July MCC, Round 2 - Ubi Sunt?

[void_nothing]

Banner based on Mannichi, the Fevered Dream by Martina Pilcerova and Wizards of the Coast. Thanks to bravelion83 for the "Core Set Style" MCC Logo

July MCC, Round 2 - Ubi Sunt?

Welcome to the July MCC! It's Paradoxes Month here at the MCC.

Main Challenge: Design a card that can cause one or more creatures to be put somewhere other than a graveyard when they die.
Subchallenge 1: Your card is not white or black.
Subchallenge 2: Your card does not have the word "exile" in its rules text.

DEADLINES

Design deadline: Wednesday, July 21st 23:59 EDT

Judging deadline: Saturday, July 24th 23:59 EDT

Clarifications

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None yet.

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.

Judges:
void_nothing
slimytrout

Players:
@Venedrex
@Henlock
@bravelion83
@Subject16
@Freyleyes
@Lorn Asbord Schutta
@netn10
@RaikouRider

[Freyleyes]

Teo, Lost Then Found 1R
Legendary Creature - Human {R}
Haste
If Teo, Lost Then Found would die, put it on the top of its owner's library instead.
Miracle R (You may cast this card for its miracle cost when you draw it if it's the first card you drew this turn.)
2/2

[netn10]

Sakura-Tribe Entomber 3G
Creature - Snake Shaman (Mythic)
Whenever another creature you control dies, choose target forest you control without creatures living in it. That creature becomes part of that forest (It lives in that forest, it can't attack or block and has T: Add G. If the forest would leave the battlefield, that creature leaves to the same zone.)
3/3

[bravelion83]

Denied Remembrance 2U
Enchantment (R)
If a creature would die, instead put it on the bottom of its owner's library and put a charge counter on Denied Remembrance.
3U, Remove X charge counters from Denied Remembrance: Target player shuffles their library, then they draw X cards. X can't be zero.
"May you be never remembered."

[Subject16]

Maelstrom Phoenix 1RR
Creature — Phoenix (R)
Flying, haste
Cascade (When you cast this spell, exile cards from the top of your library until you exile a nonland card that costs less. You may cast it without paying its mana cost. Put the exiled cards on the bottom in a random order.)
When Maelstrom Phoenix dies, you may cast it from your graveyard.
2/2

[Venedrex]

Dryad of Rebirth
Creature — Dryad Shaman (R)
Whenever another nontoken creature you control dies, put that creature on the bottom of its owner's library, then you may pay . If you do, create a 0/1 green Plant creature token.
, , Sacrifice X other creatures: Search your library for a creature card with mana value X or less and put it into your hand. Activate this ability only any time you could cast a sorcery.
Nature is a cycle.
2/4

[Lorn Asbord Schutta]

Defecting Forces 1uu
Enchantment (R)
Whenever a creature would die, retutn it to its owner's hand.
3BR, sacrifice Defecting Forces: Each player reveals their hand, then discards all creature cards. Defecting Forces deals damage to each player equal to the total power of cards they discarded this way.
Fear of death leads to desertion. Enough desertions may lead to mutiny.

[Henlock]

Eliphe, Custodian of the Royal Sword 1ww
Legendary Creature - Human Knight (r)
First strike
Whenever you cast a white creature card, if Eliphe, Custodian of the Royal Sword is your commander, that card becomes a commander. (Zone change rules for.commanders now apply to that card. You may cast it from the command zone by paying its mana cost plus an additional for each time it was previously cast from the command zone. If that card deals 21 combat damage to a player, that player loses the game.)
3/2

[void_nothing]

I need an extension of a couple of hours

Granted.

[RaikouRider]

Vanish into the Ether 2U
Enchantment {R}
When Vanish into the Ether enters the battlefield, draw a card.
If a creature would die, its owner puts it on the bottom of their library instead.

[void_nothing]

And the round is closed. Here are the judging assignments - the top two per judge will advance.

void_nothing:
netn10
Venedrex
Lorn Asbord Schutta
RaikouRider

slimytrout:
Freyleyes
bravelion83
Subject16
Henlcok

[void_nothing]

Bump for judging.

