Take that judges who complained about how Jon Loucks submissions were too complicated. This time he's submitting vanillas!
Besides being part of a cycle, is there any reason why Shawn Mains RW01 (the search for enchantments thing) has the choose one or both wording? You would almost never choose the "or", since you can fail to find things when you search. It seems weird that the modal aspect is only relevant when you don't want someone to shuffle.
In the deep places of the earth, you can spread the light or embrace the darkness. Common Cycle:
CW01 – Bore Lightshaft 5W Instant Tap up to three target creatures. Dig 2 (2, Discard this card: Reveal cards from the top of your library until you reveal a land card. Put that card into your hand and the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order.)
CU01 – Strike Water [community.wizards.com/magicthegathering/...] 5U Instant Return up to two target permanents to their owners' hands. Dig 2 (2, Discard this card: Reveal cards from the top of your library until you reveal a land card. Put that card into your hand and the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order.)
CB01 – Exhume Corpses [Unearth Corpses - community.wizards.com/magicthegathering/...] 5B Instant Return up to two target creature cards from your graveyard to your hand. Dig 2 (2, Discard this card: Reveal cards from the top of your library until you reveal a land card. Put that card into your hand and the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order.)
CR01 – Blast Bunker [Dynamite - community.wizards.com/magicthegathering/...] 5R Instant CARDNAME deals 5 damage to target player. Dig 2 (2, Discard this card: Reveal cards from the top of your library until you reveal a land card. Put that card into your hand and the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order.)
CG01 – Bury Nuisance [Dig into the Past - community.wizards.com/magicthegathering/...] 5G Instant Destroy target noncreature permanent. Dig 2 (2, Discard this card: Reveal cards from the top of your library until you reveal a land card. Put that card into your hand and the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order.)
Pretty reasonable here. You might get a few "this is uncommon" comments, but I can't see any major problems.
Uncommon Cycle:
UW01 – Shining Knight 2W Creature - Human Knight 2/3 First strike Reflect - When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, you may pay 2W. If you do, put a 3/2 white Human Knight creature token with first strike onto the battlefield.
UU01 – Mirror-wing Drake 3U Creature - Drake 2/3 Flying Reflect - When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, you may pay 3U. If you do, put a 3/2 blue Drake creature token with flying onto the battlefield.
UB01 – Double Agent 2B Creature - Human Rogue 2/2 Morph 2B (You may cast this face down as a 2/2 creature for 3. Turn it face up any time for its morph cost.) When CARDNAME is turned face up, put a 2/2 black Human Rogue creature token onto the battlefield.
UR01 – Giltshield Grudgebearer 1RR Creature - Dwarf Berserker 1/2 Double strike Reflect - When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, you may pay 1RR. If you do, put a 2/1 red Dwarf Berserker creature token with double strike onto the battlefield.
UG01 – Silverscale Wurm 3GG Creature - Wurm 4/6 Trample Reflect - When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, you may pay 3GG. If you do, put a 6/4 green Wurm creature token with trample onto the battlefield.
This is an interesting idea, but it needs to be whittled back somehow. I don't see any good way to do so, however. Having a whole lot of different tokens, that only appear once, is probably not good. It's especially not good when they have different P/T and abilities.
I do give you a brownie point for choosing first strike and DS as your abilities here. They're the abilities that are most relevant on these cards.
Rare Cycle:
RZ01 – Left Side: Hell 3BB Sorcery Destroy all creatures.
Right Side: Back 5WW Sorcery Each player returns all creature cards from his or her graveyard to the battlefield.
This is awesomely powerful. It's probably coloured around the wrong way too.
The problem with this is that one side is a niche Johnny card, and the other is a normal utility card. I can't see anyone building around both sides of this card. It's more like two cards on one piece of cardboard.
I see where you're going, with major opposites, but it doesn't really seem to work.
Right Side: War 3RR Sorcery CARDNAME deals damage to target player equal to twice the number of creatures you control.
