Indeed. Anyone who has participated in a preview week contest before knows this is the case. If we're lucky, we might even have grades before the pre-release!
Werewolves Invade YMtC!: Town-aligned Rotworm Mass, Survived, Mafia Victory Heroes Mafia: Angela Petrelli, Town-Aligned Undercover Revengeful Mother, Win for Me, Mafia Victory Super Smash Bros. Mafia: Town-Aligned Mason, Survived, Town Victory Bear Mafia: Town-Aligned Vanilla, Lynched Day 1, Mafia Victory YMtC Mafia II: Henry-Stern, Town-Aligned Vanilla, Town Victory, Town MVP Time Fracture Mafia: Mafia-Aligned Nero, the Last Romulan, Lynched Day 3, Borg Victory Touhou Mafia III: Tenshi Hinani, Town-Aligned Vanilla, Survived, Mafia Victory, Town MVP Mafia 2010: Lynched Day 1, Town-Aligned Vanilla, Mafia Victory Dragonball Z Mafia: Goku, Town-Aligned Charismatic Townie, Mafia Victory Quarantined Mafia: Lynched Day 4, J. Walter Weatherman, Infected-Aligned Administrative Assistant, Mr. T (so basically mafia) Victory Glass Box Mafia: Killed Night 2, Icthys, Town-Aligned Networker, Town Victory Battle Royale Mafia: Killed Night 3, Zipperflesh and Dark Stryke Victory Scars of Mirrodin Mafia: Killed Night 3, Town-Aligned Charismatic, Mafia Victory Portal Mafia: Lynched Day 3, Test Subject #2, Mafia-Aligned Rolestopper, Town Victory (that was utter BS) Toxic Waste Mafia: Survived, Violet, Hive (Cult)-Aligned Powerless Taskmaster, Hive Victory PK Hatez You Mafia: Survived, Town-Aligned Goth, Mafia Victory Dreven City: A Wild West Mafia: Town-Aligned "Los Angeles" Reed, One-Shot Vig, Survived, Town Victory (just barely, major props to Just a Cleric) YMtC Mafia III: Killed Night 2, Mafia Victory Vampire Mafia: Mafia-Aligned Pander, Mafia Victory Touhou Border Collapse: Bill Cosby, Town-Aligned, Killed Night 1, Mafia Victory Harry Potter Mafia: Argus Filch, Town-Aligned Tracker, Lynched Day 5, Mafia Victory [Basic #5] Bandit Mafia: Town-Aligned Vanilla, Survived, Mafia Victory Borderlands Mafia: Town-Aligned Mason, Killed Night 1, Town Victory eBay Mafia: Mafia-Aligned, Survived, Mafia Victory Full Metal Alchemist Mafia: Alphonse Elric, Town-Aligned Mason, Killed Night 1, Town Victory Sunflowers for Ragnarokio: Lynched Day 3, Town/Just a Cleric/Tevish Szat/Faux-Razor Victory True Blood Mafia: Lynched Day 4, Mafia Victory My Mafia Diary: Skyhunter, Mafia-Aligned Emo, Survived, Flawless Mafia Victory Paper Mario Mafia: Blue Goomba, Town-Aligned Lover, Killed Night 2, Mafia Victory Small Town Mafia: Pigsticker Mafia-Aligned Coward, Killed Night 2, Caveman Mafia and Zipperflesh Victory Stuff on my Desk Mafia: Lotus Cobra, Town-Aligned Vanilla, Survived, Mafia Victory Order of the Chaos Rose Mafia: Lord Dagol Ji'Lovik, Town-Aligned Hypnotist, Mafia Victory, Town MVP Camp Crystal Lake Mafia: Ongoing A Certain Magical Mafia: Killed Night 1, Town-Aligned The Siege of Balignor Mafia: Ongoing, Killed Day 4 Mafia of Ancient Egypt: Replaced in for Murica day 2, Ra, Town-Aligned Charismatic, Town Victory, Town MVP Lord of the Rings Mafia: Replaced in for Dr Demento, Town-Aligned Mason/One-Shot Self-Doc, Town Victory, Town MVP Internet Stars Mafia: Town-Aligned Vanilla, Mafia Victory Mythos Mafia: Ongoing
I actually have them all ready, except Thoctar's last sneak in, I've just been irrationally delaying submitting them. Intended to do such on Friday, which is also Silly Dragon's self imposed mental deadline.
Okay, finally done with round 9. I'm not sure where my routine went, since the previous grades went away rather easily. Either way, I can't promise any grades for the other rounds. I'll try to round up the scores and such around sunday, not that promises like these hold weight anymore.
