CKY and magicpablo666 combined ingenuity and silliness to win a Summer fUn contest each! vlord beat the rest to become the architect of a better tomorrow in Build it and they will come! CityofAs pranced masterfully to victory in Skipping Merrily! ConfusedAsUsual conquered both tropes and opponents ascend in Metafiction! FirstTurnKill condensed Success into Art form in Summing it Up!
But obviously it would be hard to do with a contest where you are making cards for the guilds. Although, on second thought, I could've gone with one that hoses the unguilded.
Exile all non-land permanents with converted mana cost X or less.
Well, it's certainly mythic-feeling. I like the reference to Pernicious Deed . Not really a fan of 'exile' though; it's not really a thing. If it were 'destroy' instead I'd be sold.
Well, I can't complain that it's not clear exactly what this does. The effect is a bit ... boring, I guess? I mean, it's a harder-to-cast-but-more-flexible Dregs of Sorrow without the draw, basically. The effect is powerful, sure, but I'm not really feeling the card. Also, wrt the name, poison quills are pretty awesome but I dunno how they kill enchantments.
Exile up to X target creatures from any number of graveyards, then put X +1/+1 counters on each creature you control.
"Only we know the strength this meal provides for the swarm"
Om nom nom. Flavorfully (ew) this makes sense I guess, with precedent in Scavenging Ooze and Entrails Feaster so both colors are covered. It's like most of the Golgari ones so far in that there's so much crap on top of the that it's purely a late-game spell. Not sure whether that's good or bad or what, just saying. It's a fine card, but not super-exciting I guess. Oh, by the way, you can string together a bunch of mana symbols in [mc] tags and they'll all be rendered: [mc]brusque[/mc] --> , or I guess [mc]wubrg[/mc] --> if you're a normal person.
Each creature in your graveyard gains +X/+X until end of turn.
"Why are you so afraid? It's already dead." "That's exactly why I'm afraid. . ."
Surprise! Pablo does something weird! This is pretty cool I guess; it's weird in that it synergizes with maybe fifteen cards ever, and with most of those you have to pay for something in addition to this card, so you're not really getting much bang for your mana. Cool but narrow is what I'm saying. Like an icicle.
Destroy target creature with converted mana cost X or less. Search your libary for a creature card with converted mana cost X or less and put it onto the battlefield. Shuffle your library afterwards.
"Where you see death, I see opportunity." - Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
I like this. The double 'or less' works well, and it's a good pair of effects for . Less sure on flavor; it reads like 'oh you are dead and working for me now' but it plays like 'kill your angel and OH HEY AN ELF SHOWED UP'.
Put the top X cards of your library into your graveyard. For each card put into your graveyard in this way, put a 1/1 green Saproling creature token onto the battlefield, then put a +1/+1 counter on target creature you control.
"Jarad's will be done. The rites of the dead will breed life anew."
Sweet. I like that this isn't just a 'pay X, get X' like most designs seem to be. Works well with scavenge and dredge (not that dredge needs it), definitely , very nice.
Pestilent Onslaught | Sorcery (M) Creatures you control get +X/+X and gain trample until end of turn.
This turn, if a creature you control would assign combat damage to a player, that player loses that much life instead (even if that damage would have been prevented).
Jarad's brood carried a stench most foul, a touch most bane.
'Bane' is a noun. :-( As an overrun variant this is all right; the second ability is the only black part (which is reflected in the mana cost, cool), but feels like a pretty contrived way to get around prevention effects. Powerwise it should be fine. Overall it's not bad, but seems like it'd fit better in the usual rare slot for overrun variants.
Discard X cards, then return that many cards from your graveyard to your hand.
This is almost Nostalgic Dreams , except way worse because you have to pay . On the other hand, it doesn't exile itself so you could set up a loop... probably not enough of a benefit.
If X is 1 or more, reveal cards from the top of your library until X creature cards are revealed. Then, put all cards revealed this way into your graveyard. Return a creature with converted mana cost equal to or less than the number of creature cards in your graveyard to the battlefield.