RZ05 – Left Side: Now [community.wizards.com/magicthegathering/...] 3UU Sorcery Look at the top 10 cards of your library. Put two of them into your hand and the rest on the bottom of your library in any order.
Put up to two target nonland, noncreature permanents on the bottom of their owners' libraries in any order.
Interesting. I'm not big on some of the names (and therefore favlours) here. This one in particular. It's based on a weak phrase, and the designs don't fit any flavour.
That's a lot of common fatties. But I guess it's okay. You just need to be aware of the fact that these guys will be everywhere in limited.
Uncommon Cycle:
UW01 – Avant-garde Guard [Sparkling Shield - community.wizards.com/magicthegathering/...] 1W Instant Target creature you control gains protection from the color of your choice until end of turn. If you control two or more colors of permanents, draw a card.
UU01 – Far Out [Brain Drain - community.wizards.com/magicthegathering/... 2U Instant All creatures target player controls get -2/-0 until end of turn. If you control two or more colors of permanents, draw a card.
UB01 – Torturous Breakthrough 4B Instant Destroy target nonblack creature. If you control two or more colors of permanents, draw a card.
UR01 – Cutting-edge Combustion 1R Instant Cutting-edge Combustion deals 2 damage to target creature or player. If you control two or more colors of permanents, draw a card.
UG01 – Ground Breaking 2G Instant Target creature gets +3/+3 until end of turn. If you control two or more colors of permanents, draw a card.
Without playtesting these, I just don't know how they'd pan out. They seem very strong. I'm not sure the cantrip kicker is all that interesting or challenging.
Rare Cycle:
RW01 – Overcome [Starfall Omen community.wizards.com/magicthegathering/...] 3WW Sorcery Preeminence – Destroy all creatures with power less than X, where X is the highest power among creatures you control.
RU01 – Overthink 4UUU Sorcery Preeminence – Draw X cards and untap up to X lands, where X is the highest power among creatures you control.
TIME TWISTER/WALK! GO GO DEGENERACY.
RB01 – Overtime [Haunting Omen – community.wizards.com/magicthegathering/...] 4BB Sorcery Preeminence – Put all creature cards with power less than X from your graveyard onto the battlefield, where X is the highest power among creatures you control.
RR01 – Overthrow [Devastation Omen community.wizards.com/magicthegathering/...] 4RR Sorcery Preeminence – Each player sacrifices X permanents, where X is the highest power among creatures you control.
RG01 – Overwork 3GGG Sorcery Preeminence – Put X +1/+1 counters on each creature you control, where X is the highest power among creatures you control.
This is a good theme for a mostly well-executed cycle. It just doesn't need to be ability-worded.
You can barely remember the Sun, but you'll sacrifice anything for a stab at freedom. Common Cycle:
CW01 – Substitute Shield [Alt white, community.wizards.com/magicthegathering/...] 1W Instant You may remove a counter from a white permanent you control rather than pay CARDNAME's mana cost. Prevent all damage target creature would deal this turn.
CU01 – Converted Bonds 1U Instant You may remove a counter from a blue permanent you control rather than pay CARDNAME's mana cost. Tap or untap target permanent.
CB01 – Improvised Garrote 1B Instant You may remove a counter from a black permanent you control rather than pay CARDNAME's mana cost. Put a -1/-1 counter on target creature.
CR01 – Makeshift Shank 1R Instant You may remove a counter from a red permanent you control rather than pay CARDNAME's mana cost. Target creature gets +1/+0 and gains first strike until end of turn.
CG01 – Impromptu Gauntlets [Ironbar Gauntlets, community.wizards.com/magicthegathering/...] 1G Instant You may remove a counter from a green permanent you control rather than pay CARDNAME's mana cost. Target creature gets +2/+2 until end of turn.
The alt cost makes the card interesting enough by itself. You correctly kept the second ability as simple and mundane as possible.
The only issue I have is that these cards will be used to remove -1/-1 counters more often than +1/+1 counters, if -1/-1 counters exist in the set. That undermines the intent of an alternate-cost card. It's fine if that happens some of the time, but that kind of double-bonus should be the exception, and not the rule.
