The DCC Discussion Thread

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RattingRots
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Post by RattingRots » 4 years ago

Flatline wrote:
4 years ago
RattingRots wrote:
4 years ago
Notes on Flatline's card:
This is just way too good. If you average the effects, the net effect is somewhere between Bitterblossom and Phyrexian Arena. I think this is especially problematic because it's powerful enough that people who don't like "feel-bad" random effects will still play it.
Yeah, my card is most likely too pushed. I messed around with the token creating mode a lot in an effort to tone it down. The other option I had in mind was "Up to one target creature you control gets +1/+0 and gains first strike until end of turn," but even then it's probably too good. I think it would be ok as is at 1rr. No? On a side note, the card was inspired by Outlaws' Merriment, which I had in my draft deck last night,
I think 1RR is probably the right cost.
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Post by Flatline » 4 years ago

bravelion83 wrote:
4 years ago
Flatline (not sure you can do "exile that card on an adventure", I guess it would be "cast that card as an Adventure without paying its mana cost" or something like that on a real card.)
If Memory Theft is a card, I think my card could exist. It's possible it may be worded a bit differently though. I think you're misinterpreting how my card functions (or I am). It isn't intended to allow you to cast the instant/sorcery half of the adventure at all. It's supposed to skip over the instant/sorcery part of the card it searches up and just exile the creature on an adventure so it can be cast later.
bravelion83 wrote:
4 years ago
Votes:
Flatline (Yes, congratulations indeed! You just make it look so easy...)
slimytrout wrote:
4 years ago
flatline (congrats! I know it's not over quite yet, but definitely seems like I'm going to come up a little short)
All these congratulations seem a bit premature, but thanks!

[mention]slimytrout[/mention]....You went on a heck of tear over the last week to make the last day interesting.

[mention]bravelion83[/mention] .....Designing cards hasn't come easy to me in years. I even took the better part of about a year and a half off from competition (mid 2017 through 2018), and I have only competed in the CCL once in the last two and a half years (although I'm thinking about doing so this month). There was a time that cards would pop into my head all day. I would jot them down in a notebook if I was away from my computer. These days, I'm lucky I can think of a card a day for the DCC. Some of the reason I was so consistently late posting the thread this month is because I would often sit there for up to an hour trying to think of a card.
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Post by Koopa » 4 years ago

I honestly think the DCC is the toughest competition we have. Having no restrictions makes it incredibly difficult but you have to makr it exciting enough to grab attention of the voters.

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Post by bravelion83 » 4 years ago

Flatline wrote:
4 years ago
It isn't intended to allow you to cast the instant/sorcery half of the adventure at all.
Oh, that was my mistake. The wording you used totally suggested to me that you were actually casting the Adventure. Disregard my point then, even if I still think a clearer wording could be found.
All these congratulations seem a bit premature, but thanks!
I hadn't realized it was one day too early, I just saw slimytrout's congratulations, so I just added myself to them. Well, you still get my congratulations now, or whenever the proper time is. Anyway, you just had too much of a lead for it to change on the last day of voting.
bravelion83 .....Designing cards hasn't come easy to me in years...
I didn't mean designing cards in general, I meant designing cards specifically for the DCC. That's what you make look so easy. I find different styles of cards are better suited for each contest, and you're clearly the best in designing cards for the DCC. Just look at how many times you won! Your DCC victories spoiler is almost as long as my judging career in the MCC, and that's saying a lot!
Koopa wrote:
4 years ago
I honestly think the DCC is the toughest competition we have. Having no restrictions makes it incredibly difficult but you have to makr it exciting enough to grab attention of the voters.
I totally agree, as my own victories show. I have the most in the MCC, where there is a somewhat objective judging. I've won the CCL three times but lost the finals many more times. As for the DCC, I've only won it once, and tied. What I personally struggle with is not the "having no restriction" part, but the "grabbing attention of voters" one. In fact, where do I mostly fail (too big of a word, but you get what I mean)? Where subjective public vote is involved: the final poll of the CCL, and the DCC. I attribute that to my love for short and elegant cards, while probably people like more splashy cards, and to my inhability to play outside the box. In fact, from time to time I force myself to take some risks (like October in the CCL, and in fact I didn't even make the top 8 but I kinda expected that) because it's a skill I have to learn, in real life too. I am a creature of habit, and sometimes what you actually need is breaking the habit. (yes, yet another Linkin Park quote by Leo... what a surprise!)
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Post by slimytrout » 4 years ago