When the graves are overpopulated, some would seek their way out of it.
I like the flexibility here. It doesn't say where you return the creature card from, but that's obvious so not really a problem. The second part is really cool; the first is a weird not-Mind Funeral effect that doesn't work super well for me but is kinda neat I guess. Hm.
Put X -1/-1 counters divided amongst any number of target creatures. Put X 1/1 Green Saproling creatures into play.
Well it is certainly black and also green. And good. Wording on the token-maker isn't quite right. I would complain about it being just "Do [black thing] X times. Do [green thing] X times." except this is a contest based on, in part, Sphinx's Revelation . Bah.
Search target player's library for up to X creatures and put them in that player's graveyard. Then, that player shufflers their library. "None of our fallen go unremembered, none of our foes forgotten or forgiven. The Swarm grows ever stronger with each grave dug." -Jarad, Golgari Lich-Lord
I like that this is a black ability with a green twist. I'm slightly less a fan of how this sort of thing has already been done in pure black . Good, though.
Runner-up: therealphatmatt, with The Great Dredge Actual Vote: Dudibus, with One Foot in the Grave
War Hydra enters the battlefield with X +1/+1 counters on it. When War Hydra enters the battlefield, put X +1/+1 counters on each other creature you control.
So you get an X/X and all you creatures get +X/+X forever. That seems... really good. Oh wait, it's Mythic so it won't make Limited players sad. OK, then, this is cool and I like it. Does Ravnica have Hydras? I guess they could be like dragons and just show up ALL THE TIME for NO RAISIN GAH. Um. Yeah.
Target creature and all creatures you control with the same name get +X/+X and are indestructable until end of turn.
This would be slightly cooler if it were 'Echoing [Something]'. Works well with the swarm-o'-tokens strategy Selesnya's famous for, obv. Not terribly Mythic but a good card.
Put X 2/2 white knight creature tokens with vigilance onto the battlefield, then populate X times.
"When the song is sung, the army grows"
Let's see... 4 mana: 2 2/2s, maybe a 2/2 and a 3/3. 6 mana: 4 2/2s, or two 2/2s and two more copies of whatever token you made on turn five. 8 mana: 6 2/2s, or three 2/2s and three of something giant. You have eight mana, you've got to have a giant token by now, right? [ET CETERA] OK, that seems reasonable; the 4-mana version is pretty strong, and later versions are awesomeness. Actually now that I look at it Entreat the Angels is more reliable and barely more expensive, so this isn't ridiculous. Pretty good. Flavortext is a bit weak.
"It had no name. It came from nowhere. It said nothing. But boy, could it sure wreck." - Ardir, Ex-Simic
This is awesome, except for two things. One, Strength of the Tajuru is pretty much strictly better, and two, this should really use +1/+1 counters. But the idea and flavor are awesome. Also, tokens totally have names, they're just usually the same as their creature types. Which is boring. Viashino Skeleton , go feel bad. Now.
Choose one - Put X 8/8 green and white Elemental creature tokens with vigilance into play; or gain double X life. "Those at heart with the Trostani know no boundary between life and might."
This seems like a ridiculously easy choice. I'll pay six mana... I could get an 8/8 with vigilance, or two life, and the scaling gets worse from there.
"I have heard a thousand voices call for balance and I have silenced them all." - Trostani, Selesnya's Voice
At first glance I liked this a lot. Then I thought about types and how the other permanent types are artifact, enchantment, planeswalker, and that there are much better ways of killing off lots of artifacts and enchantments. As a planeswalker-killer it's good. The flavortext doesn't work too well with the noncreature restriction.
X target creatures you control get +X/+X and gain trample and lifelink until end of turn. "The Worldsoul fights as one, but you will die alone." -- Trostani, Selesnya's Voice
Clever. The exactly-X requirement works really well here. Unfortunately, I don't get the reference. -2 points. (I jest, I jest)
Up to X Forests or Plains you control become X/X Forest Plains Elemental land creatures with vigilance. Each green or white creature you tap while casting Vernadi Awakening reduces its cost by .