Uncommon Cycle:
UB01 – Corpsefly Feeding [Poisionfly Feeding, community.wizards.com/magicthegathering/...] 2B Enchantment Whenever a creature you control is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, you may pay B. If you do, target creature gets -1/-1 until end of turn.
UR01 – Babbling Blood 2R Enchantment Whenever a creature you control is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, you may pay R. If you do, draw a card, then discard a card.
UG01 – Offal Feast [Edible Algae Feeding, community.wizards.com/magicthegathering/...] 2G Enchantment Whenever a creature you control is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, you may pay G. If you do, gain 3 life.
Okay, but this kind of enchantment is very typical anyway.
Rare Cycle:
RW01 – Watcher's Safeguard [community.wizards.com/magicthegathering/...] 4WW Sorcery Choose one or both- Search your library for an enchantment card and put it onto the battlefield. Then shuffle your library; and/or search another target player's library for an enchantment card and put it onto the battlefield under your control. Then that player shuffles his or her library.
RU01 – Watcher's Mirror 4UU Sorcery Choose one or both- Put a token onto the battlefield that's a copy of target creature you control; and/or put a token onto the battlefield that's a copy of target creature you don't control.
RB01 – Watcher's Revival 4BB Sorcery Choose one or both- Return target creature card in your graveyard to the battlefield; and/or return target creature card in another player's graveyard to the battlefield under your control.
Why would you ever not do both? The only time you wouldn't do both is when they have no target. And that can be dealt with by writing "up to", and not some Entwine-style antics.
Mythic Rare Cycle:
MW01 – Olorah, the Shackled Judge WW Legendary Creature – Angel 6/6 Flying, Vigilance CARDNAME enters the battlefield with four -1/-1 counters on it. 2WW, Remove two -1/-1 counters from CARDNAME: Destroy each tapped creature.
MU01 – Seham, the Bound Deceiver UU Legendary Creature – Djinn 6/6 Flying CARDNAME enters the battlefield with four -1/-1 counters on it. 2UU, Remove two -1/-1 counters from CARDNAME: Other creatures become 1/1 and lose all abilities until end of turn.
MB01 – Tyvaal, the First Prisoner BB Legendary Creature – Demon 6/6 Trample CARDNAME enters the battlefield with four -1/-1 counters on it. 1BB, Remove two -1/-1 counters from CARDNAME: Target player sacrifices a creature.
MR01 – Angathrak, the Chained Tyrant RR Legendary Creature – Dragon 8/8 Flying, Trample CARDNAME enters the battlefield with six -1/-1 counters on it. 3RR, Remove three -1/-1 counters from CARDNAME: Untap target creature and gain control of it until end of turn. It gains haste until end of turn.
MG01 – Naal, the Fettered Growth [community.wizards.com/magicthegathering/...] GG Legendary Creature – Treefolk 8/8 Trample, Vigilance CARDNAME enters the battlefield with six -1/-1 counters on it. 3G, Remove three -1/-1 counters from CARDNAME: Put three 1/1 green Saproling creature tokens onto the battlefield.
The good: It's interesting to cost such a massive creature at CC.
The bad: CC is a ludicrously low cost for these creatures. The idea is good, but the execution is WAAAY off. RR for a 2/2 flyer with trample is too good (and inappropriate) by itself. The number of counters could easily have been the same. The evergreen keywords could have been more consistent. (One each would be ideal. There's already a lot going on here.) Also, the activation costs and P/T could all have easily been lined up.
Geysers of mana erupt over Golamo, warping its guardians into something larger... Common Cycle:
CW01 – Fledgling Greathawk 4WW Creature - Bird CARDNAME has flying as long as it's enchanted. 4/6
CU01 – Goliath Eel 5UU Creature - Fish 6/6 CARDNAME cannot attack unless it's enchanted.
