
2/3
INSTER CRIT HERE
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.
Round 2: 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.
Round 3: Witness's Protection :symg::symu:
Instant (R)
Counter target red or black spell or ability that targets you or a permanent you control. You may return target card from your graveyard to your hand. If you do, exile Witness's Protection.
Harbinger of Compleation :3mana::symw::symb::symr:
Legendary Creature - Angel Horror (M)
Infect
:1mana::symw::symb::symr:: Harbinger of Compleation gains Flying until end of turn. Destroy target nonland permanent. Activate this ability only once each turn and only any time you could cast a sorcery.
5/5
There are multiple things about this card that are antagonistic to my play style. First, I hate, hate, hate, hate Infect. Absolutely loathe it.
Second, I hate when you can play a three color card competitively with almost no drawback, three color decks should be inherently risky but it seems that really isn't the case at the moment.
Third, I hate a card that can completely change the game without any real interaction between players. With the angel, I could sit back all day and just start pegging away at permanents.
Lastly, I hate cards that completely invalidate everything I can play with a casting cost of 4 or less which is where I love to play at, stompy is one of my favorite decks of all time.
Phyrexian Editor The connections are just too hard to follow. Suture Priest does the same trick but with connected effects; you gain life or they lose it. It's also a riff on the well established Soul Warden effect. Discard and draw, or ramp and land destruction, might be reasonable, or you could cut one of the effects, but as it is it's too complicated to make an effective and splashy mythic.
Twilight Kiwi What happened to you loving GU? Anyway, apparently you hate Chimney Imp effects. A 5 cost 2/2 doesn't seem very awesome for mythic, especially since he really wants to hang with first strike guys but isn't in red or white. I guess it's supposed to be super deathtouch. The second ability would sure be annoying, I'll agree there. Putting stuff on top of the library is an interesting green/black(/blue) effect that hasn't been explored much, but probably because stuff like Plow Under was so annoying. Using it on your own stuff opens a lot of possibilities.
TwilightSpark
Pretty sure Carl spelled backwards is Lrac, but ok. This guy is totally random when you just look at him in a vacuum; Brainspoil is about the closest black has ever come to interacting with enchantments in this way. The non-black part is pretty random, and the second ability is pretty terrible, as in there are way better ways to hose opposing enchantments. I don't know that being a casual card is a play style per se or a requirement of this round, basically just looks like you made a really janky card.
CodGod
Cute name and creature type. I'm pretty sure, however, that the best mashup of the black "capping" ability with green would be a big tramply guy that exiles cards equal to the damage he deals to the player, like a giant Rootwater Thief. Keying off of power is neat, and could certainly be a big pain, but I feel like I want more reusability out of a mythic.
Jau It gets the aggression going, but yeah, you want to somehow make the guy you steal attack alongside, otherwise it's fairly useless. The abilities mesh reasonably well and the stats are mythic worthy, although if we didn't have the restrictions you'd expect to see haste. Being female is interesting.
Maokun
Pretty high on the power spectrum, but that's what I think we should shoot for this round. It definitely feels like a normal rare though (probably only 2/2 or smaller), with a concise, targeted effect instead of a universal one. He wrecks your avatar pretty well.
Timothy, Mimeslayer
I'm not sure I get the flavor here; it jumps and destroys something at the same time? These are fairly odd colors for infect, and the effect is at the same time generic and odd.
Thanks goes out to CodGod for the amazing template.
Round 0: 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
[I]Colours[/I]: 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.
[I]Ability[/I]: 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.
[I]Power and Toughness[/I]: 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
Round 1: 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.
Round 2: Machine Mastery1UW
Enchantment - Aura (C)
Enchant Creature
Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 for each artifact you control. W: Return ~ to owner's hand.
Round 3: 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.
SalmonDeity3BBG
Legendary Creature - Human Reflection
When SalmonDeity enters the battlefield, you may search target opponent's library for a number of nonland cards less than or equal to the total power of creatures you control and exile those cards. If you do, that player shuffles his or her library.
Spells with the same name as cards exiled by SalmonDeity cost an additional "Sacrifice a creature" to cast.
2/2
[I]"Feel the might that opposes you... Let the fear of it drive you from sanity" - SalmonDeity[/I]
This basically comes out and wrecks the opponents deck. Well designed. I am not sure of the wording on the second ability though. I think it should read,"Spells with the same name as a card exiled by SalmonDeity have, "As an additional cost to cast this spell, sacrifice a creature.' ". Then again, that doesn't look quite right. Still a great a card though.
Round 0: 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.
[I]He knew his knack for language would serve him well in rallying others to his cause.[/I]
1/2
Round 1: 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.
[I]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.[/I]
Round 2: 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.
[I]Contrary to popular myth, any kiss will do.[/I]
Round 3: Illuminating Spark3UU
Instant {R}
Damage dealt to you by red sources this turn causes you to draw that many cards.
[I]Inspiration comes easiest when the heat is on.[/I]
Phyrexian Editor2BRG
Legendary Creature - Horror Spellshaper {MR}
Whenever a creature enters the battlefield under an opponent's control, you may pay 1BR and discard a card. If you do, that player discards two cards at random.
Whenever a creature enters the battlefield under your control, you may pay 1RG and discard a card. If you do, destroy target land.
4/3
[I]He makes his corrections with a red pen and a gore-stained sword.[/I]
Things I don't like that this card epitomizes: Discarding cards as a cost. Being forced to discard cards at random. Repeatable land destruction (!!!!!). Keeping track of "when a creature enters the battlefield you may" triggers. Guys that R&D gives uneven P/T so that they die to Lightning Bolt.
I really like this card. The flavor is great and the card is well made. The colors fit quite well.
Round 0: 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.
Round 1: Diplomatic Solution1W
Sorcery (U)
Target player chooses a creature you don't control. Exile that creature.
[I]"I'm certain we can reach a compromise that serves everyone's best interests."
- Lioka, Grand Ambassadrix
[I]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.[/I]
Round 2: 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
Round 3: 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.
[I]"The welcoming warmth of the Light is a harsh, burning glare to those who thrive in the shadows."
- Lumaros, the Resplendent[/I]
Kiwi, the Closed Circle3BG
Legendary Creature - Human Wizard (M)
Whenever a creature an opponent controls is dealt combat damage, its controller sacrifices it.
The first time a card goes to a graveyard from anywhere each turn, you may put that card on top of its controller's library instead.
2/2
Wow...it is like a much more annoying version of Plow Under. Definite BG and the abilities really work with each other.
Round 0: 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.
[I]A mother's love is strong enough to transcend barriers of space, time, and even species.[/I]
1/1
Seems like as good a time as any to repeat my "origin story:" Gerrard's Mom is the nickname friends and I had given to Ramirez DePietro because of the similarity to Gerrard Capashen's art and the fact that the Italian copy of DePietro made the gender somewhat unclear. I'm not any kind of mother, or female even, but it's been a fun forum identity. I am pretty supportive though, both in Magic where I am always trying to get my play group to do things better (casting in Main Phase B!) and in non-gaming life, where I'm currently teaching Japanese. The restriction on the ability was mostly inspired by Rootwalla stuff, but I do prefer to help a bunch of people in turn instead of one person forever. It used to be 2/2 and give +2/+2, but I didn't think that was mythic enough, so I added an ability to make non-creatures lose abilities, reflecting my ability to question and critique, but Eventide says only one ability, so I'll go with this. I guess I'll have to go 1/1 also, definitely not physically a 3/3. On the current Wizards logic that Watchwolf could be mostly outdone (there is the legendary drawback) by a mythic the same way that Baneslayer Angel outdoes Serra Angel.
Round 1: DeposeW
Sorcery (U)
Exile target creature if you control fewer creatures than that creature's controller.
[I]Rule with justice, and rule long. Rule with tyranny, and rule no more.
-Inscription on the Heartcrown of the Vaderan Kings[/I]
Round 2: 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.
[I]Saprolings have developed unusual symbiotic relationships with many other creatures of the forest.[/I]
Round 3: 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.
Mother of Vuel2UBR
Legendary Creature - Human Advisor (M)
If a card would be put into an opponent's graveyard from a zone other than the battlefield, exile that card instead.
You may play cards exiled with Mother of Vuel.
2/4
Thanks Phyrexian Editor, it does appear that the wording requires me to use red as well. Truth be told, I may prefer red to white in many cases, what I like least is the sneakiness and trickery of blue and black, but I guess red occasionally has aspects of that as well. This card lets you steal cards which you mill (UB), discard (B), or counter (U), and also any instants or sorceries that opponents play (UR). My avatar shows how I prefer to win through creature combat; coming out with a good curve, buffing/protecting your creatures, straight beatdown. My card for this round cares about everything but the battlefield, the antithesis of that strategy, and it is particularly good with counterspells, which are probably my least favorite major mechanic to face.
Interesting card. Not sure why it has to be red. Well put together elegant design.
Round 0: 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
Like most Aussies, I'm a pretty laid-back guy. I don't take things seriously, I have a great deal of patience, and there's nothing I enjoy more than relaxing and taking a nap. But there's nothing I hate more than conflict, especially between other people. I'm okay if it's happening to me, I usually take things on the chin, shrug it off, and avoid the situation rather than addressing the problem directly. But seeing my friends or my parents fight and argue with each other over the most mundane things makes me sad. It pains me to read and hear in the media about the violence that happens everyday all over the world. But I'm a rather lazy sort of person, so I don't do anything about it. I guess my biggest flaw is that I'm not proactive enough and I rarely take the initiative in any given situation.
I don't play Magic anymore (I attend the Prereleases and that's pretty much the only time I play) but I used to be a casual Spike. I never attended tournaments or anything, but played with my friends at my high school. My decks were usually full of powerful rares and other tournament-worthy cards but for some reason, I would still lose to my friends' Johnny-inspired decks (Splice deck anyone?). So I only care about the best cards, but am not really willing to spend more than $5-10 on a piece of cardboard. When I read the latest set spoilers, I usually go "Crap, terrible, that's awful, this is the worst card I have ever seen in my life...ooh, this could be good! Oh wait, it's 10 to cast, etc..." I find myself often declaring that the latest set is the worst set of all time. My favourite colour is green, but I have a soft spot for blue's ability to annoy and irritate my opponents through counterspells, bounce spells, stealing creatures, and taking additional turns. And there's nothing more Spike-y and blue than good old card advantage (even if there's some sort of drawback involved).
Round 1: Rectify :symw::symw:
Sorcery (U)
Exile target nonland permanent. Its controller gains life equal to its converted mana cost.
[I]“Lay down your weapons. Dispel your magic. Swear a vow of nonviolence and make amends for your wrongdoing.”
—Jacky, Antagonist of War[/I]
Round 2: 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
Round 3: 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. [I](Spells cast or abilities activated before this resolves are unaffected.)[/I]
[I]“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[/I]
Jackie the Inciter1BRG
Legendary Creature - Human Warrior (M)
Whenever Jackie the Inciter attacks, untap target creature an opponent controls and gain control of it until end of turn. It gains haste until end of turn.
At the beginning of each player’s end step, if no creatures attacked this turn, that player sacrifices a creature he or she controlled since the beginning of the turn.
[I]"Live by the sword, or die by my sword—the choice is yours."[/I]
3/3
Given that I'm a dude and my persona is completely passive and opposes conflict (or at least my Round 0 card does), my polar opposite should obviously be female and have elements that strongly encourage fighting and combat. For the record, I actually don't hate aggro. But I find Goblin and Red Deck Wins decks (and red in general) to be an absolute bore. They're just completely one-dimensional in how they play and every single card seems to have an ability/effect that has to do with dealing damage. Like I said - boring.
As for my most despised mechanic, that would be creature stealing. Okay, I find it rather enjoyable when I'M doing the stealing. But at recent Prereleases (which is the only time I play Magic), I have had people Mind Controlling my Serra Angel and my Baneslayer Angel, and Act of Treasoning my blood-thirsted Furyborn Hellkite right after I casted it. C'mon, if you're going to attack me, do it with your own cards, alright?
Really flavorful card. I do not think it has to be green, but it works.
Round 0: Maokun of a Thousand Skills :symg::symw::symu:
Legendary Creature - Human Rogue (M)
Vigilance
You play with your hand and the top card of your library revealed.
Maokun of a Thousand Skills has all activated abilities of nonplaneswalker permanents you control and nonplaneswalker permanent cards in your hand and on top of library.
1/3
Round 1: Profitable BanishmentWU
Sorcery (U)
Exile target creature. That creature controller's draws a card.
Draw a card.
Round 2: Alertness1
Enchantment - Aura (C)
Enchant creature.
Enchanted creature has hexproof.
:symgu:, return Alertness to its owner's hand: Untap enchanted creature.
Round 3: Discerning Justice1W
Instant (R)
Exile target permanent, then choose one - Return that permanent to the battlefield under its owner's control, or return that permanent to the battlefield under its owner's control at the beginning of the end step.
If that permanent is black or red, you may choose not to return it to the battlefield instead.
Omanage, the Odious1BR
Legendary Creature - Human Wizard (M)
[I]Imprint[/I] - When Omanage, the Odious enters the battlefield, look at target opponent's hand. Exile a nonland card from it.
Whenever that player casts a spell that shares a card type with the exiled card, Omanage deals 3 damage to him or her.
2/3
This is a great card. The abilities flow together really well. Fits the color pie and is really annoying. Good job.
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.
Round 2: 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.
Round 3: Witness's Protection :symg::symu:
Instant (R)
Counter target red or black spell or ability that targets you or a permanent you control. You may return target card from your graveyard to your hand. If you do, exile Witness's Protection.
Harbinger of Compleation :3mana::symw::symb::symr:
Legendary Creature - Angel Horror (M)
Infect
:1mana::symw::symb::symr:: Harbinger of Compleation gains Flying until end of turn. Destroy target nonland permanent. Activate this ability only once each turn and only any time you could cast a sorcery.
5/5
There are multiple things about this card that are antagonistic to my play style. First, I hate, hate, hate, hate Infect. Absolutely loathe it.
Second, I hate when you can play a three color card competitively with almost no drawback, three color decks should be inherently risky but it seems that really isn't the case at the moment.
Third, I hate a card that can completely change the game without any real interaction between players. With the angel, I could sit back all day and just start pegging away at permanents.
Lastly, I hate cards that completely invalidate everything I can play with a casting cost of 4 or less which is where I love to play at, stompy is one of my favorite decks of all time.
This is insane. This pretty much means game over when it comes into play. Might be a bit overpowered. Other than that, great card. The flavor is wonderful. I get this image of an angel from the Grudge type deal.
Top 3:
1. Maokun
2. TwilightKiwi
3. Phyrexian Editor
Thanks CodGod for the format! Ialways blatantly steal it from you so might as well put it at the service of everyone else
Round 0: 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
[I]Colours[/I]: 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.
[I]Ability[/I]: 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.
[I]Power and Toughness[/I]: 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
Round 1: 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.
Round 2: Machine Mastery1UW
Enchantment - Aura (C)
Enchant Creature
Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 for each artifact you control. W: Return ~ to owner's hand.
Round 3: 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.
SalmonDeity3BBG
Legendary Creature - Human Reflection
When SalmonDeity enters the battlefield, you may search target opponent's library for a number of nonland cards less than or equal to the total power of creatures you control and exile those cards. If you do, that player shuffles his or her library.
Spells with the same name as cards exiled by SalmonDeity cost an additional "Sacrifice a creature" to cast.
2/2
[I]"Feel the might that opposes you... Let the fear of it drive you from sanity" - SalmonDeity[/I]
I really like this card, it's an innovative way of applying a well known effect and logically bleeding it into a second color. The only thing I don't like it's its p/t! Even with the powerful abilities, a Mythic with such a heavy colored casting cost should be bigger. At the very least 4/4, so if you play it on an empty board, you'd get a full Memoricide out of it.
Round 0: 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.
[I]He knew his knack for language would serve him well in rallying others to his cause.[/I]
1/2
Round 1: 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.
[I]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.[/I]
Round 2: 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.
[I]Contrary to popular myth, any kiss will do.[/I]
Round 3: Illuminating Spark3UU
Instant {R}
Damage dealt to you by red sources this turn causes you to draw that many cards.
[I]Inspiration comes easiest when the heat is on.[/I]
Phyrexian Editor2BRG
Legendary Creature - Horror Spellshaper {MR}
Whenever a creature enters the battlefield under an opponent's control, you may pay 1BR and discard a card. If you do, that player discards two cards at random.
Whenever a creature enters the battlefield under your control, you may pay 1RG and discard a card. If you do, destroy target land.
