February CCL, Signups/Round 1: Hiring at the Tavern

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void_nothing
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Post by void_nothing » 4 years ago

CCL February Signups/Round 1

"Hiring at the Tavern"


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Dawnglare Invoker, taken from steveargyle.com, by Steve Argyle and Wizards of the Coast
Welcome to the Card Creation League! Everyone is free to participate in either or both of the first two rounds. Come join us!

Theme

It's Classic Zendikar month in the CCL - a new Zendikar set will be released much later this year, which most everyone is excited for but which we know nothing (save for the name Zendikar Rising) about yet. So this month will be about the already established history and lore of Zendikar.

Challenge
Design a white Kor Ally creature, blue Merfolk Ally creature, black Vampire Ally creature, red Goblin Ally creature, or green Elf Ally creature.
Clarifications
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  • Make sure to include a rarity.
  • Your card doesn't have to be monocolored.
  • Your card can have additional creature types beyond the required ones.
Anyone can enter this first round! Your submissions are due Friday, February 7th, 23:59 EST.
Schedule
  • Round 1 — Open to Everyone (February 1st–7th)
  • Round 2 — Open to Everyone (February 8th–14th)
  • Rounds 1 and 2 Critiques (Due February 17th)
  • Top 8 — Open to top 8 finishers (February 18th–21st)
  • Top 8 Critiques (Due February 23rd)
  • Top 4 — Open to top 4 finishers (February 24th–27th)
  • Top 4 Critiques (Due February 29th)
  • Final (March, winner determined by public poll)
Psst, check the second page of Custom Card Contests & Games! Because of the daily contests, a lot of games fall down to there.

The greatest (fake) pro wrestling on the internet - Collaborative Create-A-Booster - My random creations (updated regularly)

Important Facts: Colorless is not a color, Wastes is not a land type, Changeling is not a creature type

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RaikouRider
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Post by RaikouRider » 4 years ago

Medic of House Emeria 2WW
Creature - Kor Cleric Ally {R}
WW, T, Reveal X Ally cards from your hand: Return target Ally creature card with converted mana cost X or less from your graveyard to the battlefield. Activate this ability only any time you could cast a sorcery.
1/4

netn10
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Post by netn10 » 4 years ago

Ondu Weaponsmith W
Creature - Kor Artificer Ally (Rare)
2W, Tap X Allies you control: Create an artifact equipment token named Adventure Pack with X item counters on it. It has "Equipped creature gets +1/+1 for each item counter on Adventure Pack" and "Equip 3".
1/1

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folding_music
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Post by folding_music » 4 years ago

Umara Strays
Creature - Merfolk Ally (U)
Flash
Umara Strays enters the battlefield with two +1/+1 counters on it if you control an Island creature.
1/1

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Jimmy Groove
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Post by Jimmy Groove » 4 years ago

Spelltouched Enlarger 1G
Creature - Elf Ally (C)
Diverse Teamwork - 4G, T: Target creature gets +X/+X until end of turn, where X is the number of creature types among Allies your team controls.
"The Resurgence resulted in a large number of people and animals gaining simple magical abilities. Among these Spelltouched, those that faired best were those who learned how to use their gifts in coordination with other outcasts. In this new era, the wise never travel alone."
1/3
Last edited by Jimmy Groove 4 years ago, edited 2 times in total.

slimytrout
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Post by slimytrout » 4 years ago

Malakir Deathmage 3B
Creature - Vampire Warlock Ally (U)
Alliance - When Malakir Deathmage enters the battlefield, destroy target creature you don't control with power less than or equal to the number of colors among Ally creatures you control.
"Fear is a luxury we can no longer afford."
-Munda, ambush leader

3/3
Last edited by slimytrout 4 years ago, edited 5 times in total.

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spacemonaut
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Post by spacemonaut » 4 years ago

Mina and Denn, Reborn BBGG
Legendary Creature — Vampire Elf Ally (R)
Menace
Whenever Mina and Denn attacks or blocks, you may return a land card from your graveyard to the battlefield tapped.
Whenever a creature you control dies, put three +1/+1 counters on up to one target land you control. It becomes a 0/0 Elemental creature that's still a land.
3/3
Last edited by spacemonaut 4 years ago, edited 1 time in total.