CB01 - Dire Stoat 5BB Creature - Ferret 5/4 CARDNAME has intimidate as long as it's enchanted.
CR01 – Gargantuan Ocelot 4RR Creature - Cat 5/3 CARDNAME has first strike as long as it's enchanted.
CG01 – Titanic Hound [Saptongue Crusher by Havelock Vetinari - community.wizards.com/magicthegathering/...] 6GG Creature - Hound 7/7 CARDNAME has trample as long as it's enchanted.
Interesting, but most of these are way too swingy for common. A huge evasion fattie barely even qualifies as uncommon.
Uncommon Cycle:
UW01 – Manifest Purity 2W Enchantment - Aura Enchant creature Enchanted creature gets +2/+2 and has "Whenever this creature deals damage to an opponent, you may destroy target enchantment." Incarnate 2W
UU01 – Manifest Intellect 2U Enchantment - Aura Enchant creature Enchanted creature gets +2/+2 and has "Whenever this creature deals damage to an opponent, you may draw a card." Incarnate 2U
UB01 – Manifest Agony 2B Enchantment - Aura Enchant creature Enchanted creature gets +2/+2 and has "Whenever this creature deals damage to an opponent, they discard a card." Incarnate 2B
UR01 – Manifest Fury 2R Enchantment - Aura Enchant creature Enchanted creature gets +2/+2 and has "Whenever this creature deals damage to an opponent, you may have it deal 2 damage to target creature." Incarnate 2R
UG01 – Manifest Destiny 2G Enchantment - Aura Enchant creature Enchanted creature gets +2/+2 and has "Whenever this creature deals damage to an opponent, you may search your library for a basic land card and put it onto the battlefield tapped. Then shuffle your library." Incarnate 2G
The problem here is that you'd never incarnate these guys. A 2/2 with no abilities just isn't going to hit the opponent.
I'm just not sure that tripling your life total is much fun. It's like an UGGGHHHHH moment for your opponent.
RU01 – Creative Eruption ["Blue Geyser's Influence" by Bradley Rose- community.wizards.com/magicthegathering/...] 4UUU Sorcery For each card in your hand, draw two more cards.
Don't need the "more".
This just draws a whole heap of cards. I'm not sure that it's much more interesting than just drawing a crapload of cards the regular way. :> Sitting on cards really isn't great gameplay.
RB01 – Ravenous Eruption 4BBB Sorcery Exile any number of creature cards from your graveyard. For each card exiled this way, put three 1/1 black Rat creature tokens onto the battlefield.
I kinda get the same feeling as with the previous card - you just get a crapload of rats, and you might as well just get ten rats, rather than link it to something the player isn't really going to manipulate (like the number of creatures in their GY.)
RR01 – Furious Eruption ["Red Geyser's Influence" by Bradley Rose- community.wizards.com/magicthegathering/...] 4RRR Sorcery After this main phase, there are two additional combat phases followed by an additional main phase. At the beginning of each of those combat phases, untap all creatures that attacked this turn.
This one works.
RG01 – Verdant Eruption ["Green Geyser's Influence" by Bradley Rose- community.wizards.com/magicthegathering/...] 4GGG Sorcery Search your library for up to X basic land cards and put them onto the battlefield tapped, where X is twice the number of lands you control. Then shuffle your library.
"A crapload of land. Likely all of it." Why not just get all your land, or seven, or a number equal to 1x the amount you have?
In general, doubling is hugely swingy, and needs to be used with great care. Tripling things is even harder to do.
Armies rallied to repel the blight. But when it arrived, they saw nothing. Common Cycle:
CW01 Weary of Death 1W Sorcery Target player gains 4 life. Requiem - If a creature was put into a graveyard from the battlefield this turn, that player gains 8 life instead.
CU01 Vapors of the Blight [Blightlost Vapors - community.wizards.com/magicthegathering/...] U Sorcery Put the top three cards of target player's library into his or her graveyard. Requiem - If a creature was put into a graveyard from the battlefield this turn, put the top six cards of that player's library into his or her graveyard instead. Source: Blightlost Vapors
CB01 Memories of Bereavement 1B Sorcery Target player discards a card. Requiem - If a creature was put into a graveyard from the battlefield this turn, that player discards two cards instead.
