(This month's banner is my own elaboration on the art of the card Ferocious Pup by Rudy Siswanto.)
August MCC Round 3
A twisted walk through time
August MCC Round 3
A twisted walk through time
Good news! We're now in a future where science has cracked time travel! It's now possible to use an elevator-like machine, first programming it to reach the specific time and place that you want to go to, and then physically entering it. The doors will close and you will travel through time exactly like an elevator taking you through the stories of a building. When the doors reopen, you exit the machine in the place and time you had chosen. And don't worry, the scientific principles behind this form of time travel imply that you will be able to interact with things and people in the past or future, no matter how far, without meaningfully altering the timeline. The only problem is that such travels are very expensive, and only few people on Earth can afford them. But...
Good news! We've been offered a collective free trip as a promotion! After much discussion, we had decided, as we are all Magic players and huge fans, that we wanted to see Richard Garfield's playtest sessions for Alpha before the first set was even published. So the scientists programmed the machine to send us back to Philadelphia in 1992, the place where Magic was first created and developed, and the year before Magic's debut in the summer of 1993. Playtest for Alpha was well underway, and...
Good news! Even without our help from the future, they had realized by themselves that Time Walk and Timetwister are broken and they had decided to remove those two cards from the set. (Hey, at least they caught two!) But the machine is strange. Sometimes it can also send you to alternate timelines and universes. In our specific case, we are in an alternate reality where they had already come up with the concept of collector number, even though at that time they were clearly assigned manually and not by a script like in our own space and time. In fact, it was late enough that those numbers were already locked in. Maybe we should have chosen to go to the late '80s, when Richard Garfield had just come up with the idea for Magic. But it was too late to change our mind. We were there, and they had a problem, but...
Good news! There was something we could do to help them! They had to create two new cards, both of them monoblue and with names that fit in alphabetical order between Thoughtlace and Twiddle. As they had understood that we were there from the future with the experience of more than 25 years of Magic design, and to optimize the time needed to solve the problem, they had decided to allow us to design one of those two new cards, while they would take care of the other. So, now it's up to us. What can we come up with to help them? Well...
Good news! We have a contest that can kinda work like a collective brainstorming session, to present them only the best cards we could create to fill that hole. So, let's get to work!
Main Challenge - Imagine that Time Walk and Timetwister are removed from Alpha, and that collector numbers already exist. Design a card that fits in that hole. To fit, it must be a monoblue card with a name that comes after Thoughtlace and before Twiddle in alphabetical order. You must design the card to today's standards. See clarifications for more info.
Subchallenge 1 - No mana symbols of any kind are there in the card's rules text. (They don't know what color identity is yet.)
Subchallenge 2 - Your card is not a sorcery. (They have just removed two broken sorceries, they don't want to risk with more of them.)
Clarifications
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Main Challenge
• In short, the challenge is asking you to design a card that meets two requirements:
- It's monoblue.
- Its name is between Thoughtlace and Twiddle in alphabetical order.
• While not technically required, it's probably a good idea to avoid effects too similar to the two cards that have been cut, so extra turns or "shuffle then draw seven" effects are best avoided.
• The name of your card can include the word "time", but it doesn't have to. It just has to fit in between Thoughtlace and Twiddle in alphabetical order.
• As for all the rest, you can do whatever you want. Any current card type is fine, including those that didn't exist yet in Alpha, like planeswalkers for example. I said "current", so please no "interrupts", "mana sources", "mono/poly artifacts" or anything like that. Any monoblue mana cost is fine. Any rarity is fine, including mythic rare (if needed, they will move other cards up or down in rarity to let ours fit). Any text or abilities are fine. Any flavor text is fine. Any power and toughness if a creature or Vehicle and any starting loyalty if a planeswalker is fine. Flip cards (from Kamigawa), split cards, and DFCs (from Innistrad) are fine. Colored artifacts are fine. Basically, we're designing the card with any tool available today, not at the time of Alpha.
• Your card will be judged against today's design sensibility and rules. In our imaginary scenario, the CR already exist and they are the current (M20) ones.