4/3
[I]He makes his corrections with a red pen and a gore-stained sword.[/I]
Things I don't like that this card epitomizes: Discarding cards as a cost. Being forced to discard cards at random. Repeatable land destruction (!!!!!). Keeping track of "when a creature enters the battlefield you may" triggers. Guys that R&D gives uneven P/T so that they die to Lightning Bolt.
What I like best of this card is the flavor text, which is brilliant. The mechanics are a bit too convoluted and unsynergistic. I was disappointed when I read that the second ability didn't mirror the first by having you draw cards and lose life, and though I understand you wanted to show your despising for land destruction, that got in the way of making your card more grokkable and better rounded up.
Round 0: 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.
Round 1: Diplomatic Solution1W
Sorcery (U)
Target player chooses a creature you don't control. Exile that creature.
[I]"I'm certain we can reach a compromise that serves everyone's best interests."
- Lioka, Grand Ambassadrix
[I]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.[/I]
Round 2: 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
Round 3: 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.
[I]"The welcoming warmth of the Light is a harsh, burning glare to those who thrive in the shadows."
- Lumaros, the Resplendent[/I]
Kiwi, the Closed Circle3BG
Legendary Creature - Human Wizard (M)
Whenever a creature an opponent controls is dealt combat damage, its controller sacrifices it.
The first time a card goes to a graveyard from anywhere each turn, you may put that card on top of its controller's library instead.
2/2
Excellent card. Clearly the winner of the round. My only complaint is that, like CodGod's it could have been pushed further with a higher p/t (or at the very very least, higher thoughness.)
Round 0: Carl, Firemind Tactician2UR Legendary Creature - Human Wizard (MR)
Instant and sorcery spells you cast cost up to UR less to cast.
[I]Elegance and Flare[/I]
1/1
I like efficiency in all things. In my life and magic. Probably one of the many reasons why I like cube so much. HIgh power to cost ratio cards make for killer decks and fun games. I am also a fan of thinking impulsively. I often do not bide my time and just jump in with my mind racing. If I can do something, I probably will. Something new appears I am thinking about what to do with or about it. This applies to magic and my life.
Round 1: KoboldizexUR Sorcery (U)
X target creatures become 0/1 red kobolds.
[I]They are like sheep, but harmless.[/I]
Round 2: 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."
[I]Kamigawa is a land of dreams and spirits. Tricks played upon the living from gods beyond the human realm.[/I]
Round 3: Business PlansU Instant {R}
Counter target green spell. Draw a card for each spell countered this turn.
[I]Nature must make way for progress.[/I]
Larc, the Static World4WBG
Legendary Creature - Spirit Wizard {MR}
Non-black creatures can not attack unless they are enchanted.
Enchantment spells cost 1 more to cast for each creature in your graveyard.
[I]Only those who possess the gift may walk before me.[/I]
5/5
The Notes Obvious Differences:
The name is my name spelled backwards (Carl -> Larc).
My colors were UR and the colors of my opposite are WBG.
My guy makes spells cost less while this guy makes them cost more.
My guy is a 1/1 and this guy is a 5/5.
Things I hate:
1. Stuff that slows the game down.
2. Makes the game non-interactive.
3. Fatties without protection/evasion.
4. Cards that are casual only.
Why this card is what I hate?
1. This slows the game down by making combat nearly non-existent. Only allows black creature to attack.
2. Little to no combat makes it pretty non-interactive. Heaven forbid the opponent is playing an enchantment deck.
3. This guy is super easy to kill.
4. Pretty much a casual only card. The cost and lack of protection make it very prohibitive in competitive play.
Reading your explanations, it seems to me that you were so bent in showing things that make a card unenjoyable... than you ended with an unenjoyeable card :/ I really have little to add to the own criticism you provide yourself.
Round 0: 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.
[I]A mother's love is strong enough to transcend barriers of space, time, and even species.[/I]
1/1
Seems like as good a time as any to repeat my "origin story:" Gerrard's Mom is the nickname friends and I had given to Ramirez DePietro because of the similarity to Gerrard Capashen's art and the fact that the Italian copy of DePietro made the gender somewhat unclear. I'm not any kind of mother, or female even, but it's been a fun forum identity. I am pretty supportive though, both in Magic where I am always trying to get my play group to do things better (casting in Main Phase B!) and in non-gaming life, where I'm currently teaching Japanese. The restriction on the ability was mostly inspired by Rootwalla stuff, but I do prefer to help a bunch of people in turn instead of one person forever. It used to be 2/2 and give +2/+2, but I didn't think that was mythic enough, so I added an ability to make non-creatures lose abilities, reflecting my ability to question and critique, but Eventide says only one ability, so I'll go with this. I guess I'll have to go 1/1 also, definitely not physically a 3/3. On the current Wizards logic that Watchwolf could be mostly outdone (there is the legendary drawback) by a mythic the same way that Baneslayer Angel outdoes Serra Angel.
Round 1: DeposeW
Sorcery (U)
Exile target creature if you control fewer creatures than that creature's controller.
[I]Rule with justice, and rule long. Rule with tyranny, and rule no more.
-Inscription on the Heartcrown of the Vaderan Kings[/I]
Round 2: 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.
[I]Saprolings have developed unusual symbiotic relationships with many other creatures of the forest.[/I]
Round 3: 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.
Mother of Vuel2UBR
Legendary Creature - Human Advisor (M)
If a card would be put into an opponent's graveyard from a zone other than the battlefield, exile that card instead.
You may play cards exiled with Mother of Vuel.
2/4
Thanks Phyrexian Editor, it does appear that the wording requires me to use red as well. Truth be told, I may prefer red to white in many cases, what I like least is the sneakiness and trickery of blue and black, but I guess red occasionally has aspects of that as well. This card lets you steal cards which you mill (UB), discard (B), or counter (U), and also any instants or sorceries that opponents play (UR). My avatar shows how I prefer to win through creature combat; coming out with a good curve, buffing/protecting your creatures, straight beatdown. My card for this round cares about everything but the battlefield, the antithesis of that strategy, and it is particularly good with counterspells, which are probably my least favorite major mechanic to face.
Hmm, the first ability seems WB to me and the second, WU. I'm not seeing the red at all. If not for that, I'd like this card a lot.
Round 0: 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
Like most Aussies, I'm a pretty laid-back guy. I don't take things seriously, I have a great deal of patience, and there's nothing I enjoy more than relaxing and taking a nap. But there's nothing I hate more than conflict, especially between other people. I'm okay if it's happening to me, I usually take things on the chin, shrug it off, and avoid the situation rather than addressing the problem directly. But seeing my friends or my parents fight and argue with each other over the most mundane things makes me sad. It pains me to read and hear in the media about the violence that happens everyday all over the world. But I'm a rather lazy sort of person, so I don't do anything about it. I guess my biggest flaw is that I'm not proactive enough and I rarely take the initiative in any given situation.
I don't play Magic anymore (I attend the Prereleases and that's pretty much the only time I play) but I used to be a casual Spike. I never attended tournaments or anything, but played with my friends at my high school. My decks were usually full of powerful rares and other tournament-worthy cards but for some reason, I would still lose to my friends' Johnny-inspired decks (Splice deck anyone?). So I only care about the best cards, but am not really willing to spend more than $5-10 on a piece of cardboard. When I read the latest set spoilers, I usually go "Crap, terrible, that's awful, this is the worst card I have ever seen in my life...ooh, this could be good! Oh wait, it's 10 to cast, etc..." I find myself often declaring that the latest set is the worst set of all time. My favourite colour is green, but I have a soft spot for blue's ability to annoy and irritate my opponents through counterspells, bounce spells, stealing creatures, and taking additional turns. And there's nothing more Spike-y and blue than good old card advantage (even if there's some sort of drawback involved).
Round 1: Rectify :symw::symw:
Sorcery (U)
Exile target nonland permanent. Its controller gains life equal to its converted mana cost.
[I]“Lay down your weapons. Dispel your magic. Swear a vow of nonviolence and make amends for your wrongdoing.”
—Jacky, Antagonist of War[/I]
Round 2: 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
Round 3: 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. [I](Spells cast or abilities activated before this resolves are unaffected.)[/I]
[I]“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[/I]
Jackie the Inciter1BRG
Legendary Creature - Human Warrior (M)
Whenever Jackie the Inciter attacks, untap target creature an opponent controls and gain control of it until end of turn. It gains haste until end of turn.
At the beginning of each player’s end step, if no creatures attacked this turn, that player sacrifices a creature he or she controlled since the beginning of the turn.
[I]"Live by the sword, or die by my sword—the choice is yours."[/I]
3/3
Given that I'm a dude and my persona is completely passive and opposes conflict (or at least my Round 0 card does), my polar opposite should obviously be female and have elements that strongly encourage fighting and combat. For the record, I actually don't hate aggro. But I find Goblin and Red Deck Wins decks (and red in general) to be an absolute bore. They're just completely one-dimensional in how they play and every single card seems to have an ability/effect that has to do with dealing damage. Like I said - boring.
As for my most despised mechanic, that would be creature stealing. Okay, I find it rather enjoyable when I'M doing the stealing. But at recent Prereleases (which is the only time I play Magic), I have had people Mind Controlling my Serra Angel and my Baneslayer Angel, and Act of Treasoning my blood-thirsted Furyborn Hellkite right after I casted it. C'mon, if you're going to attack me, do it with your own cards, alright?
I like the first ability a lot, but the second one ruins the card, punishing you if you don't play with lots of hasty dudes and forcing you into unfavorable trade-offs. I guess you added it as a drawback for the first ability (and yeah it may affect your opponents too)? But compared with the rest of the cards this round that have only upsides, it comes as a turn off.
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.
Round 2: 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.
Round 3: Witness's Protection :symg::symu:
Instant (R)
Counter target red or black spell or ability that targets you or a permanent you control. You may return target card from your graveyard to your hand. If you do, exile Witness's Protection.
Harbinger of Compleation :3mana::symw::symb::symr:
Legendary Creature - Angel Horror (M)
Infect
:1mana::symw::symb::symr:: Harbinger of Compleation gains Flying until end of turn. Destroy target nonland permanent. Activate this ability only once each turn and only any time you could cast a sorcery.
5/5
There are multiple things about this card that are antagonistic to my play style. First, I hate, hate, hate, hate Infect. Absolutely loathe it.
Second, I hate when you can play a three color card competitively with almost no drawback, three color decks should be inherently risky but it seems that really isn't the case at the moment.
Third, I hate a card that can completely change the game without any real interaction between players. With the angel, I could sit back all day and just start pegging away at permanents.
Lastly, I hate cards that completely invalidate everything I can play with a casting cost of 4 or less which is where I love to play at, stompy is one of my favorite decks of all time.
I have to say I'm not fan of this mixing effects for a single activation. Also, it doesn't feel red at all.
I'm calling it right now- worst rare in the set. Even good limited players will find better bombs at common and uncommon no sweat. Worst. Episode. Ever.
I really do predict this to be our worst rare in set award winner. I'd be happier opening a jar of eyeballs, so I think anything worse is highly unlikely. This card wont just have zero constructed potential, but not be significantly better than a mass of ghouls in a draft.
This basically comes out and wrecks the opponents deck. Well designed. I am not sure of the wording on the second ability though. I think it should read,"Spells with the same name as a card exiled by SalmonDeity have, "As an additional cost to cast this spell, sacrifice a creature.' ". Then again, that doesn't look quite right. Still a great a card though.
Glad you liked it. I wasn't sure how to word it myself at first, so I based it on the oracle text of Brutal Suppression and Drought, so I'm pretty sure the current one is right, although I agree it feels 'off' somehow.
I really like this card, it's an innovative way of applying a well known effect and logically bleeding it into a second color. The only thing I don't like it's its p/t! Even with the powerful abilities, a Mythic with such a heavy colored casting cost should be bigger. At the very least 4/4, so if you play it on an empty board, you'd get a full Memoricide out of it.
Yeah, the card went through a lot of versions, triggering on number of creatures rather than power for a while before I decided power would be cooler to pull it away from only being useful with token swarms (which I like), and for most of it's life it just flat-out didn't let the opponent cast the other copies of exiled cards, rather than requiring a creature sacrifice. At that stage I wanted the small body to make it easier to kill and so it was harder to get one of each spell in their deck, but you're right that 4 is the perfect power for the final version. I think 4/3 would have suited it best, looking back (still in bolt range, can exile a playset by itself), but I was busy with work and didn't have as much time to reconsider the card as a whole after changing tot he current version as I'd have liked. I still think it works, but as a mythic I do think it wanted the 4 power so it can take a playset by itself.
I like the first ability a lot, but the second one ruins the card, punishing you if you don't play with lots of hasty dudes and forcing you into unfavorable trade-offs. I guess you added it as a drawback for the first ability (and yeah it may affect your opponents too)? But compared with the rest of the cards this round that have only upsides, it comes as a turn off.
Just noting that Jau's card doesn't require haste, since you only sacrifice guys that you controlled since the beginning of the turn (in other words, they have to have been able to attack to be eligible for sacrifice, unless they're defenders).
As for the colors on my card, I think red works because it provides a Reverberate for all of the instants or sorceries they run. Some other precedents for similarity are Dralnu, Lich Lord and Recoup letting you get another use out of spells, and Psychic Theft, Praetor's Grasp, and Muse Vessel for casting other people's spells. It is more blue/black than red, though, although three color cards often don't need the third color (Alara block); that works pretty well for the challenge though, since as I mentioned I tend to dislike blue and black more than red.
First thing I notice is your card doesn't work the way it seems like you want it to - the ability triggers when Jackie attacks, by which point you've attacked, so gaining control of another creature and giving haste is useless unless you're going to get another combat phase, as you've already declared your attackers for this one.
Oh yeah...I didn't even realise that. Thanks for pointing that out. Rulings fail on my part.
I don't really think the colour combination fits this card well, as I think this card (assuming the first ability was changed to let you attack with the creature you steal, which seems t be the intent) could be mono-red, or red-black. Green doesn't seem to fit here at all.
Really flavorful card. I do not think it has to be green, but it works.
I agree with the both of you. There was no real way of fitting green into the card I had in mind, so I went with the Rhox War Monk and Broodmate Dragon design philosophy, where the former has nothing to do with blue and the latter has nothing to do with black, and the addition of the third colour simply strengthens the power level of those cards. Yeah, it's a cop out.
Looks like that's the end of my CCL journey this month. Good luck to all those who move onto the next round. I think I'll give CCL a skip for the next few months as I finish up my thesis.
Just noting that Jau's card doesn't require haste, since you only sacrifice guys that you controlled since the beginning of the turn (in other words, they have to have been able to attack to be eligible for sacrifice, unless they're defenders).
Duh, I misread that clause as a failsafe to prevent you from saccing the creatures you stole with it. Now makes much more sense and I like it better. It now deserves an official Honorary mention. Good luck with your thesis too!
As for the colors on my card, I think red works because it provides a Reverberate for all of the instants or sorceries they run. Some other precedents for similarity are Dralnu, Lich Lord and Recoup letting you get another use out of spells, and Psychic Theft, Praetor's Grasp, and Muse Vessel for casting other people's spells. It is more blue/black than red, though, although three color cards often don't need the third color (Alara block); that works pretty well for the challenge though, since as I mentioned I tend to dislike blue and black more than red.
Yeah I got that, I just needed to point it out, as it would have made lots of sense in a WUB creature. Otherwise I liked the card and that's why it got my third vote.
I'm calling it right now- worst rare in the set. Even good limited players will find better bombs at common and uncommon no sweat. Worst. Episode. Ever.
I really do predict this to be our worst rare in set award winner. I'd be happier opening a jar of eyeballs, so I think anything worse is highly unlikely. This card wont just have zero constructed potential, but not be significantly better than a mass of ghouls in a draft.
CodGod - Salmon Diety: A flavorful way to make an effect that looks like it should be some combination of BWU feel BG; seems to represent your pet peeves well also. I tend to build decks the same way you do, it seems, and I would hate to play against this card too!
Gerrard's Mom - Mother of Vuel: I like the clever play in the name, and the contrast between your avatar and nemesis, though I agree with some of our fellow competitors that it doesn't feel red.
Jau - Jackie the Inciter: Great reflection of your avatar, punishing pacifism instead of rewarding it; making it more difficult to fulfill its own conditions by possibly forcing your opponents to ill their own creatures (or sacrificing them yourself before you're done with them) is extra evil. Fun flavor text, too.
Maokun - Omanage, the Odious: Quick note: Your avatar is crazy and I love him. As far as your evil twin goes... a printable, clever effect, but it doesn't feel "big" enough to be mythic to me. I don't mean to say that all mythic creatures need to be massive behemoths, but rather that it should have a broader effect, especially for a legendary creature.