CR01 Flames of Retribution [Pyre Shot - community.wizards.com/magicthegathering/...] 1R Sorcery CARDNAME deals 2 damage to target creature or player. Requiem - If a creature was put into a graveyard from play this turn, CARDNAME deals 4 damage to that creature or player instead. Source: Pyre Shot
CG01 Seeds of Rebirth [Seeds of Rebirth - community.wizards.com/magicthegathering/...] 2G Sorcery Put two 1/1 green Saproling creature tokens onto the battlefield. Requiem - If a creature was put into a graveyard from play this turn, put four 1/1 green Saproling creature tokens onto the battlefield instead.
Not bad, but some of these will always be sat on until a creature dies. Both modes of play should be viable/possible.
Uncommon Cycle:
UW01 Rescue from the Blight 2W Enchantment - Aura Enchant Creature Flash Enchanted Creature gets +1/+1 When enchanted creature is put into a graveyard, return that card to its owner's hand.
UU01 Rise above the Blight 2U Enchantment - Aura Enchant Creature Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 and has flying When enchanted creature is put into a graveyard, return that card to its owner's hand.
UB01 Feast on the Blight [Feast on the Blight - community.wizards.com/magicthegathering/...] 2B Enchantment - Aura Enchant Creature Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 and has lifelink. When enchanted creature is put into a graveyard, return that card to its owner's hand.
UR01 Charge through the Blight [Havelock Vetinari's Revel in the Blight - community.wizards.com/magicthegathering/...] 2R Enchantment - Aura Enchant Creature Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 and can't be blocked except by two or more creatures. When enchanted creature is put into a graveyard, return that card to its owner's hand.
UG01 Endure the Blight 2G Enchantment - Aura Enchant Creature Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 and has shroud. When enchanted creature is put into a graveyard, return that card to its owner's hand.
These are great. I can't believe they haven't already been done.
Have they? :<>
The white (flash) one is novel, but out of place. Although it has the same ability, it doesn't really play the same way as its brethren.
Mythic Rare Cycle:
MW01 Celiana, the Protector 4WW Legendary Creature - Angel 5/5 Flash, Flying When CARDNAME enters the battlefield or is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, you may return any number of other permanents you control to their owner's hand.
Interesting, but it often doesn't quite work. You really want to just flash this in, not return anything, and just block with it. Also, because damage doesn't stack any more, bouncing your own guy might just let the opponent's creature live too.
MU01 Ventaro, the Preserver [Havelock Vetinari's Ventaro the Preserver - community.wizards.com/magicthegathering/...] 4UU Legendary Creature - Sphinx Wizard 4/4 Flying When CARDNAME enters the battlefield or is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, return all instants and sorceries in your graveyard to your hand.
That's a pretty crushing ability. Does it need to happen twice? This guy might just say "I win" on him the first time, when you pick up three counterspells.
MB01 Maltor, the Betrayer 4BB Legendary Creature - Demon 5/5 Intimidate When CARDNAME enters the battlefield or is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, Blight all other creatures. (Destroy each permanent with a Blight counter. Then put a Blight counter on each Blighted creature)
This one works.
MR01 Rantor, the Ravager 4RR Legendary Creature - Giant Warrior 5/5 First Strike When CARDNAME enters the battlefield or is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, blight target creature, then untap it and gain control of it until end of turn. It gain haste until end of turn. (To Blight a creature Destroy each permanent with a Blight counter. Then put a Blight counter on each Blighted creature)
The death trigger has a problem. Gaining control of a creature is often not going to be useful at some random time, like your post-combat main phase (or the opponent's).
MG01 Gaesta, the Rebirther 4GG Legendary Creature - Spirit 6/6 Trample When CARDNAME enters the battlefield or is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, return all other creature cards from your graveyard to your hand.