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Subject16
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Post by Subject16 » 4 years ago

Hedron Smashers 4R
Creature — Goblin Ally (Rare)
When Hedron Smashers enters the battlefield, choose one. If you control three or more allies, choose them all instead—
• Hedron Smashers gains haste until end of turn.
• Destroy target nonbasic land.
• Destroy target colorless nonland permanent.
4/3

kwanyeegor-ii
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Post by kwanyeegor-ii » 4 years ago

Rescuers of Sea Gate 2U
Creature--Merfolk Wizard Ally (Uncommon)
Flash
When Rescuers of Sea Gate enters the battlefield, untap another target creature you control. If that creature is an Ally, it gains flying and hexproof until end of turn.
3U, Return Rescuers of Sea Gate to its owner's hand: Tap target creature.
2/2
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haywire
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Post by haywire » 4 years ago

Earthcraft Elves
Creature- Elf Druid Ally {R}
Whenever Earthcraft Elves or another Ally enters the battlefield under your control, put X +1/+1 counters on up to one target land you control, where X is the number of Allies you control. If it isn't a creature, it becomes a 0/0 Elemental creature with haste that's still a land.
Land creatures you control are Allies in addition to their other types.
, sacrifice Earthcraft Elves: Land creatures you control gain hexproof and indestructible until end of turn.
2/2

jamblock
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Post by jamblock » 4 years ago

Tajuru Leaftracer 1G
Creature - Elf Ally (U)
CohortT, Tap an untapped Ally you control: Add two mana in any combination of colors.
2/3

marioguy3
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Post by marioguy3 » 4 years ago

Sparing Kor-Mage
Creature - Kor Ally (Rare)
Whenever a source you control prevents one or more damage that would be dealt to you or an ally you control, create a 1/1 white ally kor token.
: Prevent the next one damage that a non-creature source would deal to you or an ally you control.
3/3
The summer is hot. The sum of sun and hot equals summer.

Ink-Treader
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Post by Ink-Treader » 4 years ago

Company Recruiter 2W
Creature - Kor Soldier Ally (R)
Vigilance
1W, T: Reveal the top four cards of your library. You may choose an Ally card from among them. If the chosen card's converted mana cost is less than or equal to the number of Allies you control, put it onto the battlefield. Otherwise put that card into your hand. Put the rest of the cards on the bottom of your library in any order.
2/3

Henlock
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Post by Henlock » 4 years ago

Hearthkindler 1r
Creature - Goblin Ally (u)
Plot- Whenever Hearthkindler or another Ally enters the battlefield, put a plot counter on Hearthkindler.
2, Sacrifice Hearthkindler: Hearthkindler deals X damage to any target, where X is equal to the number of plot counters on it.
2/1

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void_nothing
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Post by void_nothing » 4 years ago

Round's closed! Please critique the six contestants below you on this list, looping to the top as necessary.

RaikouRider
netn10
folding_music
Jimmy Groove
slimytrout
spacemonaut
Subject16
kwanyeegor-ii
haywire
jamblock
marioguy3
Ink-Treader
Henlock

Next round will come early tomorrow.
Psst, check the second page of Custom Card Contests & Games! Because of the daily contests, a lot of games fall down to there.

The greatest (fake) pro wrestling on the internet - Collaborative Create-A-Booster - My random creations (updated regularly)

Important Facts: Colorless is not a color, Wastes is not a land type, Changeling is not a creature type

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folding_music
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Post by folding_music » 4 years ago

@@void_nothing - do we post critiques in this thread, CCL discussion or PM them to you? thanks

slimytrout
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Post by slimytrout » 4 years ago

@folding_music: Here's an example.
spacemonaut
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Mina and Denn, Reborn: Reasonable card, although the cost is pretty color-intensive for a rare 3/3 menace with no ETB effect. Also some flavor quibbles: the card is not particularly Ally-themed; vampires don't usually keep any other "race" subtypes; and vampires also generally aren't considered "reborn," especially on Zendikar where they're more about blood and death magic.
subject16
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Hedron Smashers: I like it, although "Allies" should be capitalized, and it should probably say "choose any number instead" so that you aren't forced to destroy your own stuff.
kwanyeegor-ii
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Rescuers of Sea Gate: It's always a little weird to use "return this creature" as a cost, since it means that ability resolves without going on the stack – in fact, I think the card would be better off without the final ability – but otherwise I really like this card.
haywire
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Earthcraft Elves: Very powerful – effectively increases the number of Allies by 2 every time you play one, so the lands get big fast. But definitely a fun idea.
jamblock
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Tajuru Leaftracer: Fun, simple, quite strong, and a new use of an existing mechanic – love it. Only notes are that it probably doesn't need the third point of toughness (although Destiny Spinner shows that it's not out of the question) and that flavor text would be nice, even if it were just boilerplate "nature is awesome" stuff.
marioguy3
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Sparing Kor-Mage: Pretty hard to figure out when this would trigger, especially with the weird "source you control" text: for example, does protection count? Not a bad card, but a little fiddly and confusing compared to some of the other entries.
Tough T3, with a lot of well-designed cards.