Phyrexian Editor - Self-titled: I like that he basically "edits" another card in your hand into a Hymn to Tourach or Stone Rain, but even if it's costly to pull off, having both effects repeatable on one card is just too mean to be printable. I wouldn't want to play with or against this guy. However, even if it's totally unfun I don't think it's necessarily imbalanced, and it represents what you dislike well.
Timothy, Mimeslayer - Harbinger of Compleation: The whole card just feels weird to me. It's not poorly designed (though I don't like the idea of an angel that doesn't always have flying, I dig the flavor of it "taking off" and leaving destruction in its wake; maybe it would've been better off as a dragon?), but the various parts of the card don't feel tied together well enough.
Twilight Spark - Larc, the Static World: The enchantment focus seems odd to me, as you've haven't expressed any dislike toward them. I do think there's room in this color combo for different kinds of "enchantment matter" cards than we've seen so far, but in the context of the challenge it feels out of place. Considering the number of beneficial enchantments that show up in even casual decks, this might as well say "nonblack creatures can't attack," and the second clause is narrow enough that it will almost never be relevant. In my experience there will be maybe one player running an Enchantress deck, or an Uril EDH deck. That issue aside, overall it does serve as a good counterpart to your avatar.
1. Jau
2. CodGod
3. Gerrard's Mom
Some quick exposition on my own card since I didn't have time to do it earlier: Mr. Closed Circle opposes my core philosophy that Magic is a game, and therefore should be fun for everyone involved above all other concerns, by encouraging stale, unfun game states - especially for newer players, who will be afraid of risking combat and bored seeing the same spells cast over and over (which also goes against my desire for variety and excitement in the game experience).
Round 0: 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
[I]Colours[/I]: 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.
[I]Ability[/I]: 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.
[I]Power and Toughness[/I]: 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
Round 1: 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.
Round 2: Machine Mastery1UW
Enchantment - Aura (C)
Enchant Creature
Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 for each artifact you control. W: Return ~ to owner's hand.
Round 3: 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.
SalmonDeity3BBG
Legendary Creature - Human Reflection
When SalmonDeity enters the battlefield, you may search target opponent's library for a number of nonland cards less than or equal to the total power of creatures you control and exile those cards. If you do, that player shuffles his or her library.
Spells with the same name as cards exiled by SalmonDeity cost an additional "Sacrifice a creature" to cast.
2/2
[I]"Feel the might that opposes you... Let the fear of it drive you from sanity" - SalmonDeity[/I]
This is crowded without the flavor text and impossible to print with it. I would indeed hate playing against this, but I think the abilities don't play very well together. I would rather just exile all the copies of the cards I don't want them to cast. Why take a chance? A good exiling effect wants to eliminate combo parts or unfair cards, and it wants to hit the hand and graveyard as well.
Round 0: 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.
[I]He knew his knack for language would serve him well in rallying others to his cause.[/I]
1/2
Round 1: 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.
[I]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.[/I]
Round 2: 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.
[I]Contrary to popular myth, any kiss will do.[/I]
Round 3: Illuminating Spark3UU
Instant {R}
Damage dealt to you by red sources this turn causes you to draw that many cards.
[I]Inspiration comes easiest when the heat is on.[/I]
Phyrexian Editor2BRG
Legendary Creature - Horror Spellshaper {MR}
Whenever a creature enters the battlefield under an opponent's control, you may pay 1BR and discard a card. If you do, that player discards two cards at random.
Whenever a creature enters the battlefield under your control, you may pay 1RG and discard a card. If you do, destroy target land.
4/3
[I]He makes his corrections with a red pen and a gore-stained sword.[/I]
Things I don't like that this card epitomizes: Discarding cards as a cost. Being forced to discard cards at random. Repeatable land destruction (!!!!!). Keeping track of "when a creature enters the battlefield you may" triggers. Guys that R&D gives uneven P/T so that they die to Lightning Bolt.
WAO THIS CARD IS GENIUS
Round 0: 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.
Round 1: Diplomatic Solution1W
Sorcery (U)
Target player chooses a creature you don't control. Exile that creature.
[i]"I'm certain we can reach a compromise that serves everyone's best interests."
- Lioka, Grand Ambassadrix
[I]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.[/I]
Round 2: 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
Round 3: 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.
[I]"The welcoming warmth of the Light is a harsh, burning glare to those who thrive in the shadows."
- Lumaros, the Resplendent[/I]
Kiwi, the Closed Circle3BG
Legendary Creature - Human Wizard (M)
Whenever a creature an opponent controls is dealt combat damage, its controller sacrifices it.
The first time a card goes to a graveyard from anywhere each turn, you may put that card on top of its controller's library instead.
2/2
I'm not sure "super-deathtouch" is good enough to offset the increase in complexity when Closed Circle could have just granted your creatures deathtouch. I see why you hate these abilities, but I can't see why another kind of player would like them, which was part of the challenge. They just seem annoying. Even new players like drawing new cards.
Round 0: Carl, Firemind Tactician2UR Legendary Creature - Human Wizard (MR)
Instant and sorcery spells you cast cost up to UR less to cast.
[I]Elegance and Flare[/I]
1/1
I like efficiency in all things. In my life and magic. Probably one of the many reasons why I like cube so much. HIgh power to cost ratio cards make for killer decks and fun games. I am also a fan of thinking impulsively. I often do not bide my time and just jump in with my mind racing. If I can do something, I probably will. Something new appears I am thinking about what to do with or about it. This applies to magic and my life.
Round 1: KoboldizexUR Sorcery (U)
X target creatures become 0/1 red kobolds.
[I]They are like sheep, but harmless.[/I]
Round 2: 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."
[I]Kamigawa is a land of dreams and spirits. Tricks played upon the living from gods beyond the human realm.[/I]
Round 3: Business PlansU Instant {R}
Counter target green spell. Draw a card for each spell countered this turn.
[I]Nature must make way for progress.[/I]
Larc, the Static World4WBG
Legendary Creature - Spirit Wizard {MR}
Non-black creatures can not attack unless they are enchanted.
Enchantment spells cost 1 more to cast for each creature in your graveyard.
[I]Only those who possess the gift may walk before me.[/I]
5/5
The Notes Obvious Differences:
The name is my name spelled backwards (Carl -> Larc).
My colors were UR and the colors of my opposite are WBG.
My guy makes spells cost less while this guy makes them cost more.
My guy is a 1/1 and this guy is a 5/5.
Things I hate:
1. Stuff that slows the game down.
2. Makes the game non-interactive.
3. Fatties without protection/evasion.
4. Cards that are casual only.
Why this card is what I hate?
1. This slows the game down by making combat nearly non-existent. Only allows black creature to attack.
2. Little to no combat makes it pretty non-interactive. Heaven forbid the opponent is playing an enchantment deck.
3. This guy is super easy to kill.
4. Pretty much a casual only card. The cost and lack of protection make it very prohibitive in competitive play.
I don't see how he's "super-easy" to kill. He dies to Dismember and Go for the Throat, but not much else. He costs too much to be really useful for the player using him, since by that point you're either dead or in control of the game anyway. His abilities are also way too narrow for me. I do appreciate the mirroring with your legend, but I think you should probably have been a little less exacting in that area in the interests of making a printable card.
Round 0: 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.
[I]A mother's love is strong enough to transcend barriers of space, time, and even species.[/I]
1/1
Seems like as good a time as any to repeat my "origin story:" Gerrard's Mom is the nickname friends and I had given to Ramirez DePietro because of the similarity to Gerrard Capashen's art and the fact that the Italian copy of DePietro made the gender somewhat unclear. I'm not any kind of mother, or female even, but it's been a fun forum identity. I am pretty supportive though, both in Magic where I am always trying to get my play group to do things better (casting in Main Phase B!) and in non-gaming life, where I'm currently teaching Japanese. The restriction on the ability was mostly inspired by Rootwalla stuff, but I do prefer to help a bunch of people in turn instead of one person forever. It used to be 2/2 and give +2/+2, but I didn't think that was mythic enough, so I added an ability to make non-creatures lose abilities, reflecting my ability to question and critique, but Eventide says only one ability, so I'll go with this. I guess I'll have to go 1/1 also, definitely not physically a 3/3. On the current Wizards logic that Watchwolf could be mostly outdone (there is the legendary drawback) by a mythic the same way that Baneslayer Angel outdoes Serra Angel.
Round 1: DeposeW
Sorcery (U)
Exile target creature if you control fewer creatures than that creature's controller.
[I]Rule with justice, and rule long. Rule with tyranny, and rule no more.
-Inscription on the Heartcrown of the Vaderan Kings[/I]
Round 2: 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.
[I]Saprolings have developed unusual symbiotic relationships with many other creatures of the forest.[/I]
Round 3: 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.
Mother of Vuel2UBR
Legendary Creature - Human Advisor (M)
If a card would be put into an opponent's graveyard from a zone other than the battlefield, exile that card instead.
You may play cards exiled with Mother of Vuel.
2/4
Thanks Phyrexian Editor, it does appear that the wording requires me to use red as well. Truth be told, I may prefer red to white in many cases, what I like least is the sneakiness and trickery of blue and black, but I guess red occasionally has aspects of that as well. This card lets you steal cards which you mill (UB), discard (B), or counter (U), and also any instants or sorceries that opponents play (UR). My avatar shows how I prefer to win through creature combat; coming out with a good curve, buffing/protecting your creatures, straight beatdown. My card for this round cares about everything but the battlefield, the antithesis of that strategy, and it is particularly good with counterspells, which are probably my least favorite major mechanic to face.
Awesome. A card I would like, but one that you obviously wouldn't. Great abilities that mirror your legend thematically.
Round 0: 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
Like most Aussies, I'm a pretty laid-back guy. I don't take things seriously, I have a great deal of patience, and there's nothing I enjoy more than relaxing and taking a nap. But there's nothing I hate more than conflict, especially between other people. I'm okay if it's happening to me, I usually take things on the chin, shrug it off, and avoid the situation rather than addressing the problem directly. But seeing my friends or my parents fight and argue with each other over the most mundane things makes me sad. It pains me to read and hear in the media about the violence that happens everyday all over the world. But I'm a rather lazy sort of person, so I don't do anything about it. I guess my biggest flaw is that I'm not proactive enough and I rarely take the initiative in any given situation.
I don't play Magic anymore (I attend the Prereleases and that's pretty much the only time I play) but I used to be a casual Spike. I never attended tournaments or anything, but played with my friends at my high school. My decks were usually full of powerful rares and other tournament-worthy cards but for some reason, I would still lose to my friends' Johnny-inspired decks (Splice deck anyone?). So I only care about the best cards, but am not really willing to spend more than $5-10 on a piece of cardboard. When I read the latest set spoilers, I usually go "Crap, terrible, that's awful, this is the worst card I have ever seen in my life...ooh, this could be good! Oh wait, it's 10 to cast, etc..." I find myself often declaring that the latest set is the worst set of all time. My favourite colour is green, but I have a soft spot for blue's ability to annoy and irritate my opponents through counterspells, bounce spells, stealing creatures, and taking additional turns. And there's nothing more Spike-y and blue than good old card advantage (even if there's some sort of drawback involved).
Round 1: Rectify :symw::symw:
Sorcery (U)
Exile target nonland permanent. Its controller gains life equal to its converted mana cost.
[I]“Lay down your weapons. Dispel your magic. Swear a vow of nonviolence and make amends for your wrongdoing.”
—Jacky, Antagonist of War[/I]
Round 2: 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
Round 3: 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. [I](Spells cast or abilities activated before this resolves are unaffected.)[/I]
[I]“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[/I]
Jackie the Inciter1BRG
Legendary Creature - Human Warrior (M)
Whenever Jackie the Inciter attacks, untap target creature an opponent controls and gain control of it until end of turn. It gains haste until end of turn.
At the beginning of each player’s end step, if no creatures attacked this turn, that player sacrifices a creature he or she controlled since the beginning of the turn.
[I]"Live by the sword, or die by my sword—the choice is yours."[/I]
3/3
Given that I'm a dude and my persona is completely passive and opposes conflict (or at least my Round 0 card does), my polar opposite should obviously be female and have elements that strongly encourage fighting and combat. For the record, I actually don't hate aggro. But I find Goblin and Red Deck Wins decks (and red in general) to be an absolute bore. They're just completely one-dimensional in how they play and every single card seems to have an ability/effect that has to do with dealing damage. Like I said - boring.
As for my most despised mechanic, that would be creature stealing. Okay, I find it rather enjoyable when I'M doing the stealing. But at recent Prereleases (which is the only time I play Magic), I have had people Mind Controlling my Serra Angel and my Baneslayer Angel, and Act of Treasoning my blood-thirsted Furyborn Hellkite right after I casted it. C'mon, if you're going to attack me, do it with your own cards, alright?
Unfortunately, since the first ability triggers on attacking, you can't attack with the guy you stole, which makes it only useful for marginal combos. The second ability is too complex. Compare to Sheoldred. The "he or she controlled since the beginning of the turn" is too much.
Round 0: Maokun of a Thousand Skills :symg::symw::symu:
Legendary Creature - Human Rogue (M)
Vigilance
You play with your hand and the top card of your library revealed.
Maokun of a Thousand Skills has all activated abilities of nonplaneswalker permanents you control and nonplaneswalker permanent cards in your hand and on top of library.
1/3
Round 1: Profitable BanishmentWU
Sorcery (U)
Exile target creature. That creature controller's draws a card.
Draw a card.
Round 2: Alertness1
Enchantment - Aura (C)
Enchant creature.
Enchanted creature has hexproof.
:symgu:, return Alertness to its owner's hand: Untap enchanted creature.
Round 3: Discerning Justice1W
Instant (R)
Exile target permanent, then choose one - Return that permanent to the battlefield under its owner's control, or return that permanent to the battlefield under its owner's control at the beginning of the end step.
If that permanent is black or red, you may choose not to return it to the battlefield instead.
Omanage, the Odious1BR
Legendary Creature - Human Wizard (M)
[I]Imprint[/I] - When Omanage, the Odious enters the battlefield, look at target opponent's hand. Exile a nonland card from it.
Whenever that player casts a spell that shares a card type with the exiled card, Omanage deals 3 damage to him or her.
2/3
This is very nice work. Simple but powerful and creative. I guess it technically has "two" abilities.
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.
Round 2: 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.
Round 3: Witness's Protection :symg::symu:
Instant (R)
Counter target red or black spell or ability that targets you or a permanent you control. You may return target card from your graveyard to your hand. If you do, exile Witness's Protection.
Harbinger of Compleation :3mana::symw::symb::symr:
Legendary Creature - Angel Horror (M)
Infect
:1mana::symw::symb::symr:: Harbinger of Compleation gains Flying until end of turn. Destroy target nonland permanent. Activate this ability only once each turn and only any time you could cast a sorcery.
5/5
There are multiple things about this card that are antagonistic to my play style. First, I hate, hate, hate, hate Infect. Absolutely loathe it.
Second, I hate when you can play a three color card competitively with almost no drawback, three color decks should be inherently risky but it seems that really isn't the case at the moment.
Third, I hate a card that can completely change the game without any real interaction between players. With the angel, I could sit back all day and just start pegging away at permanents.
Lastly, I hate cards that completely invalidate everything I can play with a casting cost of 4 or less which is where I love to play at, stompy is one of my favorite decks of all time.
I feel for you re: midrange decks, which are totally dead at the moment. Flying doesn't have to be capitalized. I can't really think of anything else that's wrong with this. It might be overpowered, but I don't think so.
Round 4/Top 8: Face 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
Round 3: Indulge Yourself
Top 8
CodGod
Gerrard's Mom
Jau
Maokun
Phyrexian Editor
Timothy, Mimeslayer
Twilight Kiwi
TwilightSpark
The Narrative
You watch, more than a little disturbed, as more and more of the other competitors dissolve into raw data, then blow away like pillars of salt in a strong wind. There are now only eight of you remaining, and you know you have survived into the fourth round. Instinctively, you begin to walk towards another competitor, mentally preparing for a head-to-head match.
You expect this challenge to take quite a bit of cunning, and you prepare your bag of new tricks to do some damage. Just before you reach striking distance, a mirror pops up halfway between you and your adversary. You can see your reflection from here, but it looks... distorted in some way. A moment later, you find yourself cursing the name of Lewis Carroll as your reflection steps out of the mirror and advances at you.
The Challenge
Design a Mythic Rare Legendary Creature that is your polar opposite. Using the two or three colors you did not initially choose (if your sign up card is :symw::symu:, this card must be :symb::symr::symg:), create a "negative" of yourself, embodying not only those color philosophies, but also styles of play you despise.
The card should have two abilities (activated, triggered, and/or static) that prominently display mechanics or aspects of MtG which you would rather not see ever printed - or loathe when you do see them.