That's a good mythic ability. It's just a bit unnecessary to do it twice.
Invasion strikes Utopia -- now the tools of peace must become the weapons of war! Common Cycle:
CW01: Farmer's Charm [adapted from Farmer's Charm by shdwcat - community.wizards.com/magicthegathering/...] W Instant Choose one - Put a 1/1 white Citizen creature token onto the battlefield; or search your library for a Plains card, reveal it, put it into your hand, and shuffle your library; or gain 2 life.
CU01: Scholar's Charm U Instant Choose one - Untap target creature; or target creature gains shroud until end of turn; or draw a card.
CB01: Smuggler's Charm B Instant Choose one - Return target Mercenary card from your graveyard to your hand; or target creature gains Intimidate until end of turn; or you gain one Gold counter. (Gold counters may be spent as colorless mana or life payments.)
CR01: Flameweaver's Charm R Instant Choose one - Destroy target non-creature artifact; or add RR to your mana pool; or target creature gets +2/+0 until end of turn.
CG01: Hunter's Charm [adapted from Hunter's Charm by shdwcat - community.wizards.com/magicthegathering/...] G Instant Choose one - You may put a land card from your hand onto the battlefield; or target creature must block this turn if able; or put a +1/+1 counter on target creature.
you need to take great care that charms are balanced. Not only that the card is balanced as a whole, but that the ablities are too. In my opinion, on a three-choice card, each ability should be played at least 10% of the time. Any less, and it's like it's not there.
Add RR is just too powerful for this type of card. It would be played by people who'd ignore the other two abilities.
Uncommon Cycle:
UZ01: Anunnaki Eraser [ability from Fanoffans - community.wizards.com/magicthegathering/...] 2(w/u)(w/u) Creature - Anunnaki 1/4 Flash When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, if you control another Anunnaki, exile another target permanent. Return that card to the battlefield under its owner's control at the beginning of the next end step.
UZ02: Anunnaki Infiltrator 2(u/b)(u/b) Creature - Anunnaki 2/2 Flying When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, if you control another Anunnaki, remove all counters from target permanent or opponent.
I'm not sure that removing poison is a good thing.
UZ03: Anunnaki Lacerator 2(b/r)(b/r) Creature - Anunnaki 3/1 Haste When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, if you control another Anunnaki, Anunnaki Lacerator deals 3 damage to target creature or player.
UZ04: Anunnaki Ravager 2(r/g)(r/g) Creature - Anunnaki 3/2 Trample When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, if you control another Anunnaki, destroy target land.
UZ05: Anunnaki Purifier 2(g/w)(g/w) Creature - Anunnaki 2/3 Vigilance When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, if you control another Anunnaki, destroy target artifact or enchantment.
I'm not thrilled by this cycle. It's pretty bland.
Rare Cycle:
RW01: Majority Rule [adapted from "People's Revolt by Kharg - community.wizards.com/magicthegathering/...] 2WW Enchantment At the beginning of your upkeep, if you control at least ten more creatures than each of your opponents, you win the game.
RU01: Omniscience [suggested by Art M. and posted by eve_prime - community.wizards.com/magicthegathering/...] 4UU Enchantment At the beginning of your upkeep, if you have fifteen or more cards in your hand, you win the game.
RB01: Vast Riches [adapted from "Vast Riches" by Kharg - community.wizards.com/magicthegathering/...] 3BB Enchantment At the beginning of your upkeep, if you have twenty or more Gold counters, you win the game.
RR01: Walk through Fire 2RR Enchantment If all players would lose the game, you and your teammates win the game instead.
Interesting.
RG01: Lord of the Land [adapted from "Back to Nature" by Kharg - community.wizards.com/magicthegathering/...] 3GG Enchantment At the beginning of your upkeep, if you control at least five more lands than each of your opponents, you win the game.
Wow is Now//Then powerful. Now especially--two cards from the top ten? That's getting close to Gifts Ungiven territory. Not that I mind, but wow.