I like this, and the way it hoses Boros. As a removal spell, it doesn't appear to be all that strong, as you will often have to lose a great deal of life before using it, but there's an unrestricted version at 4 mana, so it can't be too bad. It provides some interesting multiplayer politics. I like the flavor text too. 8/10
Players don't deal damage, sources they control do. Is it the total combined amount of damage from every source? Either way, I don't like the anticlimatic nature of it. Winning the game because your opponent is winning the game isn't all that satisfying. However, that's not the real problem. It's more likely that you can't cast the card anyway, after having lost half of your life total. Decks rarely start their curve there, so if you're taking ten damage you're probably going to die. Except in formats like EDH, where this card doesn't seem like a good addition. You might be able to build around it somehow, by boosting damage output and the life you have, but then your opponent can probably just draw-go you to death, or something like that. The structure of the flavor text, is, awkward. 5.5/10
Does this card look into the future and check if they would draw cards? The wording implies an instant effect, seems like it tries to be a replacement effect that doesn't replace anything, and should probably be a triggered ability. I don't really know what you want it to do. Is it just a one-shot underworld dreams? The flavor doesn't doesn't convince me. It states something that isn't necessarily true, without leading the direction one way or another. 4.5
This is a pretty cute trap. I like it. It could probably cost less though, compared to Tolarian Winds, which has the benefit of discarding the cards, which is its main purpose. The flavor text confuses me. Isn't knowledge always as reliable as the method you gain it with? I'm not too big on the name either, sounds like a trap of knowledge, or something that traps knowledge, or something. 7
What is this supposed to punish your opponent for? Playing the game? I suppose it can prevent self-mill strategies, but I'd probably just expect you to do the work for that. Overall though, it's not really so much punishment. It's just continual damage for more or less everything. Where are you going with the flavor? "Fire in the Hole" isn't indicative of a trap in any way, calling it a fiery hole is a pretty big stretch. And, well, doesn't tie too much into the effect either. The flavor text itself is also quite weak. If it blows up in your face, it should deal more than 1 damage, which is negligible. It also gives the impression of some sort of risk, but Enchantments are the least likely permanent type to hit the graveyard. There's really only two colors that can interact with it in a meaningful fashion. 4.5
Indestructible wasn't red last time I checked. That is my biggest complaint about the card. The other is that the power level is probably a bit higher than it should be, since straight out indestructible at instant speed has appeared at G, and this is better in two ways. I quite like the flavor text. 6.5
Arc Trail on a 4/1 is quite a beatdown. Traditionally, the weakness of fragile creatures is how easy they are to kill, but this one can take two more with it. However, if you don't block it, it takes 20% of your life each swing. I'm not really sure if the death triggers punishes your opponent from blocking it, or the high power punisher him for not. Doesn't it just reward you for attacking? I'd like some sort of flavor or more descriptive name to understand what it's actually an elemental of. 5.5
I quite like the effect. It's probably more likely that you're the one funneling it, and I fear the discard could often go to waste, but I like it either way. The flavor text is neat, although the name is a bit lackluster. 7.5
But this isn't a spiketail. They all have taxing counters. The card is wonky. I don't like multicolored shades, especially since the other color doesn't reward you for pumping it. Rather, they're counteracting eachother, since you're less likely to have mana, or want to sacrifice it, after you've pumped it. I would have liked it a lot more if the counterspell related to the creature's p/t, and possibly if he was monoblack. I'm not really sure if it needs intimidate at all though. 5.5
What's a genomancer? Does it have to do with genes? How does this reflect the flicker effect? The card as a whole is okay, although I'm not entirely sure if it strikes me as particularily punishing. 6.5
If it's a sphinx, why is it at 2/2. Where do you get the terminology "opposed"? I can only guess you mean blocked, but I know of absolutely no precedent that would make opposed to correct. The flavor text. Well, arises questions. 5
This doesn't punish anything. The effect is also really strong. Martial Law costs four and needs a turn to get going. This forces the opponent to overextend to attack profitably, at which point you can just sweep them, and require them to put out another two creatures. It can even deal with haste and manlands. 5
How are you supposed to be able to track what cards people have drawn? There's no way to ensure that they're being honest. Okay, that's not technically true. It works, just like Sylvan Library sometimes does, in that you need a judge to look at what you're doing. And ask him to come over before he draws for the turn, in case you play it. The random lifegain is pretty random, together with the mana cost. There isn't really something in the card that's an u/w mechanic. Lifegain is white, and the discard effect is pretty solidly black. Blue doesn't quite belong, or add anything. It could just be monoblack. 4.5
This could probably just be "Opponents can't activate Extort" or something and do just the same in most scenarios, without the somewhat weird "would be extorted" and an ability that arguably doesn't fit all that well into red or green. It is somewhat more interesting in multiplayer, but I think you'll need a pretty linear metagame to consider this in constructed multiplayer. 6