When the need is dire, Mat'Selesnya channels more than merely a voice.
It seems like this could just have Convoke. I know, I know, not in RtR, but almost-but-not-quite copying the ability bothers me. Otherwise, this is good, and scales well.
Tokens with power X or less cannot be removed from play except during the combat damage step.
Good idea, but slightly awkward. Something to indicate what X is would be nice so it doesn't get confused four turns down the road. The ability is pretty cool but annoying to implement cleanly; maybe "Prevent all noncombat damage that would be dealt to token creatures with power X or less"? Way more restrictive as it doesn't protect from bounce or murder or mutilation , but that just means you can reduce the cost and open up more interesting choices for when to play it. :-)
When ~ enters the battlefield, put a X/X green and white Elemental creature token with Hexproof and Trample onto the battlefield. , : Target creature token becomes indestructible until end of turn.
2/2
Yay, flexibility! A bear guarding its friend is awesome (even if that's not exactly what's going on here that is how I will think about it). Very nice.
Choose X - Target creature gains hexproof until end of turn; target creature gains trample until end of turn; target creature gains vigilance until end of turn; target creature gains lifelink until end of turn; and / or target creature gets +X/+X until end of turn.
Holy crap why have they never done a 'Choose X' spell. That's so cool. The other parts are good too. Casting this for X=5 would be fun. "My creature is now a giant impossible-to-kill TANK OF DOOM".
Put X 1/1 Saproling creatures onto the battlefield, then put X +1/+1 counters on each creature you control.
Strong divided. Stronger united.
It amuses me that these same abilities both showed up in the Golgari part. Which I guess says that this is pretty much mono-green. The mana cost reflects this to a degree, but those really are both just green abilities.
Secrets of Life and Death - Sorcery Search your library for X cards and put them into your graveyard, then shuffle your library. For each card put into a graveyard this way, return one card from your graveyard to your hand.
It seems like you'd need to pay at least eight mana to not feel bad about that card. That makes me feel bad about the card. It's a cool idea, but needs to cost less or scale better to be worth it.
Put 3 green and white X/X Dryad creature tokens onto the battlefield.
"We hear each living being's pleas, that is our curse. We have the power to answer them all, that is our blessing. We are one with the Worldsoul." -Trostani
Giant Dryads! This is not bad. Not ridiculously exciting though. Damn you Sphinx's Revelation for making these complaints irrelevant. Damn you.
Runner-up: ConfusedAsUsual with Whisperer Of The Grove Actual Vote: Imidazoline with Trostani's Guidance
Critiquing is fun. Maybe I should say more good things, but then again...
"Go, then. There are other worlds than these." -- Stephen King, The Gunslinger
Some things to make the forums nicer -- Last updated 28 AprShow
Sorry I'm so incredibly late with this, work took a left turn and bonkers and never came back
JUDGE'S VOTE Selesnya Life's Chorus-A bit simple, but the amount of life you can gain probably justifies this as a mythic. Unflinching Resolve-Kind of dull. It places nice with tokens to be sure, but I feel like the benefits should be permanent (counters) or apply to all of my creatures. Song of Selesnya-Now THAT'S a mythic x-spell. Love it. Anonymous Might-It took me a minute to figure out what this was doing. It would be kind of a pain in the butt to track this and players would likely use counters as a reminder of the buff, but its a distinctly new vein of design space that complements the guild mechanic nicely. I'd prefer if it worked on any creature though. Trostani's Chant-One of these modes is better than the other... Savage Serenity-A super-scaling Naturalize. Useful for sure but a bit dull for a splashy X-mythic Unite Synchronization-At X=3, this kicks the crap out of Overrun . I can dig it. Verdani Awakening-I'm a bit uncomfortable with this basically being Convoke without saying so, but I'm weird like that. A fine effect. Selesnya's Protection-A neat trick, but seems like it would be a pain in the butt to implement properly. I'm really not sure if something like this works as written in the rules. Whisperer of the Grove-What. A. Beating. Love it. Trostani's Guidance-Imi, stop being so clever. Plea of the Worldsoul-You got chocolate in my peanut butter! I love it!