• That's also true for wording. Your wording should be in today's style and rigorous according to today's templating.
• That's also true for the color pie. Your card must respect the modern color pie.
• If your card is a flip card, split card, or DFC, the name of the left half or the front face is the one that matters to assign collector numbers, so this challenge only cares about those. The names of the right half or back side are ignored, so they can be whatever they want with no restrictions on alphabetical order for the right half or back side.
• Remember that lands are normally colorless, so asking for a monoblue card automatically excludes them, unless some Dryad Arbor-like kind of shenanigans are going on, but I heavily encourage you to avoid those.
Subchallenge 1
From the discussion thread:
• Your card can be an instant. It can also be just a permanent card. You can do whatever you want as long as the word "sorcery" is NOT there in your card's type line.
If you have any other questions, feel free to ask in the discussion thread.
• In short, the challenge is asking you to design a card that meets two requirements:
- It's monoblue.
- Its name is between Thoughtlace and Twiddle in alphabetical order.
• While not technically required, it's probably a good idea to avoid effects too similar to the two cards that have been cut, so extra turns or "shuffle then draw seven" effects are best avoided.
• The name of your card can include the word "time", but it doesn't have to. It just has to fit in between Thoughtlace and Twiddle in alphabetical order.
• As for all the rest, you can do whatever you want. Any current card type is fine, including those that didn't exist yet in Alpha, like planeswalkers for example. I said "current", so please no "interrupts", "mana sources", "mono/poly artifacts" or anything like that. Any monoblue mana cost is fine. Any rarity is fine, including mythic rare (if needed, they will move other cards up or down in rarity to let ours fit). Any text or abilities are fine. Any flavor text is fine. Any power and toughness if a creature or Vehicle and any starting loyalty if a planeswalker is fine. Flip cards (from Kamigawa), split cards, and DFCs (from Innistrad) are fine. Colored artifacts are fine. Basically, we're designing the card with any tool available today, not at the time of Alpha.
• Your card will be judged against today's design sensibility and rules. In our imaginary scenario, the CR already exist and they are the current (M20) ones.
• That's also true for wording. Your wording should be in today's style and rigorous according to today's templating.
• That's also true for the color pie. Your card must respect the modern color pie.
• If your card is a flip card, split card, or DFC, the name of the left half or the front face is the one that matters to assign collector numbers, so this challenge only cares about those. The names of the right half or back side are ignored, so they can be whatever they want with no restrictions on alphabetical order for the right half or back side.
• Remember that lands are normally colorless, so asking for a monoblue card automatically excludes them, unless some Dryad Arbor-like kind of shenanigans are going on, but I heavily encourage you to avoid those.
Subchallenge 1
From the discussion thread:
Subchallenge 2bravelion83 wrote: ↑4 years agoOh, and by the way, I'll take this chance to specify that if you do the same trick as Force of Nature, typing U in the rules text without writing it as a mana symbol, not only it does NOT count for subchallenge 1, but it's also a serious Quality mistake, so please just don't do that.
• Your card can be an instant. It can also be just a permanent card. You can do whatever you want as long as the word "sorcery" is NOT there in your card's type line.
If you have any other questions, feel free to ask in the discussion thread.
DEADLINES
Design deadline: Saturday, August 24th 23:59 EDT
Judging deadline: Tuesday, August 27th 23:59 EDT
To avoid having a versus round with an odd number of players, I'm extending both deadlines by one day, hoping that's enough for Superbajt to post. Any player can take advantage of the extra time to edit or change their entries if they wish to do so. New design deadline is Sunday, August 25th 23:59 EDT. New judging deadline is Wednesday, August 28th 23:59 EDT.
RUBRIC
The rubric has undergone no changes in the transition from MTGSalvation to MTGNexus. As a reminder for everyone, here it is. As usual, it will be there in all round threads. If you want a more detailed explanation of the rubric, you can find it in the brand new MTGNexus MCC Guidelines and FAQ, written by me and approved by void_nothing (Custom Card moderator). The detailed explanation of the rubric is in section 6.2. If you have time and will to read that (admittedly long) document in its entirety, I invite you to do so.