[slimytrout]

Freyleyes

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Teo, Lost Then Found 1R
Legendary Creature - Human {R}
Haste
If Teo, Lost Then Found would die, put it on the top of its owner's library instead.
Miracle R (You may cast this card for its miracle cost when you draw it if it's the first card you drew this turn.)
2/2

Design
(2.5/3) Appeal – Timmy would love to punch face with this, and also is by far the biggest fan of miracle. Johnny definitely sees some appeal in playing this over and over off the top of their library. Spike is a bit worried about getting locked out by it in the late game (play it, it gets killed, draw it again) but certainly appreciates a cheap, hard-to-deal-with threat for aggro decks.
(2.5/3) Elegance – Fairly clean as far as designs go, although Miracle on a creature is unusual and could lead to some confusion from players.

Development
(2.5/3) Viability – Definitely rare, and red probably is ok, although (absent metagame considerations) the card really makes more sense as a green card – red doesn't tend to get this sort of thing outside of phoenices.
(3/3) Balance – Strong, but I don't think it's busted – it's going to be very unusual to play this as a 1-drop (although man, will your opponents be salty when you do) so it's generally going to be weaker than Robber of the Rich (which is a very strong card). In fact, it could even be a liability in the late game, if your opponent has stabilized on board and just wants to prevent you from drawing burn spells. That being said, would be a strong consideration for inclusion in various cubes (Modern, Legacy, etc.) so definitely not too weak.

Creativity
(2/3) Uniqueness – This is a slightly different version of the Avenging Angel/Dark Revenant ability that's been tweaked to fit the challenge. Having miracle on a creature is new, and the whole package feels fairly fresh.
(2/3) Flavor – Basically like it, with two complaints: 1) There's already a character called Teyo, so Teo is a little close for comfort and 2) it's not clear why he doesn't have a class creature type, which is quite unusual for a Human.

Polish
(3/3) Quality – Looks good.
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) – Yep.
(2/2) Subchallenges – Yep yep.

Total: 21.5/25

bravelion83

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Denied Remembrance 2U
Enchantment (R)
If a creature would die, instead put it on the bottom of its owner's library and put a charge counter on Denied Remembrance.
3U, Remove X charge counters from Denied Remembrance: Target player shuffles their library, then they draw X cards. X can't be zero.
"May you be never remembered."

Design
(1.5/3) Appeal – Half points for everyone. Spike sees it as a hate card for graveyard strategies that also has a slow draw spell attached, but it's kind of expensive and doesn't stop creatures from going to the yard from library/discard. Timmy likes that they can eventually get their best creatures back, but doesn't actually have much use for a 3-mana enchantment with no immediate effect. The first effect is weird enough for Johnny, but the second effect doesn't hold much appeal.
(2.5/3) Elegance – Mostly makes sense, but the final restriction is a bit odd – is "3U: Target player shuffles" really a threatening ability?

Development
(2/3) Viability – Honestly, this seems like an uncommon to me. Sure, it eventually draws you some cards, but it does so quite slowly (especially in blue, which doesn't kill lots of creatures) so I don't see this as a threatening card in draft. Blue makes sense given the second ability.
(2/3) Balance – Fairly weak when compared to other sorts of graveyard hate, since it only stops creatures from dying to the graveyard and does nothing to cards already there. The fact that it has some draw stapled on is nice, but as mentioned previously it's very slow so really won't come up very often.

Creativity
(2.5/3) Uniqueness – I guess its predecessor is Nissa's Chosen, which only applies the effect to itself, so pretty new.
(1.5/3) Flavor – I can see why this would be a tough card to concept, but it is still a little bland, and I'm not sure "denied remembrance" really captures being put back into the library and potentially drawn again later. Also, the counters could really have been more flavorfully named – "charge" doesn't really seem to capture anything about it, and this is an enchantment, not an artifact.

Polish
(2.5/3) Quality – Should just be "shuffles" according to the new formatting rules. Otherwise looks good.
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) – Yep.
(2/2) Subchallenges – Yep yep.