bravelion83 wrote:
4 years ago

Eternal Invader XBB
Creature — Zombie Warrior (R)
When Eternal Invader enters the battlefield, amass X. (Put X +1/+1 counters on an Army you control. If you don't control one, create a 0/0 black Zombie Army creature token first.)
Eternalize XXBB (XXBB, Exile this card from your graveyard: Create a token that's a copy of it, except it's a 4/4 black Zombie Warrior with no mana cost. Eternalize only as a sorcery.)
2/2
Important rules update (relevant in general, and also in particular for this card)
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Yes, it works, and here's the reason why.
Very relevant news for everybody, as it was a point I often used to bring up as an MCC judge and now, thanks to Gadwick, the Wizened forcing a CR update, it has changed:
Now if there is an X in a mana cost, the value of X DOES get passed to a triggered ability or replacement effect of the permanent. While many might think that this has always been the case, it has actually always been the contrary until ELD (in fact I've penalized so many cards as an MCC judge for this through the years, now I won't anymore), with Polukranos, World Eater being a specific exception only working because of how the CR entry for monstrosity has been written. Now it's no longer an exception, but it's true in general.
Relevant rules material
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ELD CR update (I've added card tags) wrote: https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/a ... 2019-09-27

107.3K
Chamber Sentry got 107.3j to clarify an object with X in its cost and in an unrelated activated ability. Now Gadwick, the Wizened gets a new 107.3k rule to clarify that its triggered ability looks at the value X that comes from the spell it was, not the permanent it is.
CR ELD Edition (emphasis mine) wrote: 107.3k If an object's enters-the-battlefield triggered ability or replacement effect refers to X, and the spell that became that object as it resolved had a value of X chosen for any of its costs, the value of X for that ability is the same as the value of X for that spell, although the value of X for that permanent is 0. This is an exception to rule 107.3h.

107.3h Normally, all instances of X on an object have the same value at any given time.
This is an impressively exhaustive compilation, but I'm still not totally sure that the Eternalize ability would work as you'd like. 107.3K explicitly refers to "the spell that became that object" -- but Eternalize isn't a spell, it's an ability. So 107.3k would have to be revised again to include ability to make it actually work.

(On a separate note, it seems busted that you can pay BB to get a 4/4 out of your graveyard with no amass, so the costs probably need to be adjusted or it needs to be embalm or something.)

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Post by bravelion83 » 4 years ago

[mention]slimytrout[/mention] You're right on both points. This probably shows how last minute I've designed that card. I just didn't think about eternalize actually being an ability. And to solve the 4/4 problem I could have indeed used embalm instead, and in fact this card actually originally had embalm on the first version I designed. Then I changed it to eternalize for flavor... but doing it for flavor broke the mechanical side. Oh well, thanks for making me notice.
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Post by RattingRots » 4 years ago

If you wanted to make the rules work for this while still having eternalize, you could do the X cost as a trigger itself on entering the battlefield. It would be a bit wordy if you still wanted to have it cost X on cast and XX on eternalize but you could make it work.
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Post by Flatline » 4 years ago

Koopa wrote:
4 years ago
I honestly think the DCC is the toughest competition we have. Having no restrictions makes it incredibly difficult but you have to makr it exciting enough to grab attention of the voters.
Huh. I just had this conversation with someone else recently. I'm surprised so many people find it easier to design cards if there are restrictions in place. I suppose I understand the reasoning behind this to some extent, but I find the exact opposite to be true. It just seems odd to me that having more restrictions would make something easier. If I told you to go outside and find me a bug, would't that be easier than if I told you to go outside and find me brown, female praying mantis? Obviously the way you think can't be wrong, I just find it interesting.

I'm surprised that people don't think the most difficult part of the DCC is having to come up with something everyday for 30ish straight days. The DCC is like the baseball of the three major card contests. It's a slow, daily grind. It reduces the importance of each individual card, and instead puts the emphasis on volume and consistency. Conversely, the MCC is like the NFL playoffs, where every card is a win or go home scenario. Baseball has always been my favorite sport. (Let's go Mets!)