MCC Rubric
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Design
(X/3) Appeal - Do the different player psychographics (Timmy/Johhny/Spike) have a use for the card?
(X/3) Elegance - Is the card easily understandable at a glance? Do all the flavor and mechanics combined as a whole make sense?
Development
(X/3) Viability - How well does the card fit into the color wheel? Does it break or bend the rules of the game? Is it the appropriate rarity?
(X/3) Balance - Does the card have a power level appropriate for contemporary constructed/limited environments without breaking them? Does it play well in casual and multiplayer formats? Does it create or fit into a deck/archetype? Does it create an oppressive environment?
Creativity
(X/3) Uniqueness - Has a card like this ever been printed before? Does it use new mechanics, ideas, or design space? Does it combine old ideas in a new way? Overall, does it feel "fresh"?
(X/3) Flavor - Does the name seem realistic for a card? Does the flavor text sound professional? Do all the flavor elements synch together to please Vorthos players?
Polish
(X/3) Quality - Points deducted for incorrect spelling, grammar, and templating.
(X/2) Main Challenge (*) - Was the main challenge satisfied? Was it approached in a unique or interesting way? Does the card fit the intent of the challenge?
(X/2) Subchallenges - One point awarded per satisfied subchallenge condition.
Total: X/25
*An entry with 0 points here is subject to disqualification.
(X/3) Appeal - Do the different player psychographics (Timmy/Johhny/Spike) have a use for the card?
(X/3) Elegance - Is the card easily understandable at a glance? Do all the flavor and mechanics combined as a whole make sense?
Development
(X/3) Viability - How well does the card fit into the color wheel? Does it break or bend the rules of the game? Is it the appropriate rarity?
(X/3) Balance - Does the card have a power level appropriate for contemporary constructed/limited environments without breaking them? Does it play well in casual and multiplayer formats? Does it create or fit into a deck/archetype? Does it create an oppressive environment?
Creativity
(X/3) Uniqueness - Has a card like this ever been printed before? Does it use new mechanics, ideas, or design space? Does it combine old ideas in a new way? Overall, does it feel "fresh"?
(X/3) Flavor - Does the name seem realistic for a card? Does the flavor text sound professional? Do all the flavor elements synch together to please Vorthos players?
Polish
(X/3) Quality - Points deducted for incorrect spelling, grammar, and templating.
(X/2) Main Challenge (*) - Was the main challenge satisfied? Was it approached in a unique or interesting way? Does the card fit the intent of the challenge?
(X/2) Subchallenges - One point awarded per satisfied subchallenge condition.
Total: X/25
*An entry with 0 points here is subject to disqualification.
JUDGES
bravelion83
void_nothing
Rithaniel
mellifluoresce (see discussion thread)
A reminder to everyone:
In the MCC, putting rarity on cards is mandatory! If you don't put a rarity on your card, expect huge deductions in both Viability AND Quality.
Also, you should format your text cards accordingly to the brand new MTGNexus MCC Guidelines and FAQ. Again, expect deductions in Quality otherwise. The recommended card formatting is in section 4. As I've said before, if you have time and will to read that document in its entirety, I invite you to do so. It should be useful to everybody, hosts, judges, and players. And speaking of players...
PLAYERS
barbecube
Jimmy Groove
netn10
SecretInfiltrator
Sojourner Dusk
Superbajt (didn't post a card within the extended design deadline)
This is the versus round. Players will be paired in 1v1 matchups, each judged by two judges, and the player with the highest combined score in each matchup will advance to Round 4, the final round.
BRACKETS
Jimmy Groove vs Sojourner Dusk
barbecube vs netn10 vs SecretInfiltrator
All judges judge all 5 cards. The player will the lowest combined score from each bracket will be eliminated. Judging may begin right now. A reminder that the judging deadline is Wednesday, August 28th 23:59 EDT.