Critiques
You will have three days after the end of the submission period to post Top 3 and/or Critiques for the other seven contestants. The four highest scoring submissions will advance.
Round 4 ends at 23:59 Eastern on 28 July 2011. Top 3/Crits will be due by 23:59 Eastern on 31 July 2011.
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.
Legendary Creature - Horror Spellshaper {MR}
Whenever a creature enters the battlefield under an opponent's control, you may pay 1BR and discard a card. If you do, that player discards two cards at random.
Whenever a creature enters the battlefield under your control, you may pay 1RG and discard a card. If you do, destroy target land.
4/3
He makes his corrections with a red pen and a gore-stained sword.
Things I don't like that this card epitomizes: Discarding cards as a cost. Being forced to discard cards at random. Repeatable land destruction (!!!!!). Keeping track of "when a creature enters the battlefield you may" triggers. Guys that R&D gives uneven P/T so that they die to Lightning Bolt.
Some examples:
Aggro has Urabrask
Control has Teferi, Circu, Augustin, etc.
Mill has Laquatus
Discard has Gwen Di Corci
Combo has Johnny
If you don't have a particular style you despise, then make it as strong of a polar opposite to your card as you can.
EDIT: Talk about timing. From today's Making Magic:
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
Legendary Creature - Human Wizard (M)
Whenever a creature an opponent controls is dealt combat damage, its controller sacrifices it.
The first time a card goes to a graveyard from anywhere each turn, you may put that card on top of its controller's library instead.
2/2
My First (And Probably Only) MCC Perfect Score: December 09 (Round One)
[Clan Flamingo] Tier Archivist
[15:21] <@CC> Remember, if you argue, you are an idiot.
Untrophied Wins:
Perfect MCC Scores: 2
---------------------------------------------------------------
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.
Business Plans U
Instant {R}
Counter target green spell. Draw a card for each spell countered this turn.
Nature must make way for progress.
Round 4: Face Yourself
The Challenge
Design a Mythic Rare Legendary Creature that is your polar opposite. Using the two or three colors you did not initially choose (if your sign up card is , this card must be ), create a "negative" of yourself, embodying not only those color philosophies, but also styles of play you despise.
The card should have two abilities (activated, triggered, and/or static) that prominently display mechanics or aspects of MtG which you would rather not see ever printed - or loathe when you do see them.
The Submission
The Notes
Obvious Differences:
The name is a misspelling. (Carl -> Larc).
My colors were UR and the colors of my opposite are WBG.
My guy makes spells cost less while this guy makes them cost more.
My guy is a 1/1 and this guy is a 5/5.
Things I hate:
1. Stuff that slows the game down.
2. Makes the game non-interactive.
3. Fatties without protection/evasion.
4. Cards that are casual only.
Why this card is what I hate?
1. This slows the game down by making combat nearly non-existent. Only allows black creature to attack.
2. Little to no combat makes it pretty non-interactive. Heaven forbid the opponent is playing an enchantment deck.
3. This guy is super easy to kill.
4. Pretty much a casual only card. The cost and lack of protection make it very prohibitive in competitive play.
Avatar by Hakai Studios
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.
Nemesis:
SalmonDeity 3BBG
Legendary Creature - Human Reflection
When SalmonDeity enters the battlefield, you may search target opponent's library for a number of nonland cards less than or equal to the total power of creatures you control and exile those cards. If you do, that player shuffles his or her library.
Spells with the same name as cards exiled by SalmonDeity cost an additional "Sacrifice a creature" to cast.
2/2
"Feel the might that opposes you... Let the fear of it drive you from sanity" - SalmonDeity
I don't tend to dislike strategies in general, as I think pretty much everything's fine in moderation. Counterspells, mill, discard, land destruction are all fine by me, provided you put that deck away for the next game and do something different. But I do have a certain dislike for having the ability to have ever tried to play my spells taken from me - I have a tendancy to make decks around one or two cards I think are cool (I have a Spellbound Dragon deck, for example, based pretty much entirely around Spellbound Dragons). I don't mind that someone's probably going to remove or counter my stuff if it looks like a threat, but pulling all of them out of the deck before I see them removes a lot of the fun.
I couldn't really decide whether it was worse to simply remove all copies of a thing or remove one and then stop others from being played, so to increase the versatility of the card, it can play both games - if you remove only one of each card, you prevent a lot more spells being cast, but lose that when he dies. If you take all copies of something you're not blocking further copies, but they won't have any even after he dies.
This card prevents other people from drawing the cards they want, or being able to even try to get them out. It picks on one opponent in a big way, where I prefer my nastiness to be able to be more evenly distributed, as I play multiplayer and prefer not to have one guy get all the pain and then sit there uselessly while the rest of the game finishes. The card punishes running random one-off interesting cards in favour of playsets, where I love throwing a couple of singleton cards int he deck to spice things up and add variety.
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.
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.
Legendary Creature - Human Advisor (M)
If a card would be put into an opponent's graveyard from a zone other than the battlefield, exile that card instead. Ignore this effect for cards you control.
You may play cards exiled with Mother of Vuel.
2/4
Thanks Phyrexian Editor, it does appear that the wording requires me to use red as well. Truth be told, I may prefer red to white in many cases, what I like least is the sneakiness and trickery of blue and black, but I guess red occasionally has aspects of that as well. This card lets you steal cards which you mill (UB), discard (B), or counter (U), and also any instants or sorceries that opponents play (UR). My avatar shows how I prefer to win through creature combat; coming out with a good curve, buffing/protecting your creatures, straight beatdown. My card for this round cares about everything but the battlefield, the antithesis of that strategy, and it is particularly good with counterspells, which are probably my least favorite major mechanic to face.
I was under the impression that we were required to use ALL the colors we didn't choose, so you'd have to go UBR.
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
Legendary Creature - Human Warrior (M)
Whenever Jackie the Inciter attacks, untap target creature an opponent controls and gain control of it until end of turn. It gains haste until end of turn.
At the beginning of each player’s end step, if no creatures attacked this turn, that player sacrifices a creature he or she controlled since the beginning of the turn.
"Live by the sword, or die by my sword—the choice is yours."
3/3
As for my most despised mechanic, that would be creature stealing. Okay, I find it rather enjoyable when I'M doing the stealing. But at recent Prereleases (which is the only time I play Magic), I have had people Mind Controlling my Serra Angel and my Baneslayer Angel, and Act of Treasoning my blood-thirsted Furyborn Hellkite right after I casted it. C'mon, if you're going to attack me, do it with your own cards, alright?
Gerrard's Mom: On the surface, Mother of Vuel looks exceedingly strong. Like you said, discard spells and milling would fill up the exiled zone real quick, but how this automatically exiles instant and sorcery spells that opponents play without you needing to do anything is bonkers. There needs to be some sort of cost for the triggered ability to limit the craziness of this card. Given Mother of Vuel’s three colours, it would not be difficult to play your opponent spells, and you’ll probably take a few of their :symg:- and :symw:-producing lands along the way as well. It doesn’t hurt that Mother of Vuel also stops graveyard tricks such as Dredge in their tracks.
What is worrying though, is where the cards go when you play one of the exiled spells. There doesn’t seem to be anything stopping you from replaying the spells over and over again. Considering the card’s brokenness, I think Mother of Yawgmoth would be a more appropriate name. It’s definitely very control-ish, but it is slightly less powerful against creature-based decks, which is what your avatar symbolises. Creative? Yes. Unbalanced? Also yes.
Maokun: Ouch, an excellent counter to the Magic persona of yourself. Based on your Round 4 card, I take it that you dislike playing against discard, burn, and cards that are generally punitive in nature?. Omanage, the Odious is pretty strong, and either naming artifact or creature against the right deck would have opponents think twice about playing further spells if they don’t have a removal spell. I can’t fault this card at all; it looks very printable as a Blood Oath variant, and it would see play if it was printed. Excellent card.
Phyrexian Editor: You don’t like discarding cards as a cost? Man, you must not have been a big fan of the Mercadian Masques and Odyssey blocks then. The mechanics of the card I don’t like…..but that’s only because you have done such a fine job of creating a creature that people (yourself included) would hate! Otherwise, I feel that the triggered abilities cost too much to use – for example, paying an additional 1RG on top of any mana you have to pay to play a creature spell seems like a big ask compared to a big creature that destroy lands such as Helldozer. The flavor text is written very nicely and connects perfectly with your online persona. But I have no idea what role a Phyrexian editor would play if it actually existed in the Magic storyline.
Timothy, Mimeslayer: I also share your intense dislike of Infect. Poison just sucks! Your card, however, does not suck and actually seems pretty damn good. Two swings, and the opponent is as good as gone, while you Vindicate any flier or potential threat along the way. In that sense, I think adding 1 or 2 more mana to its casting cost would make it more balanced. An angel without flying does seem a little weird though – I guess it’s okay since there have been times when something as iconic as dragons don’t automatically have flying either (e.g. Hellkite Hatchling). I like the name of this card – Harbinger of Compleation just sounds very, very cool.
Twilight Kiwi: I’m a little confused as to how Kiwi, the Closed Circle, opposes your ideology and the aspects of Magic that you like. I’m guessing that your avatar thrives on interactions (from the redirecting and copying of spells) but the first ability of your Round 4 card doesn’t? It basically grants all your creatures deathtouch, which doesn’t make the combat phase particularly fun or entertaining to play out. I’m also scratching my head at the purpose of the second ability. It’s a combo enabler of sorts, it allows things to be replayed over multiple turns, it’s an anti-graveyard strategy, and there’s a connection with the name of your card. There is some synergy between the two abilities but I don’t think anyone would want to return an opponent’s creature from their graveyard to the top of their library. The card seems to lack a bit of focus. An explanation of the design decisions for this card would have been helpful.
TwilightSpark: For the record, I like this FAQ set-up explaining the reasoning behind the design of your card. Larc, the Static World, feels most like a mythic rare and a legendary creature than any other entry in this round. I think it might be because of its high casting cost and the fact that it’s one big fattie. As a variant of Moat, Larc is very unique and I like its creativeness. It would fit right into an inevitable enchantment block that R&D would (hopefully) one day make. It’s a little disappointing that the abilities of Carl and Larc don’t interact with each other, but otherwise it’s a very likeable card that you have designed here.
2) TwilightSpark
3) Codgod
An honourable mention to Timothy, Mimeslayer.
Legendary Creature - Human Rogue (M)
Vigilance
You play with your hand and the top card of your library revealed.
Maokun of a Thousand Skills has all activated abilities of nonplaneswalker permanents you control and nonplaneswalker permanent cards in your hand and on top of library.
1/3
Profitable Banishment WU
Sorcery (U)
Exile target creature. That creature controller's draws a card.
Draw a card.
Alertness 1
Enchantment - Aura (C)
Enchant creature.
Enchanted creature has hexproof.
:symgu:, return Alertness to its owner's hand: Untap enchanted creature.
Discerning Justice 1W
Instant (R)
Exile target permanent, then choose one - Return that permanent to the battlefield under its owner's control, or return that permanent to the battlefield under its owner's control at the beginning of the end step.
If that permanent is black or red, you may choose not to return it to the battlefield instead.
A nemesis appears:
Omanage, the Odious 1BR
Legendary Creature - Human Wizard (M)
Imprint - When Omanage, the Odious enters the battlefield, look at target opponent's hand. Exile a nonland card from it.
Whenever that player casts a spell that shares a card type with the exiled card, Omanage deals 3 damage to him or her.
2/3
My Legend
Uncommon Sorcery
Aura
Hoser
Harbinger of Compleation :3mana::symw::symb::symr:
Legendary Creature - Angel Horror (M)
Infect
:1mana::symw::symb::symr:: Harbinger of Compleation gains Flying until end of turn. Destroy target nonland permanent. Activate this ability only once each turn and only any time you could cast a sorcery.
5/5
There are multiple things about this card that are antagonistic to my play style. First, I hate, hate, hate, hate Infect. Absolutely loathe it.
Second, I hate when you can play a three color card competitively with almost no drawback, three color decks should be inherently risky but it seems that really isn't the case at the moment.
Third, I hate a card that can completely change the game without any real interaction between players. With the angel, I could sit back all day and just start pegging away at permanents.
Lastly, I hate cards that completely invalidate everything I can play with a casting cost of 4 or less which is where I love to play at, stompy is one of my favorite decks of all time.
CodGod - Seems a bit too powerful for me as it can completely lock anyone down if you have a decent size creature out when you play this and there can be nothing they can do about it if this resolves. 7/10
Gerrard's Mom - I love it, I also like how you included Magic Lore into it. But yeah, the fact that you still have to pay the mana cost totally balances this. Also that when you play the spells it then goes to their graveyard keeps this from being really abusive. Love it 10/10
Jau - Probably should say "Whenever Jackie the Inciter attacks, gain control of target creature an opponent controls until end of turn. That creature becomes tapped and attacking." or something to that effect which I am sure is what you are going for. Once you play this guy then it essentially becomes a slugging match back and forth since they don't want to waste a creature so they will most assuredly attack and you probably won't block and then from that point forward, creatures would probably just keep going through unblocked. 7/10
Maokun - It is targeted discard in a body and then can punish them for it later. I kinda don't see this as mythic, more of a really good rare. I mean, if it had flying and was a spectre, hell yeah that would be mythic. 8/10
Phyrexian Editor - I agree, repeatable land destruction is overpowered. It being 3 colors though and boltable/incinerateable though kinda helps make up for that. Overall, I would say that it is of the correct power level. 8/10
Timothy, Mimeslayer - Obligatory Best Card Ever To Be Imagined. Just coming up with this idea should guarantee him a job at WotC R&D. Card is all around perfect in every way from mechanics to flavor. I wonder why it hasn't seen print yet. 12/10
Twilight Kiwi - That would be pretty sick in EDH. Would also be awesome as a general in a resurrection deck since you could continuously bring back cards like exhume. 9/10
TwilightSpark - This card kinda annoys me as it does exactly what you say, slows down the game to a crawl since nobody can really do anything until this guy is destroyed. Seems balanced enough for his cost. 8/10
3. Maokun
2. Twilight Kiwi
1. Gerrard's Mom
Ben, Linguophile 2WU
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.
[I]He knew his knack for language would serve him well in rallying others to his cause.[/I]
1/2
Round 1:
Spellbind 1UU
Instant {U}
Tap target creature. As long as Spellbind is in your graveyard, that creature doesn't untap during its controller's untap step.
[I]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.[/I]
Round 2:
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.
[I]Contrary to popular myth, any kiss will do.[/I]
Round 3:
Illuminating Spark 3UU
Instant {R}
Damage dealt to you by red sources this turn causes you to draw that many cards.
[I]Inspiration comes easiest when the heat is on.[/I]
Legendary Creature - Horror Spellshaper {MR}
Whenever a creature enters the battlefield under an opponent's control, you may pay 1BR and discard a card. If you do, that player discards two cards at random.
Whenever a creature enters the battlefield under your control, you may pay 1RG and discard a card. If you do, destroy target land.
4/3
[I]He makes his corrections with a red pen and a gore-stained sword.[/I]
Things I don't like that this card epitomizes: Discarding cards as a cost. Being forced to discard cards at random. Repeatable land destruction (!!!!!). Keeping track of "when a creature enters the battlefield you may" triggers. Guys that R&D gives uneven P/T so that they die to Lightning Bolt.
Twilight Kiwi RWU
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.
Round 1:
Diplomatic Solution 1W
Sorcery (U)
Target player chooses a creature you don't control. Exile that creature.
[I]"I'm certain we can reach a compromise that serves everyone's best interests."
- Lioka, Grand Ambassadrix
[I]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.[/I]
Round 2:
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
Round 3:
Dawn's Light 1W
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.
[I]"The welcoming warmth of the Light is a harsh, burning glare to those who thrive in the shadows."
- Lumaros, the Resplendent[/I]
Legendary Creature - Human Wizard (M)
Whenever a creature an opponent controls is dealt combat damage, its controller sacrifices it.
The first time a card goes to a graveyard from anywhere each turn, you may put that card on top of its controller's library instead.
2/2
I the second ability is way too powerful, as far as I can tell.
If they block any of your creatures then they'll lose the blocker, and that means you've got at least one card to pop on top of the deck. So they have to chose between not blocking at all or never drawing a new card. Given that even if they don't block any removal spell means you can keep up the lock this is really brutal. And of course you can do the same again if they attack, putting another card between them and anything new they could draw. If they don't have removal for this guy in hand, they're going to have a really, really tough time drawing it. If they do kill it and it's the first thing to die, it's own ability can put it on top of your deck.