EDIT: Loucks's RU1 seems unbelievably broken, especially with large numbers of beefy commons running around. I can't see how judges won't excoriate him for the Urza's free mechanic.
EDIT2: I thought everyone did a pretty good job this time 'round! If I had to pick a loser, I think it'd probably be Loucks, who I think kinda punted the common cycle with all vanillas. I've been a poor judge of the judges in the past, though.
Fleischer: Commons - good work(though they feel a touch weak). Uncommons - the switching p/t feels like it'll be confusing, and I think I'd just prefer straight copies like the black one is. Rares - I think those are actually as good as the WotC split cards - names, effects, fitting into set themes, all spot on. 8/10 - well done.
Loucks: Commons - a bunch of vanillas is not a cycle. A green 6/6 is not noticeably bigger than usual. And you apparently didn't read his submission last week well enough to notice that higher power may be how green evolves, but the other colours don't - blue, for example, evolves by casting two spells in a turn. Uncommons - congratulations, you just completely hijacked his set. Where the hell did multicolour come from? And why would you think that multicolour, a concept which has sold no less than four blocks in the last decade, should be thrown in as a secondary effect on a power-matters set(which is clearly what you think this is)? Rares - Apart from the fact that you're designing for the wrong set, these aren't bad. Red seems weak, green and blue seem strong, and it's a shame that they couldn't all have the same(4CC?) casting cost, but I like them. 2/10 - the design isn't bad, but I don't think you actually read anything about Fleischer's world past "There are dinosaurs!".
Main: Commons - an alternate casting cost for a spell that costs 2 seems kind of unnecessary. Maybe in Fleischer's set, where you want mass spells for blue's evolve triggers and an easy ACC can get it off the ground early, but you're designing for Van Essen. The cards are okay, but I don't think they're really needed. Uncommons - The three work well as a prisoner-themed mini-cycle, but that's not what you were supposed to design. Rares - Not a fan of the formatting, you could make it much shorter with say "Return target creature in your graveyard and/or target creature in an opponent's graveyard to play under your control". You're still not supposed to design 60% cycles. All three are perfectly reasonable cards, though. Mythics - Good christ is the black one broken. The others seem like good fun mythics though. I wasn't originally a fan of switching to -1/-1 counters, but after looking through his past submissions, I don't think the set's actually losing anything in the switch, and it fits the flavour better I think. 6/10 - I'm really not a fan of the part-cycles. I don't think they're logical or obvious to players, and while sometimes contestants ignoring the rules and doing something cool is worth it, I don't think this is. Other than that, good.
Van Essen: Commons - Great cycle. On theme, well costed, and appropriate commons. Uncommons - Quiet little cycle that interacts well with the blight theme. I like. Mythics - Yup, these are mythics. I like the coming-and-going trigger, it works(and doubly so in a set where there's so much random destruction you can toss around). I never thought of multi-blighting, like the black one does, but I suppose it makes sense at higher rarities. 9/10 - You didn't do anything insanely cool, so no 10/10, but a very solid submission all around.
Rule: Commons - Well, there's my sealed pool's high end. Good cards - on theme, well costed, and common. Uncommons - Remember that uncommons still have reminder text. As such, these cards don't actually fit in a text box at standard font sizes, and microtexting isn't done at uncommon. The design is fine, but something needs to go(and it'll have to be incarnate, which means it fits in with the set much less well), or the cycle needs to be moved to rare and made cooler to justify that. 'Tis a shame - these are perfect uncommons - but them's the rules. Rares - The first four are great, and feel like they're specifically designed to appeal to Ma"My favourite word is double"Ro. The green one just feels silly though - what precisely am I ramping to when I've hit 4GGG, and where am I going to find 14 more basics in my deck to pull out? This card is in the very odd position of being a "Triple your X" card where the effect actually gets smaller as you get more X, just for deck size reasons. Oh, and the red one should say "each followed by an additional main phase". 8/10 - Good design, especially on the rares, but the text limits on the uncommons is a silly mistake that you should have seen coming, and it actually compromises your design pretty badly.
