Community

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Anyone?  Anyone at all?  Bueller?  Bueller?? 

...i do like black cards
was so busy when this contest started i never looked in on it though

will judge sometime tomorrow (unless someone else steps up before then)

First of all, I'd like to say thank you for thinking of me when you wanted a grader.  I also want to rely on that fact if you don't like your grades.

The demand for a planeswalker and abilities reflecting a bargained for exchange is taken into account in grading.  ObsidianConspiracy's grading style, however, is not.  I don't remember from whom I stole the rarity-ranking system used below, but I like it too much to do anything else.

I want to preface that I find grading planeswalkers fairly difficult.  It's so hard to really judge them without seeing them in action.  But, here we are.  As a result, true balance is looked at less than playability balance [[that is, while a design might not be so super unfair in practice, if it looks so super unfair that I'd never play it, it is unbalanced for the purposes of this post]].

GRADES
highdesertvike = Bellophon, Infernal Justiciar = Proper diction for the last ability should start "You get an emblem with '...." -- and emblems aren't on the battlefield -- the life pay on the + ability is too costly -- 5 life is a lot to pay for a 2/2 creature; granted, it's a good 2/2, but 5 life when you already had to get out a cmc 5 planeswalker is just too costly -- he doesn't very useful -- i think you were trying to balance, but ended up nerfing him and making it too unpleasant to pay -- flavor is fine, and certainly reflects making terrible deals with a demon for power -- but the card just wouldn't see play = Common

Tevish_Szat = Arlak the Dread = first two abilities seem fair -- i really would have liked the sacrificed lands to matter somehow in a later ability; dealing damage equal to number of lands in your graveyard or something maybe.. just would have been nice for more synergy and self-comboing within him -- the -X is my favorite ability , and is great for a middle ability -- the ultimate... is hard to get to... costs you a bunch of lands to get to... and then completely drains your life if you use it, unless you've destroyed all your lands and built him up like crazy -- an ultimate shouldn't leave you so crippled -- if it drained you life, but only destroyed opponents' nonlands, i'd prefer it  a lot = Uncommon

Paleopaladin = Volokh the Wardpact = well, there certainly are a lot of deals going on here -- use of "him" is inaccurate; should all use his full name -- the six-sided die, rolling a six... then 4 damage.... then 7 damage... kinda weird number choices; not a lot of synergy there -- i like the abilities -- i like the idea, and it looks fun -- it doesn't look like a planeswalker that much, though -- a non-activated ability, no ultimate, easy ability to switch hands.... -- i like what's going on as a card, but i don't like the card as a planeswalker = Uncommon

SimonGlume = Belphegor, the Vile Prince = a two-drop planeswalker is very hard to balance -- but i think you may have -- and i very much like that your ultimate synergizes with previous ability, and very much synergizes with black and red -- i feel bad giving so little feedback, but it's because there really isn't anything about this card i want changed -- well, except the word "prince" in his name; just Belphegor, the Vile sounds so much cooler = Mythic

metalvolence = Volgrim the Sadistic = very good choice to make the +X target creature only, and not target creature or player -- the language on second ability should be "its controller chooses target permanent you control other than ~" -- the ultimate seems less ultimate-y, since you also get slapped hard for life, and you've been losing life in order to get him up to there already... granted, you can play it second turn he's out, since it's super easy to get him up to 6, but it seems at much greater expense to yourself than o your opponents -- i don't think he's bad, but you could have dropped his cmc drastically given his abilities -- he could be given those abilities -- if i'm paying 5, i don't want to lose life (and lots of it) every time i use him -- thanks for doing the render, though; i like renders = Uncommon

Dustylou_2 = Baphomet, Corrupter of Souls = you went way overboard with the deal-with-the-devil drawbacks -- you have to discard your entire hand to make the X/X demon any good, and then you can't make another for a long time, and will have to not play any cards -- the ultimate is impossibly far away given how much you have to pay to get loyalty counters on this guy, and isn't worth it all -- there's a little bit of synergy between the first two abilities, since you're discarding but can also get extra cards... but you lose so much again.. and again.. and again... -- he's unplayable harsh to you -- i think you could have benefited by going a much more simplified route: +X: Pay X life; put an X/X black demon creature tooek onto the battlefield.  // -2: Pay 2 life and draw 2 cards. // -10: You get an emblem with "... --- clean him up; make the drawbacks less painful; make him more playable = Common

upgrades = The Baron = i kinda like the idea of a demon planeswalker without a rel name, and is only known by a title or name given to him; cool flavor there -- while i love black, and have multiple mono-black decks, a lot of people scream blood murder if they see a card requiring 6 mana symbols like that -- great synergy -- you very clearly get the idea that a planeswalker should be working with himself and self-comboing -- balance seems mostly there, except cmc 6 for starting 2... maybe not -- especially given that he's mono black and completely non splash-able... -- and have to re-work the number of loyalty for the 0 ability, but he really needs to start with more than 2 given how difficult it is to play him = Rare


Winner = SimonGlume with Belphegor, the Vile Prince


Should you desire a fifth round, your picture is below.
Theme: Remember it's demons, but a non-creature//non-planeswalker this time.  Doesn't have to be demon tribal, but that should help you get your demon point across.

Jun 12, 2012 -- 8:55PM, Paleopaladin wrote:

Regarding the "him" pronoun, Gideon Jura disagrees with you, Sir. And Jaya Ballard, Task Mage disagrees with you about full names.  
 

both Gideon Jura and Jaya Ballard, Task Mage clearly use short form for spacing issues
Gideon's final line couldn't have had his full name instead of pronoun -- no space -- and his first ability and first line of his last ability clearly indicate a preference for use of his full name instead of pronoun
same thing with Jaya -- her second ability, where there is space, uses full name -- last ability doesn't, but there is absolutely no space left = clear preference in favor of full name
there's precedent, but it's last choice