And then on top of that, it can instead let you reuse an instant or sorcery spell every turn provided you don't let things die before that spell resolves. So you can play time walk in your precombat main phase, and you'll be able to put that on top of your deck to cast again next time unless the opponent has an instant to play in response. I think that ability needed to be limited to only apply to opponent's graveyards, and even then it's still really good.
It does a good job of opposing the boring, static gamestates you expressed dislike for in your round 0 post, and generally does a good job of fitting the challenge, but unfortunately the card is just way too good.
Carl, Firemind Tactician 2UR
Legendary Creature - Human Wizard (MR)
Instant and sorcery spells you cast cost up to UR less to cast.
[I]Elegance and Flare[/I]
1/1
I like efficiency in all things. In my life and magic. Probably one of the many reasons why I like cube so much. HIgh power to cost ratio cards make for killer decks and fun games. I am also a fan of thinking impulsively. I often do not bide my time and just jump in with my mind racing. If I can do something, I probably will. Something new appears I am thinking about what to do with or about it. This applies to magic and my life.
Round 1:
Koboldize xUR
Sorcery (U)
X target creatures become 0/1 red kobolds.
[I]They are like sheep, but harmless.[/I]
Round 2:
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."
[I]Kamigawa is a land of dreams and spirits. Tricks played upon the living from gods beyond the human realm.[/I]
Round 3:
Business Plans U
Instant {R}
Counter target green spell. Draw a card for each spell countered this turn.
[I]Nature must make way for progress.[/I]
Legendary Creature - Spirit Wizard {MR}
Non-black creatures can not attack unless they are enchanted.
Enchantment spells cost 1 more to cast for each creature in your graveyard.
[I]Only those who possess the gift may walk before me.[/I]
5/5
The Notes
Obvious Differences:
The name is my name spelled backwards (Carl -> Larc).
My colors were UR and the colors of my opposite are WBG.
My guy makes spells cost less while this guy makes them cost more.
My guy is a 1/1 and this guy is a 5/5.
Things I hate:
1. Stuff that slows the game down.
2. Makes the game non-interactive.
3. Fatties without protection/evasion.
4. Cards that are casual only.
Why this card is what I hate?
1. This slows the game down by making combat nearly non-existent. Only allows black creature to attack.
2. Little to no combat makes it pretty non-interactive. Heaven forbid the opponent is playing an enchantment deck.
3. This guy is super easy to kill.
4. Pretty much a casual only card. The cost and lack of protection make it very prohibitive in competitive play.
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.
[I]A mother's love is strong enough to transcend barriers of space, time, and even species.[/I]
1/1
Seems like as good a time as any to repeat my "origin story:" Gerrard's Mom is the nickname friends and I had given to Ramirez DePietro because of the similarity to Gerrard Capashen's art and the fact that the Italian copy of DePietro made the gender somewhat unclear. I'm not any kind of mother, or female even, but it's been a fun forum identity. I am pretty supportive though, both in Magic where I am always trying to get my play group to do things better (casting in Main Phase B!) and in non-gaming life, where I'm currently teaching Japanese. The restriction on the ability was mostly inspired by Rootwalla stuff, but I do prefer to help a bunch of people in turn instead of one person forever. It used to be 2/2 and give +2/+2, but I didn't think that was mythic enough, so I added an ability to make non-creatures lose abilities, reflecting my ability to question and critique, but Eventide says only one ability, so I'll go with this. I guess I'll have to go 1/1 also, definitely not physically a 3/3.
On the current Wizards logic that Watchwolf could be mostly outdone (there is the legendary drawback) by a mythic the same way that Baneslayer Angel outdoes Serra Angel.Round 1:
Depose W
Sorcery (U)
Exile target creature if you control fewer creatures than that creature's controller.
[I]Rule with justice, and rule long. Rule with tyranny, and rule no more.
-Inscription on the Heartcrown of the Vaderan Kings[/I]
Round 2:
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.
[I]Saprolings have developed unusual symbiotic relationships with many other creatures of the forest.[/I]
Round 3:
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.
Legendary Creature - Human Advisor (M)
If a card would be put into an opponent's graveyard from a zone other than the battlefield, exile that card instead.
You may play cards exiled with Mother of Vuel.
2/4
Thanks Phyrexian Editor, it does appear that the wording requires me to use red as well. Truth be told, I may prefer red to white in many cases, what I like least is the sneakiness and trickery of blue and black, but I guess red occasionally has aspects of that as well. This card lets you steal cards which you mill (UB), discard (B), or counter (U), and also any instants or sorceries that opponents play (UR). My avatar shows how I prefer to win through creature combat; coming out with a good curve, buffing/protecting your creatures, straight beatdown. My card for this round cares about everything but the battlefield, the antithesis of that strategy, and it is particularly good with counterspells, which are probably my least favorite major mechanic to face.
I could see this card being printed with the name and type changed, although I suspect Wizards would have the P/T on this card differently (maybe 3/3).
Jacky, Antagonist of War 1WU
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
Like most Aussies, I'm a pretty laid-back guy. I don't take things seriously, I have a great deal of patience, and there's nothing I enjoy more than relaxing and taking a nap. But there's nothing I hate more than conflict, especially between other people. I'm okay if it's happening to me, I usually take things on the chin, shrug it off, and avoid the situation rather than addressing the problem directly. But seeing my friends or my parents fight and argue with each other over the most mundane things makes me sad. It pains me to read and hear in the media about the violence that happens everyday all over the world. But I'm a rather lazy sort of person, so I don't do anything about it. I guess my biggest flaw is that I'm not proactive enough and I rarely take the initiative in any given situation.
I don't play Magic anymore (I attend the Prereleases and that's pretty much the only time I play) but I used to be a casual Spike. I never attended tournaments or anything, but played with my friends at my high school. My decks were usually full of powerful rares and other tournament-worthy cards but for some reason, I would still lose to my friends' Johnny-inspired decks (Splice deck anyone?). So I only care about the best cards, but am not really willing to spend more than $5-10 on a piece of cardboard. When I read the latest set spoilers, I usually go "Crap, terrible, that's awful, this is the worst card I have ever seen in my life...ooh, this could be good! Oh wait, it's 10 to cast, etc..." I find myself often declaring that the latest set is the worst set of all time. My favourite colour is green, but I have a soft spot for blue's ability to annoy and irritate my opponents through counterspells, bounce spells, stealing creatures, and taking additional turns. And there's nothing more Spike-y and blue than good old card advantage (even if there's some sort of drawback involved).
Round 1:
Rectify :symw::symw:
Sorcery (U)
Exile target nonland permanent. Its controller gains life equal to its converted mana cost.
[I]“Lay down your weapons. Dispel your magic. Swear a vow of nonviolence and make amends for your wrongdoing.”
—Jacky, Antagonist of War[/I]
Round 2:
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
Round 3:
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. [I](Spells cast or abilities activated before this resolves are unaffected.)[/I]
[I]“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[/I]
Legendary Creature - Human Warrior (M)
Whenever Jackie the Inciter attacks, untap target creature an opponent controls and gain control of it until end of turn. It gains haste until end of turn.
At the beginning of each player’s end step, if no creatures attacked this turn, that player sacrifices a creature he or she controlled since the beginning of the turn.
[I]"Live by the sword, or die by my sword—the choice is yours."[/I]
3/3
Given that I'm a dude and my persona is completely passive and opposes conflict (or at least my Round 0 card does), my polar opposite should obviously be female and have elements that strongly encourage fighting and combat. For the record, I actually don't hate aggro. But I find Goblin and Red Deck Wins decks (and red in general) to be an absolute bore. They're just completely one-dimensional in how they play and every single card seems to have an ability/effect that has to do with dealing damage. Like I said - boring.
As for my most despised mechanic, that would be creature stealing. Okay, I find it rather enjoyable when I'M doing the stealing. But at recent Prereleases (which is the only time I play Magic), I have had people Mind Controlling my Serra Angel and my Baneslayer Angel, and Act of Treasoning my blood-thirsted Furyborn Hellkite right after I casted it. C'mon, if you're going to attack me, do it with your own cards, alright?
You said in your Round 0 post you "have a soft spot for blue's ability to annoy and irritate my opponents through counterspells, bounce spells, stealing creatures" (emphasis mine), yet here you're putting creature stealing as something you hate, so I'm not convinced that that aspect of your card is really working for strategies which you're opposed to, since you admit you like stealing when you do it. I also don't think the 'encouraging combat' part came off well as being in opposition to your first card here - you're avatar encourages your opponents to be aggressive by giving you card advantage if they're not, where this one punishes them if they're not aggressive - the methods used are different, but in fact they're both encouraging the opponent(s) to attack. They do however, require you to act in completely opposite ways to get the benefit from them, so it does work in that respect.
I don't really think the colour combination fits this card well, as I think this card (assuming the first ability was changed to let you attack with the creature you steal, which seems t be the intent) could be mono-red, or red-black. Green doesn't seem to fit here at all.
I admit it's a sometimes a fine line, but this one doesn't feel mythic to me, but seems more at home as a rare. It just doesn't really have the 'wow' factor a mythic ought to (although I'd say the same about some cards which have been printed as mythics).
Maokun of a Thousand Skills :symg::symw::symu:
Legendary Creature - Human Rogue (M)
Vigilance
You play with your hand and the top card of your library revealed.
Maokun of a Thousand Skills has all activated abilities of nonplaneswalker permanents you control and nonplaneswalker permanent cards in your hand and on top of library.
1/3
Round 1:
Profitable Banishment WU
Sorcery (U)
Exile target creature. That creature controller's draws a card.
Draw a card.
Round 2:
Alertness 1
Enchantment - Aura (C)
Enchant creature.
Enchanted creature has hexproof.
:symgu:, return Alertness to its owner's hand: Untap enchanted creature.
Round 3:
Discerning Justice 1W
Instant (R)
Exile target permanent, then choose one - Return that permanent to the battlefield under its owner's control, or return that permanent to the battlefield under its owner's control at the beginning of the end step.
If that permanent is black or red, you may choose not to return it to the battlefield instead.
Legendary Creature - Human Wizard (M)
[I]Imprint[/I] - When Omanage, the Odious enters the battlefield, look at target opponent's hand. Exile a nonland card from it.
Whenever that player casts a spell that shares a card type with the exiled card, Omanage deals 3 damage to him or her.
2/3
On a side note, it amuses me that it seems like the class types of this card and your avatar would fit better with the effects if swapped.
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.
Round 2:
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.
Round 3:
Witness's Protection :symg::symu:
Instant (R)
Counter target red or black spell or ability that targets you or a permanent you control. You may return target card from your graveyard to your hand. If you do, exile Witness's Protection.
Legendary Creature - Angel Horror (M)
Infect
:1mana::symw::symb::symr:: Harbinger of Compleation gains Flying until end of turn. Destroy target nonland permanent. Activate this ability only once each turn and only any time you could cast a sorcery.
5/5
There are multiple things about this card that are antagonistic to my play style. First, I hate, hate, hate, hate Infect. Absolutely loathe it.
Second, I hate when you can play a three color card competitively with almost no drawback, three color decks should be inherently risky but it seems that really isn't the case at the moment.
Third, I hate a card that can completely change the game without any real interaction between players. With the angel, I could sit back all day and just start pegging away at permanents.
Lastly, I hate cards that completely invalidate everything I can play with a casting cost of 4 or less which is where I love to play at, stompy is one of my favorite decks of all time.
I think this card has fallen on the too powerful side. It kills in two hits, has evasion, and can blow up a flying blocker each turn if they do have one. This is basically going to win the game if you get to untap with it most of the time, and while not having protection from removal means it isn't completely broken in half, reducing the game to "I win if you don't have an answer this turn" means it's too swingy. At 4/4 I think I'd be a lot more okay with it (can't kill all by itself in two hits, so more chance for the opponent to get an answer), or otherwise if destroying things didn't grant it flying as well. As is, I don't think this could see print.
The card for the most part fits the things you hate as you describe, but I find it interesting to note that you said "I hate a card that can completely change the game without any real interaction between players. With the angel, I could sit back all day and just start pegging away at permanents", when it seems to me this could be applied to a large extent to your avatar card from round 1 as well - you can sit back and not play creatures to gain significant card advantage without necessarily interacting with opponents. I'm also not sure I agree that it can "completely invalidate everything I can play with a casting cost of 4 or less", since the only thing keeping the card from being ridiculously broken is it doesn't have any protection from removal (other than being black, which only matters for a small subset of removal cards), and most removal costs less than 4.
I don't see any reason this card is red other than to fit the round requirements, especially since it can't hit lands. This feels like a straight WB card to me.
Top 3:
1: Gerrard's Mom
2: Phyrexian Editor
3: Maokun
EDIT: Since I seem to be the first to post crits, I'm posting in the spoiler below the template I made before inserting my crits into it, with my own one added as well, so you can all copy that and remove your own card if you want to save the trouble of copy-pasting all those cards around to your own posts. I went back to the Round 0 thread to grab people's explanations of why their avatar fit them if they were given, since those seemed relevant to judging how well the cards for this round opposed those values.
CodGod RUW
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
[I]Colours[/I]: 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.
[I]Ability[/I]: 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.
[I]Power and Toughness[/I]: 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
Round 1:
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.
Round 2:
Machine Mastery 1UW
Enchantment - Aura (C)
Enchant Creature
Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 for each artifact you control.
W: Return ~ to owner's hand.
Round 3:
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.
Legendary Creature - Human Reflection
When SalmonDeity enters the battlefield, you may search target opponent's library for a number of nonland cards less than or equal to the total power of creatures you control and exile those cards. If you do, that player shuffles his or her library.
Spells with the same name as cards exiled by SalmonDeity cost an additional "Sacrifice a creature" to cast.
2/2
[I]"Feel the might that opposes you... Let the fear of it drive you from sanity" - SalmonDeity[/I]
Ben, Linguophile 2WU
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.
[I]He knew his knack for language would serve him well in rallying others to his cause.[/I]
1/2
Round 1:
Spellbind 1UU
Instant {U}
Tap target creature. As long as Spellbind is in your graveyard, that creature doesn't untap during its controller's untap step.
[I]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.[/I]
Round 2:
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.
[I]Contrary to popular myth, any kiss will do.[/I]
Round 3:
Illuminating Spark 3UU
Instant {R}
Damage dealt to you by red sources this turn causes you to draw that many cards.
[I]Inspiration comes easiest when the heat is on.[/I]
Legendary Creature - Horror Spellshaper {MR}
Whenever a creature enters the battlefield under an opponent's control, you may pay 1BR and discard a card. If you do, that player discards two cards at random.
Whenever a creature enters the battlefield under your control, you may pay 1RG and discard a card. If you do, destroy target land.
4/3
[I]He makes his corrections with a red pen and a gore-stained sword.[/I]
Things I don't like that this card epitomizes: Discarding cards as a cost. Being forced to discard cards at random. Repeatable land destruction (!!!!!). Keeping track of "when a creature enters the battlefield you may" triggers. Guys that R&D gives uneven P/T so that they die to Lightning Bolt.
Twilight Kiwi RWU
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.
Round 1:
Diplomatic Solution 1W
Sorcery (U)
Target player chooses a creature you don't control. Exile that creature.
[I]"I'm certain we can reach a compromise that serves everyone's best interests."
- Lioka, Grand Ambassadrix
[I]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.[/I]
Round 2:
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
Round 3:
Dawn's Light 1W
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.
[I]"The welcoming warmth of the Light is a harsh, burning glare to those who thrive in the shadows."
- Lumaros, the Resplendent[/I]
Legendary Creature - Human Wizard (M)
Whenever a creature an opponent controls is dealt combat damage, its controller sacrifices it.
The first time a card goes to a graveyard from anywhere each turn, you may put that card on top of its controller's library instead.
2/2
Carl, Firemind Tactician 2UR
Legendary Creature - Human Wizard (MR)
Instant and sorcery spells you cast cost up to UR less to cast.
[I]Elegance and Flare[/I]
1/1
I like efficiency in all things. In my life and magic. Probably one of the many reasons why I like cube so much. HIgh power to cost ratio cards make for killer decks and fun games. I am also a fan of thinking impulsively. I often do not bide my time and just jump in with my mind racing. If I can do something, I probably will. Something new appears I am thinking about what to do with or about it. This applies to magic and my life.
Round 1:
Koboldize xUR
Sorcery (U)
X target creatures become 0/1 red kobolds.
[I]They are like sheep, but harmless.[/I]
Round 2:
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."
[I]Kamigawa is a land of dreams and spirits. Tricks played upon the living from gods beyond the human realm.[/I]
Round 3:
Business Plans U
Instant {R}
Counter target green spell. Draw a card for each spell countered this turn.
[I]Nature must make way for progress.[/I]
Legendary Creature - Spirit Wizard {MR}
Non-black creatures can not attack unless they are enchanted.