Total: 18.5/25

Subject16

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Maelstrom Phoenix 1RR
Creature — Phoenix (R)
Flying, haste
Cascade (When you cast this spell, exile cards from the top of your library until you exile a nonland card that costs less. You may cast it without paying its mana cost. Put the exiled cards on the bottom in a random order.)
When Maelstrom Phoenix dies, you may cast it from your graveyard.
2/2

Design
(2.5/3) Appeal – Great value for Spike – a very solid body plus a cheap spell. Johnny definitely wants to keep sacrificing this and casting it to get extra spells. Timmy likes cascade in general, but the fact that it's so cheap means that the only way they're really going to use it is to cheat out 0 mana value cards like Living End.
(2/3) Elegance – Kinda unusual timing on the death trigger, which would cause some confusion. Probably would have worked better as an "until end of turn" or "until the end of your next turn" trigger, which is typical for red cards that do this sort of thing.
Development
(2/3) Viability – Kinda feel like this needs to be mythic, given the raw power level. Comparing it to Flameskull, my guess is that the Phoenix is more powerful, and yet it's at a lower rarity.
(2/3) Balance – This is *really* good, especially in older formats. Compare it to Shardless Agent, which is just a 2/2 for 3 with cascade which got printed at rare in MH2, and you can see that the Phoenix is better in at least 4 ways, which very likely means it's too good.

Creativity
(1.5/3) Uniqueness – As stated, this looks an awful lot like Flameskull with a little bit of Shardless Agent. There are some differences, but given how recent Flameskull was, it feels a little derivative.
(2/3) Flavor – It's a little formulaic (card type + cascade = Maelstrom card type), but hey, that happens sometimes.

Polish
(3/3) Quality – Looks good.
(1/2) Main Challenge (*) – This doesn't quite fit the challenge – it explicitly says that you cast it "from the graveyard" which means it still goes to the graveyard when it dies – but after talking with void_nothing we decided that it still meets the spirit. Really, it should have just said "If Maelstrom Phoenix would die, exile it instead. You may cast it from exile" or something like that. Yes, you would have missed the subchallenge, but your score would have ultimately been the same and you would have avoided a pretty near DQ.
(2/2) Subchallenges – Yep yep.

Total: 18/25

Henlock

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Eliphe, Custodian of the Royal Sword 1ww
Legendary Creature - Human Knight (r)
First strike
Whenever you cast a white creature card, if Eliphe, Custodian of the Royal Sword is your commander, that card becomes a commander. (Zone change rules for.commanders now apply to that card. You may cast it from the command zone by paying its mana cost plus an additional for each time it was previously cast from the command zone. If that card deals 21 combat damage to a player, that player loses the game.)
3/2

Design
(2/3) Appeal –Timmy obviously loves this card – it provides a huge amount of combo potential and it also enables endless beatdowns. Johnny sees some combo potential but also it's just so obvious and powerful that they're a bit turned off. Spike also likes the incredible value it gives, but they'd actually hate playing against it so much that I'm going to dock half a point.
(2.5/3) Elegance – I mean, it doesn't have a lot of rules text, but it makes up for it with a real big block of reminder text – it's not quite microtext, but it's still a lot to read through, even if most of it is intuitive.
Development
(1/3) Viability – Where to begin… I suppose the first thing to say is that it messes with the rules of the format in a deeply troubling way. I have to imagine that the CRC would ban this card before it was even released. Second, it's the wrong color – white can recur only specific types of creatures, whereas black can get any creature back so this card should be black. And third, it definitely needs to be mythic rare, given how splashy it is. So yeah, no points here. EDIT: It's been pointed out that white can get mass general recursion (at least in Commander) with Marshal's Anthem, so one point here after all.
(1/3) Balance – I'm only giving you any points at all because this makes you play mono-white, which is, infamously, the most difficult color identity to win with in commander. But man, this card is insane. There's no way to actually remove it – you can't un-commander a creature – so it basically makes all your creatures infinitely recastable. Just play this in a deck full of white value creatures and mana rocks and your opponents will have a hell of a time ever getting through to you unless they're playing infinite combos. I know commander is somewhat of a self-balancing format, but this is way too much.

Creativity
(3/3) Uniqueness – I meah, yeah, I guess. There's never been anything like it and I hope there never will.
(2/3) Flavor – Would fit a lot better (and solve some of the aforementioned issues) if it made *one* other creature at a time your commander. As is, she doesn't seem like a good custodian if she hands the Royal Sword out to literally anyone she meets.

Polish
(2/3) Quality – You cast spells, not cards. Also a period instead of a space within the reminder text.
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) – Yep.
(1/2) Subchallenges – It is white.

Total: 16.5/25

Results

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This challenge pushed people to some interesting places, not all of them good...
Freyleyes: 21.5
bravelion83: 18.5
Subject16: 18
Henlock: 16.5

[void_nothing]

netn10

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Design
(3/3) Appeal - Txmmy loves big mana and their creatures sticking around. Jxnny sees a unique effect with a LOT of combo potential. Spike sees value all around.
(2/3) Elegance - Simultaneously extremely grokkable and extremely confusing. Does suffer from some potential wording issues, see below.