Golgari Golgari Uprising-Yeowza. At 5 mana, this is more efficient than a lot of reanimation spells. Definitely something players would get excited for. Poisonquill Volley-Folks, just because Vindicate is a thing doesn't mean that has a monopoly on destroy target permanent, is allowed to do it too. Lich Lord's Feast-The way R&D treats graveyard hate, this could probably cost less than it does. I do appreciate trying to work graveyard hate into other utility effects though. Mycorage-Not liking this much. I get what iots trying to do with Scavenge, but to get benefit from it I have to pay X on top of whatever the scavenge cost is. I feel like this effect would be better off as an anthem effect that also boosts your graveyard. Mold Blossom-Generally speaking, spells that can return more than one thing from your graveyard to your hand exile themselves, and I don't think this should be an exception. One Foot in the Grave-For more than Green Sun's Zenith , get a much better spell. Nice! The Great Dredge-Plays well with both Golgari mechanics and is useful even if you don't go that route. Not bad. Pestilent Onslaught-Is your local meta full of damage prevention effects, because otherwise I can't determine how relevant the life loss clause is. Trade with the Dead-Should exile itself. The discard probably keeps it safe. I like how this lets you put a bunch of your dredge/scavenge cards in the bin while buying back other utility effects. Simple, but powerful. Dead Rising- I've covered wars you know. But seriously, couldn't this have costed to avoid that clunky, If X is one clause? I like cards like this; two useful effects that are greater than the sum of their parts. My biggest complaing is that it seems to be tracking two variables, X and the number of creatures in your yard, and that reads kind of clunky. Ultimately though, the effect is powerful enough that I feel like a player will be willing to put up with it. Spore Rot-This wouldn't work in RTR block because they're using +1/+1 counters, but nonetheless. Very powerful, perhaps too much, but I would love to play this. The make X dudes is good enough to be relevant at instant speed, but its removal too? Yes please. Orderly Demise-Imi, I've noticed a trick they do for gold cards is that if an effect exists in more than one color (such as putting cards in your yard on top of your library works for both green and black) making it both of those colors allows them to cost the spell more aggresively than if it was just one of those colors. Thus, this works as a gold spell I feel. Secrets of Life and Death-I'm really not sure the double X is necessary on top of
@Lobster667, sorry, you missed the cutoff period by about 2 hours.
This was a tough pick for me, you're all so dang clever, and there's so many metrics to choose from; power, innovation, flavor, trolling. One of my toughest calls to date honestly.
SELESNYA There were a lot of good cards made, and a lot I would thoroughly enjoy playing with, but I'm ultimately giving the win to Imidazoline for Trostani's Guidance. It's powerful, interesting and not particularly obvious design space. Good job Imi. Every passing contest my joke about banning you for winning too many contests gets less and less funny. ಠ_ಠ
GOLGARI A particular design quirk I favor is two effects that are greater than the sum of their parts. In the case of ConfusedAsUsual's Dead Rising, that would be self-milling and reanimation. Both useful effects, but together they become something more.
Congrats to everyone who won and thanks to everyone who entered.
If you feel I misscounted, please let me know. Also please let me know what you think was good or bad about this contest so I can improve my future contests. Thank you all so much!
I'm both chaotic and orderly. I value my own principles, and am willing to go to extreme lengths to enforce them, often trampling on the very same principles in the process. At best, I'm heroic and principled; at worst, I'm hypocritical and disorderly.
I'm both chaotic and orderly. I value my own principles, and am willing to go to extreme lengths to enforce them, often trampling on the very same principles in the process. At best, I'm heroic and principled; at worst, I'm hypocritical and disorderly.
Golgari was an interesting one to do, and, like Hairless said, could have costed less for being grave hate, but, again, didn't want it to be too overpowered.
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thing. If it were 'destroy' instead I'd be sold.
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