1. jamblock
2. subject16
3. kwanyeegor-ii

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folding_music
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Post by folding_music » 4 years ago

to Jimmy Groove
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I like the card! This seems underpowered and the ability could either lose the or the from its cost, considering how specific its demands are, but the card seems realistic at common and evocative.
to slimytrout
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Very neat. The Warlock subtype would probably make the card look a bit cramped but the card's realistic, strikes me as being around the Invasion power-level.
to spacemonaut
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Looks like a pushed card from a Commander deck. Can't decide whether it's good, or too good, to not have "another" in its last ability. I think it's a cool design but a little too powerful and too color-dense for Zendikar.
to Subject16
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Beautiful card, no complaints.
to kwanyeegor-ii
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Like a hyper-active Temur Sabertooth! This is a great Ally enabler that might be a little too over-bearing in terms of what it can accomplish on its own, Morphling-style. A nightmare to play around in limited. Not sure how you'd fix it except by making it rare!
to haywire
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A really nice finisher that might make the process of swarming the opponent a little too risk-free. The Awaken callback is very cool, though. I'd probably change the "all" in the last ability to "target land creature" since the card already does so much?
1. Subject16
2. slimytrout
3. Jimmy Groove

kwanyeegor-ii
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Post by kwanyeegor-ii » 4 years ago

haywire - multiple powerful abilities here but still too wordy. fusing 2 themes seems like too much

jamblock - 3 toughness seems too high especially for limited. but otherwise this is a great design. def feels like 2 allies working together

marioguy3 - guess it's a lullmage mentor reference. seems ok. damage prevention is usually bad though

Ink-Treader - really nice, looks very strong but not too overpowered. would easily make there be an ally deck in standard

Henlock - plot mechanic is super interesting. would wanna see more cards with the keyword. keeping this around is risky due to the low toughness though

RaikouRider - interesting ability but revealing X ally cards seems too restrictive. easy to get 1 or 2 cmc creatures, way harder to get 4+ cmc

Top 3
1 jamblock
2 henlock
3 ink-treader

hm raikourider
Last edited by kwanyeegor-ii 4 years ago, edited 1 time in total.
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jamblock
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Post by jamblock » 4 years ago

marioguy: A solid presence in mono-white for sure, and probably appropriately costed, albeit very annoying seeming to play against because of the "you" part. I wish it costed a bit more to cast, I think.

inktreader: This is a fun take on the recruiter mechanic, and I am a fan of it overall! I don't have much else to say, it all makes sense.

henlock: This seems pretty balanced, but the clunkiness of "plot" seems unnecessary when we have so many other kinds of counters. Seems good in multiples, too, which is nice.

raikourider: I personally am not a fan of mechanics that have you revealing a bounty of cards from your hand, as it disincentivizes playing spells which can be feels-bad magic, but I like the general idea.

netn10: A very cool and original effect. Being able to make a lot of these over time seems powerful, but it takes so much investment that it's probably fine. I like the originality here a lot.

folding_music: This just doesn't quite feel like an ally, so while it does feel like zendikar, it's just tough to evaluate in this ally field

Top:
1. Inktreader
2. netn10
3. marioguy3

Ink-Treader
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Post by Ink-Treader » 4 years ago

Henlock
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Seems like an interesting build-around. I wonder if it's as strong as I feel it is; if so, it might need to be a little costlier or lose the ability target players.
RaikouRider
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On one hand repeatable recursion is strong, but considering you have to keep some cards in hand to have a decent range of CMCs to choose from, it might be able to cost a little less.
netn10
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This can certainly get silly if it's allowed to sit around a bit.
folding_music
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If you can fulfill it's requirement, it's incredibly efficient. Otherwise it's merely passable.
Jimmy Groove
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A bit complex for a common. Might be better if it's ability was cheaper but sorcery speed.
slimytrout
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Fair enough. Has an upper bound, but getting there is pretty tough. Could probably be a little cheaper.
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1. Jimmy Groove
2. Henlock
3. netn10

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spacemonaut
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Post by spacemonaut » 4 years ago