Development
(3/3) Viability - Definitely green, definitely mythic.
(2.5/3) Balance - Abuseable for sure but not problematic in and of itself.

Creativity
(3/3) Uniqueness - Some seriously unique notions in here.
(2.5/3) Flavor - Gotta love Obsidian Fireheart reminder text, plus fits perfectly with what we know of Sakura-Tribe burials. Only thing I can complain about is a creature dying "living" in the land - maybe "living on in it" (metaphorically) would be good.

Polish
(1/3) Quality - Forest, being a subtype, needs capitalization. There's also a missing period in there and missing quotes in the reminder text. I believe how this card should work is "Whenever another creature you control dies while not part of a land, choose target Forest you control without creatures living in it. Return that creature to the battlefield as part of that Forest."
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - Good.
(2/2) Subchallenges - And done.

Total: 21/25

Venedrex

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Design
(2/3) Appeal - Txmmy likes tutoring up their best creatures but balks at the cost. Jxnny sees lots of moving parts and an engine in the making. Spike oddly has the same feeling as Txmmy.
(2/3) Elegance - A bit wordy and has the potential to cause a lot of shuffling

Development
(2.5/3) Viability - Rare is where to put a relatively complicated, self-synergistic card. I feel like you could argue for this card to be part-black (the card's self-synergy sort of allows you to Raise Dead with it not to mention the mass creature sac), although monogreen's not exactly wrong.
(2.5/3) Balance - I know this is an engine, but it's kind of underwhelming for what you get; that activated ability is very weak for its cost unless you've seriously spammed the token creation ability. Compare Fauna Shaman - a very strong card to be sure, but also one that costs less for an arguably much better activated ability.

Creativity
(1.5/3) Uniqueness - Definitely a mashup of well-worn past effects - ones that have never been combined in this way, granted.
(2.5/3) Flavor - Good overall even if the name and flavor text both feel very on-the-nose.

Polish
(2/3) Quality - Missing a shuffle clause.
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - Done.
(2/2) Subchallenges - And done.

Total: 19/25

Lorn Asbord Schutta

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Design
(3/3) Appeal - Txmmy wants to start a mutiny. Jxnny sees a lot to have fun with. Spike mostly wants to recur their creatures for cheap.
(2.5/3) Elegance - A bit wordy and the activated ability is relatively math-heavy.

Development
(3/3) Viability - Main card color, activated ability colors, rarity - all on point.
(2.5/3) Balance - Other than the likes of Priest of Gix infinite sacrifices and whatnot, the symmetricality of this card makes me less worried about it than I would be. After all, this is an effect that can seriously backfire on you when your opponents have access to it.

Creativity
(2.5/3) Uniqueness - Oddly the only real precedent for mass die-to-hand is Necromancer's Magemark. That activated ability is quite funky - a little Amnesia, a little Backlash.
(3/3) Flavor - A very nice package: gotta love a card that fully explains itself and enables little stories to play out.

Polish
(2/3) Quality - Replacement effects say "if" and not "whenever". The "sacrifice" in the activated ability cost should be capitalized.
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - Done.
(2/2) Subchallenges - And done.

Total: 22.5/25

RaikouRider

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Design
(2/3) Appeal - Txmmy doesn't see the point. Jxnny sees one piece to a puzzle. Spike sees a possibly crippling sideboard card.
(3/3) Elegance - Nothing to argue here.

Development
(2.5/3) Viability - Rarity's right. I could see the argument for this being one of four different colors; this is blue mostly insofar as it stops triggered abilities rather than it actually recurring things.
(3/3) Balance - Absolutely no complaints here. Perfectly costed I'd say.

Creativity
(1/3) Uniqueness - A quite simple card - mostly a Rest in Peace/Wheel of Sun and Moon variant.
(2.5/3) Flavor - Name's very evocative and perfectly conveys the sense of the card. This certainly could have used flavor text though.

Polish
(3/3) Quality - Looks good.
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - Done.
(2/2) Subchallenges - And done.

Total: 21/25

[void_nothing]

And congratulations to the five players advancing onto the third round, given that I had a tie for second place in my judgments!