Maybe it's just because it's the contest I've had the most success in, but the DCC has always been my favorite. I like that it takes a body of work into account, and allows many, many more people to have a say in judgement. In the MCC, one typo can be the end of the month. Also, the MCC puts you at the mercy of a single judge for most of the contest. Even in the rounds in which there are multiple people judging your card, a single judge can still be the sole deciding factor. I remember an MCC final where I had a fairly sizable lead with one judge left to weigh in. I won with every judge up to that point, but the last judge disagreed so strongly with every other judge that I ended up losing after their scores where in. To rub salt in the wound, the last judge was like week or so late with their scores. But I ain't bitter. :)
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Post by Rithaniel » 4 years ago

I think the thing with restrictions making a task easier is that it removes some of the pressure from the player. It'd be like saying "Find me a bug I will be happy you found" as opposed to "Find me a dragonfly." If the first case, the person is left guessing and unsure which direction to necessarily go. In the latter, you can figure out where dragonflies live and how to capture one. In either case, you have a task to complete which might be very difficult, but in the dragonfly scenario, there is one fewer step to be concerned with.
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Post by Koopa » 4 years ago

@Rithaniel exactly. It's not "Go find a bug" it's "Go find the best bug" so I go out and find a Hercules Beetle but Bravelion found a Monarch Butterfly. Which is better? It's impossible to compare them

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Post by Koopa » 4 years ago

RattingRots wrote:
4 years ago
I'm not sure if it's possible to complete a single task multiple times (like if you do the 5 life one twice do you get two counters?). The concept is very original, but it needs to be a bit more clear in execution. If you actually can double up on the tasks, it's probably too OP
Yea my design was certainly a first draft but I think it offers some really interesting design space where you have several minigames over the course of a match trying to unlock different effects. I think the reminder text stated that you can only complete a single task once but the wording is probably so poor that I didn't convey that. Obviously my Mythic had a ton of text but I think a common could be pretty simple. Something like this:

Black Guy
Creature - Human (C)
When you complete the following task, target creature gets -2/-2 until end of turn.
Task - Make an opponent discard a card.
2/2

Idk maybe it's too complex but I think it's interesting

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Post by bravelion83 » 4 years ago

bravelion83 wrote:
4 years ago
Longing for Love 1RR
Enchantment — Aura (R)
Enchant an unpaired creature you control
Enchanted creature has soulbond.
When Longing for Love enters the battlefield, you may pair enchanted creature with another unpaired creature you control.
Whenever enchanted creature or the creature it's paired with becomes the target of a spell or ability with a single target, if that spell or ability could target the other creature, copy it. The copy targets the other creature.
Ok, so this doesn't work, as wizyard correctly pointed out. As you pair enchanted creature, it won't be unpaired anymore, so the enchant requirement won't be satisfied and this will fall off and go to the graveyard. Now I'm wondering how I could change the wording to make it do what I want it to do. What is it that I want it to do?
• I want you to be able to cast this only on creatures that are not already paired. This was the reason for the "unpaired" in the enchant ability, and also why simply remove that word should (I think) make it work, but part of the novelty was intentionally that you could only cast this on unpaired creatures. The flavor was using soulbond as the Magic reflection of love, which appealed to me because it was something non-combat centric for red to do, and the concept of love does feel very red. If one person is engaged with another person and a third person comes saying "I want you to get engaged with me", the first person should answer "no, sorry, I'm already engaged". And note that I'm willingly not mentioning gender here. That's true regardless of the gender of all three people involved. They could even all be the same gender, but the answer should be the same regardless of it.
• I want it to give enchanted creature soulbond if it doesn't already have it, without the Aura falling off. Flavorfully, I'm making enchanted creature, that's currently single (unpaired), able of fall in love with someone.
• I want it to optionally let you pair enchanted creature with any unpaired creature you control as an etb. If you don't have any unpaired creature at the moment, you will have to wait for the granted soulbond to do its job as you cast your next creature. Flavorfully, this is enchanted creature looking for a partner to get engaged with.
• I want to make this with enchanted creature and the one that it's paired with it: if either one becomes the target of a spell or ability, I want to create a copy of the spell or ability that targets the other. I want this to work regardless of which of the two creatures you target. Flavorfully, this is the representation of love itself: "whatever happens to you, goor or bad, I will be there with you and for you. It will be like if it had happened to me."
• I want this to also work with your opponents' spells and abilities. If one gets Murdered, the other dies too. Flavorfully, you could picture this as the other creature dying out of the pain of having lost the one it loved. This seemed highly flavorful to me, and also a factor you could use for balance.