Woodward: Commons - "Target creature must block if able" may actually be a new effect. A bit odd to see it debut on a charm, but I think it actually works. But yes, this is a perfectly reasonable charm cycle. Uncommons - As all the judges kept saying in the first week, hybrid is a block theme, and a very profitable one. You don't just throw them in for the sake of one cycle of cards unless there's a very good reason why they want to be there. I don't see any obvious reason for the invaders to be hybrid here, let alone one good enough to justify throwing it in like that. As for the cards themselves, they're serviceable, but pretty dull. Maybe they'd pop a bit more if I could see the rest of the invader cards, but on their own they seem pretty underwhelming for what they're supposed to be, and they don't make me expect great things from the rares. Rares - Everyone loves alt-win cards, but these seem a bit meh. The green one feels crazy broken. The red one is annoyingly off-theme - the rest are about getting lots of what the colour wants, but peaceful red isn't really big on everyone dying for the sake of it. Black is a touch insular, but probably okay. The other two are good. 7/10 - Nothing really awful, but other than a few of the alt-win cards nothing popped for me, and the hybrid just feels wasted.
Take that judges who complained about how Jon Loucks submissions were too complicated. This time he's submitting vanillas!
Yeah, that was disappointing. A vanilla cycle is so boring, many players won't even notice it (I doubt I would, and if I did, I'd be unimpressed). A cycle of common dinosaurs was begging to be done given the world, and it should've helped define them mechanically. I suppose being vanilla establishes that they are big and simple, but that's just not compelling enough for a cycle.
What's worse is that common cycles strike me as the place where a designer can use the most complexity points. Because players will see the cycle, you can hit a mechanic that might otherwise be too confusing for common. I know the judges hit hard on complexity the last two times, but this was a challenge where it really belonged. There is a lot of middle ground between vanilla and the brain twisters submitted previously.
Ethan, I've really enjoyed your work, and this is pretty solid for this week. I liked your twist on the reflect creature. The switching of power and toughness is an interesting twist, but I'm not sure it does enough to be worth it. Those cards needed a little more polish, but I was interested in what they were suggesting. I did like the black creature being a slight twist on the cycle.
The rares were a miss for me. I'm a casual Timmy, and when I open a rare, I want something jaw droppingly awesome. These all read to me as "expensive spell for a relatively bland effect." You've been really good at incorporating feedback, and it would be interesting to see you take a stab at split cards again.
Edit: rereading them, I like the split cards better, and the reflection theme was pretty strong. Still, I wish they weren't so expensive.
I don't have any comments on the common cycle because I really don't like dig. I have the same reaction to it as channel - it looks like cycling, but with a minor change and little else. But, given that channel exists, I may be alone in this.
Shawn Mane
Yours was my favorite of this batch. I was thrown at first by the -1/-1 counters because it was new to the world, but I think it was just what this set needed. As you described, it really captures the dynamic of the prisoners rising up, which really helps the set's identity.
I love the mythic cycle - they seem like great, flexible cards. I liked that they were solid 2/2's in the early game (and that can stay relevant as they grow) or 4/4's with a powerful spell effect. I do wish the numbers were consistent across the cards, but I think mythic gives you the most room to deviate from that norm. On top of that, the flavor of the creatures was strong and integrated well with the set themes you presented.
Your uncommon were solid too. Again, you took an idea from the set (countercast), developed it further and really made it shine.
The only cycle that didn't connect was the rares. They just seemed clunky.
Just noting, I'm pretty sure Shawn Main e-mailed MaRo to check if it was okay before submitting his "partial cycles." The idea sprung from the fact that Malgareth is supposed to have three factions, so it makes some sense to cycle them out.
Just noting, I'm pretty sure Shawn Main e-mailed MaRo to check if it was okay before submitting his "partial cycles." The idea sprung from the fact that Malgareth is supposed to have three factions, so it makes some sense to cycle them out.