Enchantment spells cost 1 more to cast for each creature in your graveyard.
[I]Only those who possess the gift may walk before me.[/I]
5/5
The Notes
Obvious Differences:
The name is my name spelled backwards (Carl -> Larc).
My colors were UR and the colors of my opposite are WBG.
My guy makes spells cost less while this guy makes them cost more.
My guy is a 1/1 and this guy is a 5/5.
Things I hate:
1. Stuff that slows the game down.
2. Makes the game non-interactive.
3. Fatties without protection/evasion.
4. Cards that are casual only.
Why this card is what I hate?
1. This slows the game down by making combat nearly non-existent. Only allows black creature to attack.
2. Little to no combat makes it pretty non-interactive. Heaven forbid the opponent is playing an enchantment deck.
3. This guy is super easy to kill.
4. Pretty much a casual only card. The cost and lack of protection make it very prohibitive in competitive play.
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.
[I]A mother's love is strong enough to transcend barriers of space, time, and even species.[/I]
1/1
Seems like as good a time as any to repeat my "origin story:" Gerrard's Mom is the nickname friends and I had given to Ramirez DePietro because of the similarity to Gerrard Capashen's art and the fact that the Italian copy of DePietro made the gender somewhat unclear. I'm not any kind of mother, or female even, but it's been a fun forum identity. I am pretty supportive though, both in Magic where I am always trying to get my play group to do things better (casting in Main Phase B!) and in non-gaming life, where I'm currently teaching Japanese. The restriction on the ability was mostly inspired by Rootwalla stuff, but I do prefer to help a bunch of people in turn instead of one person forever. It used to be 2/2 and give +2/+2, but I didn't think that was mythic enough, so I added an ability to make non-creatures lose abilities, reflecting my ability to question and critique, but Eventide says only one ability, so I'll go with this. I guess I'll have to go 1/1 also, definitely not physically a 3/3.
On the current Wizards logic that Watchwolf could be mostly outdone (there is the legendary drawback) by a mythic the same way that Baneslayer Angel outdoes Serra Angel.Round 1:
Depose W
Sorcery (U)
Exile target creature if you control fewer creatures than that creature's controller.
[I]Rule with justice, and rule long. Rule with tyranny, and rule no more.
-Inscription on the Heartcrown of the Vaderan Kings[/I]
Round 2:
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.
[I]Saprolings have developed unusual symbiotic relationships with many other creatures of the forest.[/I]
Round 3:
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.
Legendary Creature - Human Advisor (M)
If a card would be put into an opponent's graveyard from a zone other than the battlefield, exile that card instead.
You may play cards exiled with Mother of Vuel.
2/4
Thanks Phyrexian Editor, it does appear that the wording requires me to use red as well. Truth be told, I may prefer red to white in many cases, what I like least is the sneakiness and trickery of blue and black, but I guess red occasionally has aspects of that as well. This card lets you steal cards which you mill (UB), discard (B), or counter (U), and also any instants or sorceries that opponents play (UR). My avatar shows how I prefer to win through creature combat; coming out with a good curve, buffing/protecting your creatures, straight beatdown. My card for this round cares about everything but the battlefield, the antithesis of that strategy, and it is particularly good with counterspells, which are probably my least favorite major mechanic to face.
Jacky, Antagonist of War 1WU
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
Like most Aussies, I'm a pretty laid-back guy. I don't take things seriously, I have a great deal of patience, and there's nothing I enjoy more than relaxing and taking a nap. But there's nothing I hate more than conflict, especially between other people. I'm okay if it's happening to me, I usually take things on the chin, shrug it off, and avoid the situation rather than addressing the problem directly. But seeing my friends or my parents fight and argue with each other over the most mundane things makes me sad. It pains me to read and hear in the media about the violence that happens everyday all over the world. But I'm a rather lazy sort of person, so I don't do anything about it. I guess my biggest flaw is that I'm not proactive enough and I rarely take the initiative in any given situation.
I don't play Magic anymore (I attend the Prereleases and that's pretty much the only time I play) but I used to be a casual Spike. I never attended tournaments or anything, but played with my friends at my high school. My decks were usually full of powerful rares and other tournament-worthy cards but for some reason, I would still lose to my friends' Johnny-inspired decks (Splice deck anyone?). So I only care about the best cards, but am not really willing to spend more than $5-10 on a piece of cardboard. When I read the latest set spoilers, I usually go "Crap, terrible, that's awful, this is the worst card I have ever seen in my life...ooh, this could be good! Oh wait, it's 10 to cast, etc..." I find myself often declaring that the latest set is the worst set of all time. My favourite colour is green, but I have a soft spot for blue's ability to annoy and irritate my opponents through counterspells, bounce spells, stealing creatures, and taking additional turns. And there's nothing more Spike-y and blue than good old card advantage (even if there's some sort of drawback involved).
Round 1:
Rectify :symw::symw:
Sorcery (U)
Exile target nonland permanent. Its controller gains life equal to its converted mana cost.
[I]“Lay down your weapons. Dispel your magic. Swear a vow of nonviolence and make amends for your wrongdoing.”
—Jacky, Antagonist of War[/I]
Round 2:
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
Round 3:
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. [I](Spells cast or abilities activated before this resolves are unaffected.)[/I]
[I]“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[/I]
Legendary Creature - Human Warrior (M)
Whenever Jackie the Inciter attacks, untap target creature an opponent controls and gain control of it until end of turn. It gains haste until end of turn.
At the beginning of each player’s end step, if no creatures attacked this turn, that player sacrifices a creature he or she controlled since the beginning of the turn.
[I]"Live by the sword, or die by my sword—the choice is yours."[/I]
3/3
Given that I'm a dude and my persona is completely passive and opposes conflict (or at least my Round 0 card does), my polar opposite should obviously be female and have elements that strongly encourage fighting and combat. For the record, I actually don't hate aggro. But I find Goblin and Red Deck Wins decks (and red in general) to be an absolute bore. They're just completely one-dimensional in how they play and every single card seems to have an ability/effect that has to do with dealing damage. Like I said - boring.
As for my most despised mechanic, that would be creature stealing. Okay, I find it rather enjoyable when I'M doing the stealing. But at recent Prereleases (which is the only time I play Magic), I have had people Mind Controlling my Serra Angel and my Baneslayer Angel, and Act of Treasoning my blood-thirsted Furyborn Hellkite right after I casted it. C'mon, if you're going to attack me, do it with your own cards, alright?
Maokun of a Thousand Skills :symg::symw::symu:
Legendary Creature - Human Rogue (M)
Vigilance
You play with your hand and the top card of your library revealed.
Maokun of a Thousand Skills has all activated abilities of nonplaneswalker permanents you control and nonplaneswalker permanent cards in your hand and on top of library.
1/3
Round 1:
Profitable Banishment WU
Sorcery (U)
Exile target creature. That creature controller's draws a card.
Draw a card.
Round 2:
Alertness 1
Enchantment - Aura (C)
Enchant creature.
Enchanted creature has hexproof.
:symgu:, return Alertness to its owner's hand: Untap enchanted creature.
Round 3:
Discerning Justice 1W
Instant (R)
Exile target permanent, then choose one - Return that permanent to the battlefield under its owner's control, or return that permanent to the battlefield under its owner's control at the beginning of the end step.
If that permanent is black or red, you may choose not to return it to the battlefield instead.
Legendary Creature - Human Wizard (M)
[I]Imprint[/I] - When Omanage, the Odious enters the battlefield, look at target opponent's hand. Exile a nonland card from it.
Whenever that player casts a spell that shares a card type with the exiled card, Omanage deals 3 damage to him or her.
2/3
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.
Round 2:
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.
Round 3:
Witness's Protection :symg::symu:
Instant (R)
Counter target red or black spell or ability that targets you or a permanent you control. You may return target card from your graveyard to your hand. If you do, exile Witness's Protection.
Legendary Creature - Angel Horror (M)
Infect
:1mana::symw::symb::symr:: Harbinger of Compleation gains Flying until end of turn. Destroy target nonland permanent. Activate this ability only once each turn and only any time you could cast a sorcery.
5/5
There are multiple things about this card that are antagonistic to my play style. First, I hate, hate, hate, hate Infect. Absolutely loathe it.
Second, I hate when you can play a three color card competitively with almost no drawback, three color decks should be inherently risky but it seems that really isn't the case at the moment.
Third, I hate a card that can completely change the game without any real interaction between players. With the angel, I could sit back all day and just start pegging away at permanents.
Lastly, I hate cards that completely invalidate everything I can play with a casting cost of 4 or less which is where I love to play at, stompy is one of my favorite decks of all time.
The connections are just too hard to follow. Suture Priest does the same trick but with connected effects; you gain life or they lose it. It's also a riff on the well established Soul Warden effect. Discard and draw, or ramp and land destruction, might be reasonable, or you could cut one of the effects, but as it is it's too complicated to make an effective and splashy mythic.
Twilight Kiwi
What happened to you loving GU? Anyway, apparently you hate Chimney Imp effects. A 5 cost 2/2 doesn't seem very awesome for mythic, especially since he really wants to hang with first strike guys but isn't in red or white. I guess it's supposed to be super deathtouch. The second ability would sure be annoying, I'll agree there. Putting stuff on top of the library is an interesting green/black(/blue) effect that hasn't been explored much, but probably because stuff like Plow Under was so annoying. Using it on your own stuff opens a lot of possibilities.
TwilightSpark
Pretty sure Carl spelled backwards is Lrac, but ok. This guy is totally random when you just look at him in a vacuum; Brainspoil is about the closest black has ever come to interacting with enchantments in this way. The non-black part is pretty random, and the second ability is pretty terrible, as in there are way better ways to hose opposing enchantments. I don't know that being a casual card is a play style per se or a requirement of this round, basically just looks like you made a really janky card.
CodGod
Cute name and creature type. I'm pretty sure, however, that the best mashup of the black "capping" ability with green would be a big tramply guy that exiles cards equal to the damage he deals to the player, like a giant Rootwater Thief. Keying off of power is neat, and could certainly be a big pain, but I feel like I want more reusability out of a mythic.
Jau
It gets the aggression going, but yeah, you want to somehow make the guy you steal attack alongside, otherwise it's fairly useless. The abilities mesh reasonably well and the stats are mythic worthy, although if we didn't have the restrictions you'd expect to see haste. Being female is interesting.
Maokun
Pretty high on the power spectrum, but that's what I think we should shoot for this round. It definitely feels like a normal rare though (probably only 2/2 or smaller), with a concise, targeted effect instead of a universal one. He wrecks your avatar pretty well.
Timothy, Mimeslayer
I'm not sure I get the flavor here; it jumps and destroys something at the same time? These are fairly odd colors for infect, and the effect is at the same time generic and odd.
2. Maokun
3. CodGod
CodGod RUW
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
[I]Colours[/I]: 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.
[I]Ability[/I]: 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.
[I]Power and Toughness[/I]: 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
Round 1:
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.
Round 2:
Machine Mastery 1UW
Enchantment - Aura (C)
Enchant Creature
Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 for each artifact you control.
W: Return ~ to owner's hand.
Round 3:
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.
Legendary Creature - Human Reflection
When SalmonDeity enters the battlefield, you may search target opponent's library for a number of nonland cards less than or equal to the total power of creatures you control and exile those cards. If you do, that player shuffles his or her library.
Spells with the same name as cards exiled by SalmonDeity cost an additional "Sacrifice a creature" to cast.
2/2
[I]"Feel the might that opposes you... Let the fear of it drive you from sanity" - SalmonDeity[/I]
Ben, Linguophile 2WU
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.
[I]He knew his knack for language would serve him well in rallying others to his cause.[/I]
1/2
Round 1:
Spellbind 1UU
Instant {U}
Tap target creature. As long as Spellbind is in your graveyard, that creature doesn't untap during its controller's untap step.
[I]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.[/I]
Round 2:
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.
[I]Contrary to popular myth, any kiss will do.[/I]
Round 3:
Illuminating Spark 3UU
Instant {R}
Damage dealt to you by red sources this turn causes you to draw that many cards.
[I]Inspiration comes easiest when the heat is on.[/I]
Legendary Creature - Horror Spellshaper {MR}
Whenever a creature enters the battlefield under an opponent's control, you may pay 1BR and discard a card. If you do, that player discards two cards at random.
Whenever a creature enters the battlefield under your control, you may pay 1RG and discard a card. If you do, destroy target land.
4/3
[I]He makes his corrections with a red pen and a gore-stained sword.[/I]
Things I don't like that this card epitomizes: Discarding cards as a cost. Being forced to discard cards at random. Repeatable land destruction (!!!!!). Keeping track of "when a creature enters the battlefield you may" triggers. Guys that R&D gives uneven P/T so that they die to Lightning Bolt.
Twilight Kiwi RWU
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.
Round 1:
Diplomatic Solution 1W
Sorcery (U)
Target player chooses a creature you don't control. Exile that creature.
[I]"I'm certain we can reach a compromise that serves everyone's best interests."
- Lioka, Grand Ambassadrix
[I]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.[/I]
Round 2:
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
Round 3:
Dawn's Light 1W
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.
[I]"The welcoming warmth of the Light is a harsh, burning glare to those who thrive in the shadows."
- Lumaros, the Resplendent[/I]
Legendary Creature - Human Wizard (M)
Whenever a creature an opponent controls is dealt combat damage, its controller sacrifices it.
The first time a card goes to a graveyard from anywhere each turn, you may put that card on top of its controller's library instead.
2/2
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.
[I]A mother's love is strong enough to transcend barriers of space, time, and even species.[/I]
1/1
Seems like as good a time as any to repeat my "origin story:" Gerrard's Mom is the nickname friends and I had given to Ramirez DePietro because of the similarity to Gerrard Capashen's art and the fact that the Italian copy of DePietro made the gender somewhat unclear. I'm not any kind of mother, or female even, but it's been a fun forum identity. I am pretty supportive though, both in Magic where I am always trying to get my play group to do things better (casting in Main Phase B!) and in non-gaming life, where I'm currently teaching Japanese. The restriction on the ability was mostly inspired by Rootwalla stuff, but I do prefer to help a bunch of people in turn instead of one person forever. It used to be 2/2 and give +2/+2, but I didn't think that was mythic enough, so I added an ability to make non-creatures lose abilities, reflecting my ability to question and critique, but Eventide says only one ability, so I'll go with this. I guess I'll have to go 1/1 also, definitely not physically a 3/3.
On the current Wizards logic that Watchwolf could be mostly outdone (there is the legendary drawback) by a mythic the same way that Baneslayer Angel outdoes Serra Angel.Round 1:
Depose W
Sorcery (U)
Exile target creature if you control fewer creatures than that creature's controller.
[I]Rule with justice, and rule long. Rule with tyranny, and rule no more.
-Inscription on the Heartcrown of the Vaderan Kings[/I]
Round 2:
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.
[I]Saprolings have developed unusual symbiotic relationships with many other creatures of the forest.[/I]
Round 3:
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.
Legendary Creature - Human Advisor (M)
If a card would be put into an opponent's graveyard from a zone other than the battlefield, exile that card instead.
You may play cards exiled with Mother of Vuel.
2/4
Thanks Phyrexian Editor, it does appear that the wording requires me to use red as well. Truth be told, I may prefer red to white in many cases, what I like least is the sneakiness and trickery of blue and black, but I guess red occasionally has aspects of that as well. This card lets you steal cards which you mill (UB), discard (B), or counter (U), and also any instants or sorceries that opponents play (UR). My avatar shows how I prefer to win through creature combat; coming out with a good curve, buffing/protecting your creatures, straight beatdown. My card for this round cares about everything but the battlefield, the antithesis of that strategy, and it is particularly good with counterspells, which are probably my least favorite major mechanic to face.
Jacky, Antagonist of War 1WU
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
Like most Aussies, I'm a pretty laid-back guy. I don't take things seriously, I have a great deal of patience, and there's nothing I enjoy more than relaxing and taking a nap. But there's nothing I hate more than conflict, especially between other people. I'm okay if it's happening to me, I usually take things on the chin, shrug it off, and avoid the situation rather than addressing the problem directly. But seeing my friends or my parents fight and argue with each other over the most mundane things makes me sad. It pains me to read and hear in the media about the violence that happens everyday all over the world. But I'm a rather lazy sort of person, so I don't do anything about it. I guess my biggest flaw is that I'm not proactive enough and I rarely take the initiative in any given situation.