Critique
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Subject16 wrote:
4 years ago
Hedron Smashers 4R
Creature — Goblin Ally (Rare)
When Hedron Smashers enters the battlefield, choose one. If you control three or more allies, choose them all instead—
• Hedron Smashers gains haste until end of turn.
• Destroy target nonbasic land.
• Destroy target colorless nonland permanent.
4/3
This is a pretty fun looking card and fun looking ally mechanic. I had to have an internal debate over whether a card like this would be allowed into standard even considering the work required to max it out, but I think it would pass. (Don't worry, if I decided on no, I would've said let's just pretend this was released in a supplemental product like a commander deck.) Come to think of it, it'll probably be pretty fitting in a Zendikar standard as a safety valve on creaturelands.
I like it. Nice work.
kwanyeegor-ii wrote:
4 years ago
Rescuers of Sea Gate 2U
Creature--Merfolk Wizard Ally (Uncommon)
Flash
When Rescuers of Sea Gate enters the battlefield, untap another target creature you control. If that creature is an Ally, it gains flying and hexproof until end of turn.
3U, Return Rescuers of Sea Gate to its owner's hand: Tap target creature.
2/2
This is a nice card, but it's a mixed package flavorwise: untapping and giving hexproof I can see as rescuing, but I don't see the flying and the tapping that way. I'm going to reflavor this in my head as being about dudes specifically launching you into the air on a covert attack, and rename it to "Sea Gate Launchmages". Ok, that's better.

At uncommon, being able to do all three of those things (untap, flying, hexproof) as well as getting a 2/2 body, all for 2U, is a lot! Individually each one is a pretty big deal.
The last ability lets you bounce the card, and it having a powerful ETB makes this a big deal on its own. It gets another upside as well: tapping something. I think we should instead be seeing something like: "3U: Return Rescuers of Sea Gate and another target creature you control to their owners' hand." Now they're rescuing while also requiring some tax to have upside of getting them back again to cast again.
If we drop the flying & make this change it fits the original rescue flavor a lot, I think.

haywire wrote:
4 years ago
Earthcraft Elves
Creature- Elf Druid Ally {R}
Whenever Earthcraft Elves or another Ally enters the battlefield under your control, put X +1/+1 counters on up to one target land you control, where X is the number of Allies you control. If it isn't a creature, it becomes a 0/0 Elemental creature with haste that's still a land.
Land creatures you control are Allies in addition to their other types.
, sacrifice Earthcraft Elves: Land creatures you control gain hexproof and indestructible until end of turn.
2/2
I like both of these "land creatures matter" and "allies matter" themes, and the card's pretty cute. I note that the timing means that when this enters, any pre-existing land creatures will count toward X.

jamblock wrote:
4 years ago
Tajuru Leaftracer 1G
Creature - Elf Ally (U)
CohortT, Tap an untapped Ally you control: Add two mana in any combination of colors.
2/3
Very neat & tidy, and basically turns another one of your allies into an Elvish Mystic.

Bold move to use Cohort, since, quoting Storm Scale: Zendiakr and Battle for Zendikar: "Popularity: Unpopular. As of me writing this article, Cohort is the lowest-rated mechanic in Magic's history since we began doing market research. Personally, I don't think it deserves the bottom slot, but it belongs in the bottom 25%."

I'm not one of the people that intensely disliked it though.
marioguy3 wrote:
4 years ago
Sparing Kor-Mage
Creature - Kor Ally (Rare)
Whenever a source you control prevents one or more damage that would be dealt to you or an ally you control, create a 1/1 white ally kor token.
: Prevent the next one damage that a non-creature source would deal to you or an ally you control.
3/3
(You don't need the "one or more" here. When you deal or prevent 0 damage, no damage was dealt or prevented at all, so nothing triggers.)
This is neat and straightforward. Personally I'd make the activated ability go all-out: tap as a cost, prevent all damage. It doesn't make additional tokens that way, but I feel that's worth the trade-off: your 2/2's and 1/1's are going to need preventing more than 1 damage to survive most noncreature burn sources anyway.
Ink-Treader wrote:
4 years ago
Company Recruiter 2W
Creature - Kor Soldier Ally (R)
Vigilance
1W, T: Reveal the top four cards of your library. You may choose an Ally card from among them. If the chosen card's converted mana cost is less than or equal to the number of Allies you control, put it onto the battlefield. Otherwise put that card into your hand. Put the rest of the cards on the bottom of your library in any order.
2/3
The card needs to be revealed (so you can prove it's an Ally you're putting into your hand), so it needs to say "You may exile an Ally card from among them."
I am not sure mono-white gets to do this, but this is a nice card. Maybe we'd see this in GW.
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1. Subject16
2. haywire
3. jamblock

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RaikouRider
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Post by RaikouRider » 4 years ago

I have a lot going on tonight so I'll only be able to provide top 3's sorry

1) netn10
2) spacemonaut
3) subject16

Henlock
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Post by Henlock » 4 years ago

Top3

nwtn10
alimytrout
RaikouRaider

haywire
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Post by haywire » 4 years ago

Top 3:
Jamblock
Marioguy
Inktreader

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