I thought I had found a very good representation of love in red, a non-combat centered thing for red to do, and a new original and flavorful use of soulbond, all at the same time and while also managing to play out of my comfort zone. It turns out that what I actually did was a non-functional card. Removing the word "unpaired" from the enchant ability is not the solution, it doesn't meet the first point. Yes, at least the card would be functional (I think), but it wasn't what I was trying to do. Does anybody have some advice on how to make this work? Or if it just can't be done in a functional way? Or how I could achieve the flavor I was going for in another way?

Feel free to come to answer and talk to me. You'll find me back in my comfort zone.



Also, I had completely missed this:
Koopa wrote:
4 years ago
@Rithaniel exactly. It's not "Go find a bug" it's "Go find the best bug" so I go out and find a Hercules Beetle but Bravelion found a Monarch Butterfly. Which is better? It's impossible to compare them
Just so you know, [mention]Koopa[/mention], you've just made me a huge compliment. Thank you. Yes, that's what I can already do, I'm aware of it, and I really like it (I think it all shows). But in this period I'm trying to take a few chances here and there to learn something new that I can't do yet, which I assure you, it feels really strange for me to do, but I'll never learn that new thing if I don't even dare to try it. This that I've just said applies to many things in my own personal real life too. Sometimes I try to use this as a playground, a place where you can try to get your mind in the mindset of trying out something new with no real consequences if you fail. And in fact in this case (my card above, Longing for Love) I've failed. And this is just a game, so no problem. But this is what games are for. Letting you play in a safe environment. But what should I do then, stick to what I know I can do well for the rest of my life? And never learn anything new, that, for goodness sake, I might even... like? And now I don't know I like it because I've never tried it out of fear of who knows what? It's what I've essentially done in my whole real life so far, but now for reasons that I won't explain here I find myself in a moment of my life where I'm wondering if that's really the right thing to do. And I have no answer to give myself. So I'm willingly trying here and there to explore new space, both here and in (small and not dangerous things in) real life. I've said even more than I wanted. Thank you again for your huge compliment, Koopa. At least it's one more proof that what I can do, I can do it well.
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Post by RattingRots » 4 years ago

bravelion83 wrote:
4 years ago
RattingRots - Missing rarity costs you my vote. I'm sorry. I really like the card and I would have totally voted for it if it had a rarity.
I was debating uncommon vs rare but then just forgot that I hadn't figured that out and hit submit. I think rare probably makes the most sense.
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Post by void_nothing » 4 years ago

RattingRots wrote:
4 years ago
Note for Henlock
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As written, your card allows you to reduce just the casting cost, not the spectacle cost when a faerie damages the opponent. You would have to explicitly reduce the spectacle if that was your intent.
I don't mean to single you out, and this is an easy mistake to make, but since you brought it up: It's time for a rules lesson!

An effect that makes a spell cost less mana to cast still applies when you cast that spell for an alternate cost (spectacle is one such cost). While a spell can only be cast for one alternate cost, its caster can still pay any number of additional costs, cost increases, or cost reductions as needed on top of that cost. This is CR 118.9d for those who want to know.
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Post by void_nothing » 4 years ago

folding_music wrote:
4 years ago
(there's already a card from Urza's something called Brink of Disaster but I won't hold that against an interesting card idea)
But... Brink of Disaster is a real card, it's just the token the card creates. It's even linked in the card text, it's from Worldwake.

Brink of Madness is the card from ULG.
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Post by RattingRots » 4 years ago

void_nothing wrote:
4 years ago
RattingRots wrote:
4 years ago
Note for Henlock
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As written, your card allows you to reduce just the casting cost, not the spectacle cost when a faerie damages the opponent. You would have to explicitly reduce the spectacle if that was your intent.
I don't mean to single you out, and this is an easy mistake to make, but since you brought it up: It's time for a rules lesson!