I don't play Magic anymore (I attend the Prereleases and that's pretty much the only time I play) but I used to be a casual Spike. I never attended tournaments or anything, but played with my friends at my high school. My decks were usually full of powerful rares and other tournament-worthy cards but for some reason, I would still lose to my friends' Johnny-inspired decks (Splice deck anyone?). So I only care about the best cards, but am not really willing to spend more than $5-10 on a piece of cardboard. When I read the latest set spoilers, I usually go "Crap, terrible, that's awful, this is the worst card I have ever seen in my life...ooh, this could be good! Oh wait, it's 10 to cast, etc..." I find myself often declaring that the latest set is the worst set of all time. My favourite colour is green, but I have a soft spot for blue's ability to annoy and irritate my opponents through counterspells, bounce spells, stealing creatures, and taking additional turns. And there's nothing more Spike-y and blue than good old card advantage (even if there's some sort of drawback involved).
Round 1:
Rectify :symw::symw:
Sorcery (U)
Exile target nonland permanent. Its controller gains life equal to its converted mana cost.
[I]“Lay down your weapons. Dispel your magic. Swear a vow of nonviolence and make amends for your wrongdoing.”
—Jacky, Antagonist of War[/I]
Round 2:
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
Round 3:
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. [I](Spells cast or abilities activated before this resolves are unaffected.)[/I]
[I]“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[/I]
Legendary Creature - Human Warrior (M)
Whenever Jackie the Inciter attacks, untap target creature an opponent controls and gain control of it until end of turn. It gains haste until end of turn.
At the beginning of each player’s end step, if no creatures attacked this turn, that player sacrifices a creature he or she controlled since the beginning of the turn.
[I]"Live by the sword, or die by my sword—the choice is yours."[/I]
3/3
Given that I'm a dude and my persona is completely passive and opposes conflict (or at least my Round 0 card does), my polar opposite should obviously be female and have elements that strongly encourage fighting and combat. For the record, I actually don't hate aggro. But I find Goblin and Red Deck Wins decks (and red in general) to be an absolute bore. They're just completely one-dimensional in how they play and every single card seems to have an ability/effect that has to do with dealing damage. Like I said - boring.
As for my most despised mechanic, that would be creature stealing. Okay, I find it rather enjoyable when I'M doing the stealing. But at recent Prereleases (which is the only time I play Magic), I have had people Mind Controlling my Serra Angel and my Baneslayer Angel, and Act of Treasoning my blood-thirsted Furyborn Hellkite right after I casted it. C'mon, if you're going to attack me, do it with your own cards, alright?
Maokun of a Thousand Skills :symg::symw::symu:
Legendary Creature - Human Rogue (M)
Vigilance
You play with your hand and the top card of your library revealed.
Maokun of a Thousand Skills has all activated abilities of nonplaneswalker permanents you control and nonplaneswalker permanent cards in your hand and on top of library.
1/3
Round 1:
Profitable Banishment WU
Sorcery (U)
Exile target creature. That creature controller's draws a card.
Draw a card.
Round 2:
Alertness 1
Enchantment - Aura (C)
Enchant creature.
Enchanted creature has hexproof.
:symgu:, return Alertness to its owner's hand: Untap enchanted creature.
Round 3:
Discerning Justice 1W
Instant (R)
Exile target permanent, then choose one - Return that permanent to the battlefield under its owner's control, or return that permanent to the battlefield under its owner's control at the beginning of the end step.
If that permanent is black or red, you may choose not to return it to the battlefield instead.
Legendary Creature - Human Wizard (M)
[I]Imprint[/I] - When Omanage, the Odious enters the battlefield, look at target opponent's hand. Exile a nonland card from it.
Whenever that player casts a spell that shares a card type with the exiled card, Omanage deals 3 damage to him or her.
2/3
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.
Round 2:
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.
Round 3:
Witness's Protection :symg::symu:
Instant (R)
Counter target red or black spell or ability that targets you or a permanent you control. You may return target card from your graveyard to your hand. If you do, exile Witness's Protection.
Legendary Creature - Angel Horror (M)
Infect
:1mana::symw::symb::symr:: Harbinger of Compleation gains Flying until end of turn. Destroy target nonland permanent. Activate this ability only once each turn and only any time you could cast a sorcery.
5/5
There are multiple things about this card that are antagonistic to my play style. First, I hate, hate, hate, hate Infect. Absolutely loathe it.
Second, I hate when you can play a three color card competitively with almost no drawback, three color decks should be inherently risky but it seems that really isn't the case at the moment.
Third, I hate a card that can completely change the game without any real interaction between players. With the angel, I could sit back all day and just start pegging away at permanents.
Lastly, I hate cards that completely invalidate everything I can play with a casting cost of 4 or less which is where I love to play at, stompy is one of my favorite decks of all time.
Top 3:
1. Maokun
2. TwilightKiwi
3. Phyrexian Editor
Avatar by Hakai Studios
CodGod RUW
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
[I]Colours[/I]: 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.
[I]Ability[/I]: 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.
[I]Power and Toughness[/I]: 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
Round 1:
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.
Round 2:
Machine Mastery 1UW
Enchantment - Aura (C)
Enchant Creature
Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 for each artifact you control.
W: Return ~ to owner's hand.
Round 3:
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.
Legendary Creature - Human Reflection
When SalmonDeity enters the battlefield, you may search target opponent's library for a number of nonland cards less than or equal to the total power of creatures you control and exile those cards. If you do, that player shuffles his or her library.
Spells with the same name as cards exiled by SalmonDeity cost an additional "Sacrifice a creature" to cast.
2/2
[I]"Feel the might that opposes you... Let the fear of it drive you from sanity" - SalmonDeity[/I]
I really like this card, it's an innovative way of applying a well known effect and logically bleeding it into a second color. The only thing I don't like it's its p/t! Even with the powerful abilities, a Mythic with such a heavy colored casting cost should be bigger. At the very least 4/4, so if you play it on an empty board, you'd get a full Memoricide out of it.
Ben, Linguophile 2WU
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.
[I]He knew his knack for language would serve him well in rallying others to his cause.[/I]
1/2
Round 1:
Spellbind 1UU
Instant {U}
Tap target creature. As long as Spellbind is in your graveyard, that creature doesn't untap during its controller's untap step.
[I]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.[/I]
Round 2:
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.
[I]Contrary to popular myth, any kiss will do.[/I]
Round 3:
Illuminating Spark 3UU
Instant {R}
Damage dealt to you by red sources this turn causes you to draw that many cards.
[I]Inspiration comes easiest when the heat is on.[/I]
Legendary Creature - Horror Spellshaper {MR}
Whenever a creature enters the battlefield under an opponent's control, you may pay 1BR and discard a card. If you do, that player discards two cards at random.
Whenever a creature enters the battlefield under your control, you may pay 1RG and discard a card. If you do, destroy target land.
4/3
[I]He makes his corrections with a red pen and a gore-stained sword.[/I]
Things I don't like that this card epitomizes: Discarding cards as a cost. Being forced to discard cards at random. Repeatable land destruction (!!!!!). Keeping track of "when a creature enters the battlefield you may" triggers. Guys that R&D gives uneven P/T so that they die to Lightning Bolt.
What I like best of this card is the flavor text, which is brilliant. The mechanics are a bit too convoluted and unsynergistic. I was disappointed when I read that the second ability didn't mirror the first by having you draw cards and lose life, and though I understand you wanted to show your despising for land destruction, that got in the way of making your card more grokkable and better rounded up.
Twilight Kiwi RWU
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.
Round 1:
Diplomatic Solution 1W
Sorcery (U)
Target player chooses a creature you don't control. Exile that creature.
[I]"I'm certain we can reach a compromise that serves everyone's best interests."
- Lioka, Grand Ambassadrix
[I]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.[/I]
Round 2:
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
Round 3:
Dawn's Light 1W
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.
[I]"The welcoming warmth of the Light is a harsh, burning glare to those who thrive in the shadows."
- Lumaros, the Resplendent[/I]
Legendary Creature - Human Wizard (M)
Whenever a creature an opponent controls is dealt combat damage, its controller sacrifices it.
The first time a card goes to a graveyard from anywhere each turn, you may put that card on top of its controller's library instead.
2/2
Excellent card. Clearly the winner of the round. My only complaint is that, like CodGod's it could have been pushed further with a higher p/t (or at the very very least, higher thoughness.)
Carl, Firemind Tactician 2UR
Legendary Creature - Human Wizard (MR)
Instant and sorcery spells you cast cost up to UR less to cast.
[I]Elegance and Flare[/I]
1/1
I like efficiency in all things. In my life and magic. Probably one of the many reasons why I like cube so much. HIgh power to cost ratio cards make for killer decks and fun games. I am also a fan of thinking impulsively. I often do not bide my time and just jump in with my mind racing. If I can do something, I probably will. Something new appears I am thinking about what to do with or about it. This applies to magic and my life.
Round 1:
Koboldize xUR
Sorcery (U)
X target creatures become 0/1 red kobolds.
[I]They are like sheep, but harmless.[/I]
Round 2:
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."
[I]Kamigawa is a land of dreams and spirits. Tricks played upon the living from gods beyond the human realm.[/I]
Round 3:
Business Plans U
Instant {R}
Counter target green spell. Draw a card for each spell countered this turn.
[I]Nature must make way for progress.[/I]
Legendary Creature - Spirit Wizard {MR}
Non-black creatures can not attack unless they are enchanted.
Enchantment spells cost 1 more to cast for each creature in your graveyard.
[I]Only those who possess the gift may walk before me.[/I]
5/5
The Notes
Obvious Differences:
The name is my name spelled backwards (Carl -> Larc).
My colors were UR and the colors of my opposite are WBG.
My guy makes spells cost less while this guy makes them cost more.
My guy is a 1/1 and this guy is a 5/5.
Things I hate:
1. Stuff that slows the game down.
2. Makes the game non-interactive.
3. Fatties without protection/evasion.
4. Cards that are casual only.
Why this card is what I hate?
1. This slows the game down by making combat nearly non-existent. Only allows black creature to attack.
2. Little to no combat makes it pretty non-interactive. Heaven forbid the opponent is playing an enchantment deck.
3. This guy is super easy to kill.
4. Pretty much a casual only card. The cost and lack of protection make it very prohibitive in competitive play.
Reading your explanations, it seems to me that you were so bent in showing things that make a card unenjoyable... than you ended with an unenjoyeable card :/ I really have little to add to the own criticism you provide yourself.
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.
[I]A mother's love is strong enough to transcend barriers of space, time, and even species.[/I]
1/1
Seems like as good a time as any to repeat my "origin story:" Gerrard's Mom is the nickname friends and I had given to Ramirez DePietro because of the similarity to Gerrard Capashen's art and the fact that the Italian copy of DePietro made the gender somewhat unclear. I'm not any kind of mother, or female even, but it's been a fun forum identity. I am pretty supportive though, both in Magic where I am always trying to get my play group to do things better (casting in Main Phase B!) and in non-gaming life, where I'm currently teaching Japanese. The restriction on the ability was mostly inspired by Rootwalla stuff, but I do prefer to help a bunch of people in turn instead of one person forever. It used to be 2/2 and give +2/+2, but I didn't think that was mythic enough, so I added an ability to make non-creatures lose abilities, reflecting my ability to question and critique, but Eventide says only one ability, so I'll go with this. I guess I'll have to go 1/1 also, definitely not physically a 3/3.
On the current Wizards logic that Watchwolf could be mostly outdone (there is the legendary drawback) by a mythic the same way that Baneslayer Angel outdoes Serra Angel.Round 1:
Depose W
Sorcery (U)
Exile target creature if you control fewer creatures than that creature's controller.
[I]Rule with justice, and rule long. Rule with tyranny, and rule no more.
-Inscription on the Heartcrown of the Vaderan Kings[/I]
Round 2:
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.
[I]Saprolings have developed unusual symbiotic relationships with many other creatures of the forest.[/I]
Round 3:
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.
Legendary Creature - Human Advisor (M)
If a card would be put into an opponent's graveyard from a zone other than the battlefield, exile that card instead.
You may play cards exiled with Mother of Vuel.
2/4
Thanks Phyrexian Editor, it does appear that the wording requires me to use red as well. Truth be told, I may prefer red to white in many cases, what I like least is the sneakiness and trickery of blue and black, but I guess red occasionally has aspects of that as well. This card lets you steal cards which you mill (UB), discard (B), or counter (U), and also any instants or sorceries that opponents play (UR). My avatar shows how I prefer to win through creature combat; coming out with a good curve, buffing/protecting your creatures, straight beatdown. My card for this round cares about everything but the battlefield, the antithesis of that strategy, and it is particularly good with counterspells, which are probably my least favorite major mechanic to face.
Hmm, the first ability seems WB to me and the second, WU. I'm not seeing the red at all. If not for that, I'd like this card a lot.
Jacky, Antagonist of War 1WU
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
Like most Aussies, I'm a pretty laid-back guy. I don't take things seriously, I have a great deal of patience, and there's nothing I enjoy more than relaxing and taking a nap. But there's nothing I hate more than conflict, especially between other people. I'm okay if it's happening to me, I usually take things on the chin, shrug it off, and avoid the situation rather than addressing the problem directly. But seeing my friends or my parents fight and argue with each other over the most mundane things makes me sad. It pains me to read and hear in the media about the violence that happens everyday all over the world. But I'm a rather lazy sort of person, so I don't do anything about it. I guess my biggest flaw is that I'm not proactive enough and I rarely take the initiative in any given situation.
I don't play Magic anymore (I attend the Prereleases and that's pretty much the only time I play) but I used to be a casual Spike. I never attended tournaments or anything, but played with my friends at my high school. My decks were usually full of powerful rares and other tournament-worthy cards but for some reason, I would still lose to my friends' Johnny-inspired decks (Splice deck anyone?). So I only care about the best cards, but am not really willing to spend more than $5-10 on a piece of cardboard. When I read the latest set spoilers, I usually go "Crap, terrible, that's awful, this is the worst card I have ever seen in my life...ooh, this could be good! Oh wait, it's 10 to cast, etc..." I find myself often declaring that the latest set is the worst set of all time. My favourite colour is green, but I have a soft spot for blue's ability to annoy and irritate my opponents through counterspells, bounce spells, stealing creatures, and taking additional turns. And there's nothing more Spike-y and blue than good old card advantage (even if there's some sort of drawback involved).
Round 1:
Rectify :symw::symw:
Sorcery (U)
Exile target nonland permanent. Its controller gains life equal to its converted mana cost.
[I]“Lay down your weapons. Dispel your magic. Swear a vow of nonviolence and make amends for your wrongdoing.”
—Jacky, Antagonist of War[/I]
Round 2:
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
Round 3:
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. [I](Spells cast or abilities activated before this resolves are unaffected.)[/I]
[I]“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[/I]
Legendary Creature - Human Warrior (M)
Whenever Jackie the Inciter attacks, untap target creature an opponent controls and gain control of it until end of turn. It gains haste until end of turn.
At the beginning of each player’s end step, if no creatures attacked this turn, that player sacrifices a creature he or she controlled since the beginning of the turn.
[I]"Live by the sword, or die by my sword—the choice is yours."[/I]
3/3
Given that I'm a dude and my persona is completely passive and opposes conflict (or at least my Round 0 card does), my polar opposite should obviously be female and have elements that strongly encourage fighting and combat. For the record, I actually don't hate aggro. But I find Goblin and Red Deck Wins decks (and red in general) to be an absolute bore. They're just completely one-dimensional in how they play and every single card seems to have an ability/effect that has to do with dealing damage. Like I said - boring.
As for my most despised mechanic, that would be creature stealing. Okay, I find it rather enjoyable when I'M doing the stealing. But at recent Prereleases (which is the only time I play Magic), I have had people Mind Controlling my Serra Angel and my Baneslayer Angel, and Act of Treasoning my blood-thirsted Furyborn Hellkite right after I casted it. C'mon, if you're going to attack me, do it with your own cards, alright?
I like the first ability a lot, but the second one ruins the card, punishing you if you don't play with lots of hasty dudes and forcing you into unfavorable trade-offs. I guess you added it as a drawback for the first ability (and yeah it may affect your opponents too)? But compared with the rest of the cards this round that have only upsides, it comes as a turn off.
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.
Round 2:
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.
Round 3:
Witness's Protection :symg::symu:
Instant (R)
Counter target red or black spell or ability that targets you or a permanent you control. You may return target card from your graveyard to your hand. If you do, exile Witness's Protection.
Legendary Creature - Angel Horror (M)
Infect
:1mana::symw::symb::symr:: Harbinger of Compleation gains Flying until end of turn. Destroy target nonland permanent. Activate this ability only once each turn and only any time you could cast a sorcery.
5/5
There are multiple things about this card that are antagonistic to my play style. First, I hate, hate, hate, hate Infect. Absolutely loathe it.
Second, I hate when you can play a three color card competitively with almost no drawback, three color decks should be inherently risky but it seems that really isn't the case at the moment.