There's something that irks me really badly by forcibly making your opponent retreat. Gorsch seems to be surprisingly content with the situation too, especially for someone from Gruul. It's also really strange that you can direct the damage to another opponent. I would probably have worded it "~ deals damage to target player equal to the number of attacking creatures that player controls. Untap those creatures and remove them from combat." I'm not sure if the restriction is needed, I think it would be cooler if I could use it on myself. Although there probably needs to be some combat restriction, so you can't use it after damage is dealt. Which you currently can, but since it's opponents only it's not a big deal. 6
Uh. What. Okay, my first impression was that the name was weird, but that sort of pales in comparison to the rest of the card. The "Wild" descriptor is probably better portrayed by adding appropriate environments to the art or something. Or flavor text. So, the card. It does things. I'm not sure if I'd call it punishing any more than something like a Clone does. Secondly, the effect is really strange, and I think the +3/+3 pushes it over the top of complexity, and wording problems. Speaking of which, I just noticed they enter the battlefield tapped. If you toned down the P/T, and just had it at "If a creature would enter the battlefield under another players control, it enters the battlefield under your control instead. When it does, its owner gains control of it.", and just pray that players are able to understand it, as even that in itself is sort of weird in how you can sacrifice it in response to triggers etc. The idea is pretty close to being really cool, but meh. Ya blew it. 6.5
Players rarely cast a lot of spells, so most of the time this is a dud. It offers some protection against storm, in that it halves the damage of a Tendrils. This has to hit for at least four to be somewhat decent though. I think you could have gotten away with just B. The card is a bit interesting though. It's sort of strange in that it extorts your opponents with his spells, but overall I'm quite fond of it. It's neat, even if it's not particularily powerful. Flows well. 7.5
I have one complaint, aside from how jealous the flavor text makes me. It bothers me that it's a replacement effect instead of a trigger. I think the card would play more intuitively if it doesn't leave the spell that would be countered behind. It does add some flavor to being unstoppable, but overall I don't think its worth it. 8.5
If they are invited to dinner, then why do they go hexproof all of a sudden? Hexproof sort of implies an evasive nature. I suppose when they run, they whip up a lot of dust that covers them? I guess that makes a surprising amount of sense. I quite like the card, actually. My initial reaction was rather negative, but it has grown on me. Only complaint is that the Hexproof is sort of strange as a trigger, would probably have swapped it for Trample, even if it's currently vulnerable to abilities. 9
Anthem auras are pretty fun. I wish I could put it on an opposing creature so he would be encouraged to block with it, but I suppose it doesn't work too well with the current flavor. Only bothersome thing is how it partially discourages actually attacking with the creature. 7.5
As expected, this was moderately easy to make insane. Winds of Change , each opponent loses life X*X damage, X equals their hand size. Or in response to Wheel of Fate , for 49 damage. I'm a pretty big fan of turbosmog decks, but I think this can escalate a bit too easily with how wheel effects exist in the game. The card is sort of cool, conceptually, but with the scaling it's probably either too good or irrelevant. Being a trigger, it might also be confusing when you draw more than one card at once. I want to like the name, but I'm having difficulty doing so. 5.5
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.
What is this supposed to punish your opponent for? Playing the game? I suppose it can prevent self-mill strategies, but I'd probably just expect you to do the work for that. Overall though, it's not really so much punishment. It's just continual damage for more or less everything. Where are you going with the flavor? "Fire in the Hole" isn't indicative of a trap in any way, calling it a fiery hole is a pretty big stretch. And, well, doesn't tie too much into the effect either. The flavor text itself is also quite weak. If it blows up in your face, it should deal more than 1 damage, which is negligible. It also gives the impression of some sort of risk, but Enchantments are the least likely permanent type to hit the graveyard. There's really only two colors that can interact with it in a meaningful fashion. 4.5
OMG now im not saying that this card was good or any of the ones i made were good. but it seems like the first thing in all the grades is a downgrade in score for for trying to meet the requirement for the round.
Well, it's because I don't think it punishes your opponent. It doesn't capitalize on something your opponent does. Mindbreak Trap is punishing, as you overextend your entire deck into exile. Wrath of God is punishing your opponent for overextending. With this, you play it, then Traumatize them for lethal. Like I said, it sort of works against self-mill, but milling usually happens in the early stages of the game, so it comes out a bit too late. However, it's overall a bit too broad at doing it, since they're going to take damage regardless of what they do, playing lands aside.
However, a lot of it came from a flavor that made overall little to no sense to me.
it was ment to do just what you said punish graveyard reap decks. the reason it only deals a small amount of damage is so it could be dealt with by an opponent. i guess you are right about the flavor but i was just conecting the damage dealing aspects of the card.