Third, I hate a card that can completely change the game without any real interaction between players. With the angel, I could sit back all day and just start pegging away at permanents.
Lastly, I hate cards that completely invalidate everything I can play with a casting cost of 4 or less which is where I love to play at, stompy is one of my favorite decks of all time.
I have to say I'm not fan of this mixing effects for a single activation. Also, it doesn't feel red at all.
Top 3:
1. Twilight Kiwi
2. CodGod
3. Gerrard's Mom
Just noting that Jau's card doesn't require haste, since you only sacrifice guys that you controlled since the beginning of the turn (in other words, they have to have been able to attack to be eligible for sacrifice, unless they're defenders).
As for the colors on my card, I think red works because it provides a Reverberate for all of the instants or sorceries they run. Some other precedents for similarity are Dralnu, Lich Lord and Recoup letting you get another use out of spells, and Psychic Theft, Praetor's Grasp, and Muse Vessel for casting other people's spells. It is more blue/black than red, though, although three color cards often don't need the third color (Alara block); that works pretty well for the challenge though, since as I mentioned I tend to dislike blue and black more than red.
I agree with the both of you. There was no real way of fitting green into the card I had in mind, so I went with the Rhox War Monk and Broodmate Dragon design philosophy, where the former has nothing to do with blue and the latter has nothing to do with black, and the addition of the third colour simply strengthens the power level of those cards. Yeah, it's a cop out.
Looks like that's the end of my CCL journey this month. Good luck to all those who move onto the next round. I think I'll give CCL a skip for the next few months as I finish up my thesis.
Duh, I misread that clause as a failsafe to prevent you from saccing the creatures you stole with it. Now makes much more sense and I like it better. It now deserves an official Honorary mention. Good luck with your thesis too!
Yeah I got that, I just needed to point it out, as it would have made lots of sense in a WUB creature. Otherwise I liked the card and that's why it got my third vote.
Gerrard's Mom - Mother of Vuel: I like the clever play in the name, and the contrast between your avatar and nemesis, though I agree with some of our fellow competitors that it doesn't feel red.
Jau - Jackie the Inciter: Great reflection of your avatar, punishing pacifism instead of rewarding it; making it more difficult to fulfill its own conditions by possibly forcing your opponents to ill their own creatures (or sacrificing them yourself before you're done with them) is extra evil. Fun flavor text, too.
Maokun - Omanage, the Odious: Quick note: Your avatar is crazy and I love him. As far as your evil twin goes... a printable, clever effect, but it doesn't feel "big" enough to be mythic to me. I don't mean to say that all mythic creatures need to be massive behemoths, but rather that it should have a broader effect, especially for a legendary creature.
Phyrexian Editor - Self-titled: I like that he basically "edits" another card in your hand into a Hymn to Tourach or Stone Rain, but even if it's costly to pull off, having both effects repeatable on one card is just too mean to be printable. I wouldn't want to play with or against this guy. However, even if it's totally unfun I don't think it's necessarily imbalanced, and it represents what you dislike well.
Timothy, Mimeslayer - Harbinger of Compleation: The whole card just feels weird to me. It's not poorly designed (though I don't like the idea of an angel that doesn't always have flying, I dig the flavor of it "taking off" and leaving destruction in its wake; maybe it would've been better off as a dragon?), but the various parts of the card don't feel tied together well enough.
Twilight Spark - Larc, the Static World: The enchantment focus seems odd to me, as you've haven't expressed any dislike toward them. I do think there's room in this color combo for different kinds of "enchantment matter" cards than we've seen so far, but in the context of the challenge it feels out of place. Considering the number of beneficial enchantments that show up in even casual decks, this might as well say "nonblack creatures can't attack," and the second clause is narrow enough that it will almost never be relevant. In my experience there will be maybe one player running an Enchantress deck, or an Uril EDH deck. That issue aside, overall it does serve as a good counterpart to your avatar.
2. CodGod
3. Gerrard's Mom
My First (And Probably Only) MCC Perfect Score: December 09 (Round One)
CodGod RUW
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
[I]Colours[/I]: 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.
[I]Ability[/I]: 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.
[I]Power and Toughness[/I]: 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
Round 1:
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.
Round 2:
Machine Mastery 1UW
Enchantment - Aura (C)
Enchant Creature
Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 for each artifact you control.
W: Return ~ to owner's hand.
Round 3:
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.
Legendary Creature - Human Reflection
When SalmonDeity enters the battlefield, you may search target opponent's library for a number of nonland cards less than or equal to the total power of creatures you control and exile those cards. If you do, that player shuffles his or her library.
Spells with the same name as cards exiled by SalmonDeity cost an additional "Sacrifice a creature" to cast.
2/2
[I]"Feel the might that opposes you... Let the fear of it drive you from sanity" - SalmonDeity[/I]
Ben, Linguophile 2WU
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.
[I]He knew his knack for language would serve him well in rallying others to his cause.[/I]
1/2
Round 1:
Spellbind 1UU
Instant {U}
Tap target creature. As long as Spellbind is in your graveyard, that creature doesn't untap during its controller's untap step.
[I]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.[/I]
Round 2:
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.
[I]Contrary to popular myth, any kiss will do.[/I]
Round 3:
Illuminating Spark 3UU
Instant {R}
Damage dealt to you by red sources this turn causes you to draw that many cards.
[I]Inspiration comes easiest when the heat is on.[/I]
Legendary Creature - Horror Spellshaper {MR}
Whenever a creature enters the battlefield under an opponent's control, you may pay 1BR and discard a card. If you do, that player discards two cards at random.
Whenever a creature enters the battlefield under your control, you may pay 1RG and discard a card. If you do, destroy target land.
4/3
[I]He makes his corrections with a red pen and a gore-stained sword.[/I]
Things I don't like that this card epitomizes: Discarding cards as a cost. Being forced to discard cards at random. Repeatable land destruction (!!!!!). Keeping track of "when a creature enters the battlefield you may" triggers. Guys that R&D gives uneven P/T so that they die to Lightning Bolt.
Twilight Kiwi RWU
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.
Round 1:
Diplomatic Solution 1W
Sorcery (U)
Target player chooses a creature you don't control. Exile that creature.
[i]"I'm certain we can reach a compromise that serves everyone's best interests."
- Lioka, Grand Ambassadrix
[I]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.[/I]
Round 2:
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
Round 3:
Dawn's Light 1W
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.
[I]"The welcoming warmth of the Light is a harsh, burning glare to those who thrive in the shadows."
- Lumaros, the Resplendent[/I]
Legendary Creature - Human Wizard (M)
Whenever a creature an opponent controls is dealt combat damage, its controller sacrifices it.
The first time a card goes to a graveyard from anywhere each turn, you may put that card on top of its controller's library instead.
2/2
Carl, Firemind Tactician 2UR
Legendary Creature - Human Wizard (MR)
Instant and sorcery spells you cast cost up to UR less to cast.
[I]Elegance and Flare[/I]
1/1
I like efficiency in all things. In my life and magic. Probably one of the many reasons why I like cube so much. HIgh power to cost ratio cards make for killer decks and fun games. I am also a fan of thinking impulsively. I often do not bide my time and just jump in with my mind racing. If I can do something, I probably will. Something new appears I am thinking about what to do with or about it. This applies to magic and my life.
Round 1:
Koboldize xUR
Sorcery (U)
X target creatures become 0/1 red kobolds.
[I]They are like sheep, but harmless.[/I]
Round 2:
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."
[I]Kamigawa is a land of dreams and spirits. Tricks played upon the living from gods beyond the human realm.[/I]
Round 3:
Business Plans U
Instant {R}
Counter target green spell. Draw a card for each spell countered this turn.
[I]Nature must make way for progress.[/I]
Legendary Creature - Spirit Wizard {MR}
Non-black creatures can not attack unless they are enchanted.
Enchantment spells cost 1 more to cast for each creature in your graveyard.
[I]Only those who possess the gift may walk before me.[/I]
5/5
The Notes
Obvious Differences:
The name is my name spelled backwards (Carl -> Larc).
My colors were UR and the colors of my opposite are WBG.
My guy makes spells cost less while this guy makes them cost more.
My guy is a 1/1 and this guy is a 5/5.
Things I hate:
1. Stuff that slows the game down.
2. Makes the game non-interactive.
3. Fatties without protection/evasion.
4. Cards that are casual only.
Why this card is what I hate?
1. This slows the game down by making combat nearly non-existent. Only allows black creature to attack.
2. Little to no combat makes it pretty non-interactive. Heaven forbid the opponent is playing an enchantment deck.
3. This guy is super easy to kill.
4. Pretty much a casual only card. The cost and lack of protection make it very prohibitive in competitive play.
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.
[I]A mother's love is strong enough to transcend barriers of space, time, and even species.[/I]
1/1
Seems like as good a time as any to repeat my "origin story:" Gerrard's Mom is the nickname friends and I had given to Ramirez DePietro because of the similarity to Gerrard Capashen's art and the fact that the Italian copy of DePietro made the gender somewhat unclear. I'm not any kind of mother, or female even, but it's been a fun forum identity. I am pretty supportive though, both in Magic where I am always trying to get my play group to do things better (casting in Main Phase B!) and in non-gaming life, where I'm currently teaching Japanese. The restriction on the ability was mostly inspired by Rootwalla stuff, but I do prefer to help a bunch of people in turn instead of one person forever. It used to be 2/2 and give +2/+2, but I didn't think that was mythic enough, so I added an ability to make non-creatures lose abilities, reflecting my ability to question and critique, but Eventide says only one ability, so I'll go with this. I guess I'll have to go 1/1 also, definitely not physically a 3/3.
On the current Wizards logic that Watchwolf could be mostly outdone (there is the legendary drawback) by a mythic the same way that Baneslayer Angel outdoes Serra Angel.Round 1:
Depose W
Sorcery (U)
Exile target creature if you control fewer creatures than that creature's controller.
[I]Rule with justice, and rule long. Rule with tyranny, and rule no more.
-Inscription on the Heartcrown of the Vaderan Kings[/I]
Round 2:
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.
[I]Saprolings have developed unusual symbiotic relationships with many other creatures of the forest.[/I]
Round 3:
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.
Legendary Creature - Human Advisor (M)
If a card would be put into an opponent's graveyard from a zone other than the battlefield, exile that card instead.
You may play cards exiled with Mother of Vuel.
2/4
Thanks Phyrexian Editor, it does appear that the wording requires me to use red as well. Truth be told, I may prefer red to white in many cases, what I like least is the sneakiness and trickery of blue and black, but I guess red occasionally has aspects of that as well. This card lets you steal cards which you mill (UB), discard (B), or counter (U), and also any instants or sorceries that opponents play (UR). My avatar shows how I prefer to win through creature combat; coming out with a good curve, buffing/protecting your creatures, straight beatdown. My card for this round cares about everything but the battlefield, the antithesis of that strategy, and it is particularly good with counterspells, which are probably my least favorite major mechanic to face.
Jacky, Antagonist of War 1WU
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
Like most Aussies, I'm a pretty laid-back guy. I don't take things seriously, I have a great deal of patience, and there's nothing I enjoy more than relaxing and taking a nap. But there's nothing I hate more than conflict, especially between other people. I'm okay if it's happening to me, I usually take things on the chin, shrug it off, and avoid the situation rather than addressing the problem directly. But seeing my friends or my parents fight and argue with each other over the most mundane things makes me sad. It pains me to read and hear in the media about the violence that happens everyday all over the world. But I'm a rather lazy sort of person, so I don't do anything about it. I guess my biggest flaw is that I'm not proactive enough and I rarely take the initiative in any given situation.
I don't play Magic anymore (I attend the Prereleases and that's pretty much the only time I play) but I used to be a casual Spike. I never attended tournaments or anything, but played with my friends at my high school. My decks were usually full of powerful rares and other tournament-worthy cards but for some reason, I would still lose to my friends' Johnny-inspired decks (Splice deck anyone?). So I only care about the best cards, but am not really willing to spend more than $5-10 on a piece of cardboard. When I read the latest set spoilers, I usually go "Crap, terrible, that's awful, this is the worst card I have ever seen in my life...ooh, this could be good! Oh wait, it's 10 to cast, etc..." I find myself often declaring that the latest set is the worst set of all time. My favourite colour is green, but I have a soft spot for blue's ability to annoy and irritate my opponents through counterspells, bounce spells, stealing creatures, and taking additional turns. And there's nothing more Spike-y and blue than good old card advantage (even if there's some sort of drawback involved).
Round 1:
Rectify :symw::symw:
Sorcery (U)
Exile target nonland permanent. Its controller gains life equal to its converted mana cost.
[I]“Lay down your weapons. Dispel your magic. Swear a vow of nonviolence and make amends for your wrongdoing.”
—Jacky, Antagonist of War[/I]
Round 2:
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
Round 3:
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. [I](Spells cast or abilities activated before this resolves are unaffected.)[/I]
[I]“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[/I]
Legendary Creature - Human Warrior (M)
Whenever Jackie the Inciter attacks, untap target creature an opponent controls and gain control of it until end of turn. It gains haste until end of turn.
At the beginning of each player’s end step, if no creatures attacked this turn, that player sacrifices a creature he or she controlled since the beginning of the turn.
[I]"Live by the sword, or die by my sword—the choice is yours."[/I]
3/3
Given that I'm a dude and my persona is completely passive and opposes conflict (or at least my Round 0 card does), my polar opposite should obviously be female and have elements that strongly encourage fighting and combat. For the record, I actually don't hate aggro. But I find Goblin and Red Deck Wins decks (and red in general) to be an absolute bore. They're just completely one-dimensional in how they play and every single card seems to have an ability/effect that has to do with dealing damage. Like I said - boring.
As for my most despised mechanic, that would be creature stealing. Okay, I find it rather enjoyable when I'M doing the stealing. But at recent Prereleases (which is the only time I play Magic), I have had people Mind Controlling my Serra Angel and my Baneslayer Angel, and Act of Treasoning my blood-thirsted Furyborn Hellkite right after I casted it. C'mon, if you're going to attack me, do it with your own cards, alright?
Maokun of a Thousand Skills :symg::symw::symu:
Legendary Creature - Human Rogue (M)
Vigilance
You play with your hand and the top card of your library revealed.
Maokun of a Thousand Skills has all activated abilities of nonplaneswalker permanents you control and nonplaneswalker permanent cards in your hand and on top of library.
1/3
Round 1:
Profitable Banishment WU
Sorcery (U)
Exile target creature. That creature controller's draws a card.
Draw a card.
Round 2:
Alertness 1
Enchantment - Aura (C)
Enchant creature.
Enchanted creature has hexproof.
:symgu:, return Alertness to its owner's hand: Untap enchanted creature.
Round 3:
Discerning Justice 1W
Instant (R)
Exile target permanent, then choose one - Return that permanent to the battlefield under its owner's control, or return that permanent to the battlefield under its owner's control at the beginning of the end step.
If that permanent is black or red, you may choose not to return it to the battlefield instead.
Legendary Creature - Human Wizard (M)
[I]Imprint[/I] - When Omanage, the Odious enters the battlefield, look at target opponent's hand. Exile a nonland card from it.
Whenever that player casts a spell that shares a card type with the exiled card, Omanage deals 3 damage to him or her.
2/3
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.
Round 2:
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.
Round 3:
Witness's Protection :symg::symu:
Instant (R)
Counter target red or black spell or ability that targets you or a permanent you control. You may return target card from your graveyard to your hand. If you do, exile Witness's Protection.
Legendary Creature - Angel Horror (M)
Infect
:1mana::symw::symb::symr:: Harbinger of Compleation gains Flying until end of turn. Destroy target nonland permanent. Activate this ability only once each turn and only any time you could cast a sorcery.
5/5
There are multiple things about this card that are antagonistic to my play style. First, I hate, hate, hate, hate Infect. Absolutely loathe it.
Second, I hate when you can play a three color card competitively with almost no drawback, three color decks should be inherently risky but it seems that really isn't the case at the moment.
Third, I hate a card that can completely change the game without any real interaction between players. With the angel, I could sit back all day and just start pegging away at permanents.
Lastly, I hate cards that completely invalidate everything I can play with a casting cost of 4 or less which is where I love to play at, stompy is one of my favorite decks of all time.
3. Gerrard's Mom
2. Maokun
1. ME!!!!
Oh wait, just ignore that and bump the others up a notch.
Gerrard's Mom 2+1+1+3+3=10
Timothy 1+2=3
Jau 3=3
CodGod 2+2+1+1=6
Twilight Kiwi 3+3+2=8
Phyrexian Editor 1+2=3
Twilight Spark 2=2
I think those are the results, nice to see that everyone got at least some points.