An effect that makes a spell cost less mana to cast still applies when you cast that spell for an alternate cost (spectacle is one such cost). While a spell can only be cast for one alternate cost, its caster can still pay any number of additional costs, cost increases, or cost reductions as needed on top of that cost. This is CR 118.9d for those who want to know.
Not at all - I appreciate the lesson.
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Post by folding_music » 4 years ago

i'm surprised to see that people will refuse to vote for cards that are imperfectly templated; I didn't realise we were submitting these things to the great designer search and putting them on our CVs! :))) I'm only off-and-on on this forum lately anyway but I want anyone considering playing in the DCC to rest assured that I'll vote for their interesting card idea whether it's impeccably formatted or written in felt-tip pen on a napkin <3

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Post by folding_music » 4 years ago

void_nothing wrote:
4 years ago
folding_music wrote:
4 years ago
(there's already a card from Urza's something called Brink of Disaster but I won't hold that against an interesting card idea)
But... Brink of Disaster is a real card, it's just the token the card creates. It's even linked in the card text, it's from Worldwake.

Brink of Madness is the card from ULG.
Oops, you're absolutely right!

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Rithaniel
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Post by Rithaniel » 4 years ago

So, the god cards I've been designing haven't been much of a hit, but I'm honest quite fond of how most of them turn out. In particular I think Xisra and Raeng Kratun were pretty interesting. What about you guys? Did anything in the designs disqualify them in your eyes? What would make them better? For anyone who needs it, the five gods, after edits suggested by other players, are:
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Xisra, God of Free Will
Legendary Creature - God M
Flying, indestructible
Xisra, God of Free Will can't attack or block unless a player controls a creature they don't own.
: Target player chooses a creature he or she controls. That player may sacrifice that creature. If the player doesn't, untap and gain control of that creature until end of turn. It gains haste until end of turn.
4/4

Mi Sasang, God of Truth
Legendary Creature - God M
Trample, indestructible
At the beginning of your upkeep, choose land or nonland. An opponent may reveal a card of the chosen type from his or her hand and shuffle it into his or her library. If a player does, Mi Sasang, God of Truth can't attack or block until your next turn.
: Look at the top three cards of target player's library and put them back in any order.
4/4

Raeng Kratun, God of Responsibility
Legendary Creature - God M
Vigilance, indestructible
Raeng Kratun can't attack or block unless all creatures you control are untapped.
: Untap target creature you control and put a +1/+1 counter on it. It gains vigilance.
4/4

Khwam Piti, God of Laughter
Legendary Creature - God M
Menace, indestructible
Khwam Piti, God of Laughter can't attack or block unless you have more life than each opponent.
: Target creature deals damage to itself equal to it's power. If it's controller has more life than you, it deals that much damage to it's controller as well.
5/5

Mnophaph, God of Imagination
Legendary Creature - God M
Hexproof, indestructible
Mnophaph, God of Imagination can't attack or block unless two or more spells have been cast this turn.
: Until end of turn, spells cost less to cast.
5/5
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― Paul Erdős

“I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.”
― Stephen Jay Gould

slimytrout
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Post by slimytrout » 4 years ago

One issue I had with them is that none of them felt like they really needed to be three colors. I understand that for set purposes there might be a reason to make them three colors (plus there might be context to justify the extra colors), but for the DCC, where you're working in a vacuum, it felt weird to have colors that weren't represented on the card. I also felt like a few of them were pretty pushed - Raeng Kratun, for example, is a 3-mana 4/4 indestructible that can virtually always attack, plus it has a relevant ability.

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Rithaniel
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Post by Rithaniel » 4 years ago

I was comparing Raeng Kratun against Oketra the True, mainly. It's a bit weaker as far as overall body goes, arguably more difficult to cast, but is easier to "activate." Perhaps the most dangerous part of it is that it can target itself, which was part of why I thought it was an interesting design. Perhaps you would recommend another hoop to jump through to activate it? Maybe something like "Raeng Kratun can't attack or block unless you control another creature and all creatures you control are untapped." Or perhaps something like "--cannot attack or block unless all creatures which are attacking or blocking with it have vigilance."

On the subject of the cards being multicolored, I was actually trying to sell them on flavor. Deciding upon traits or qualities that a particular three-color combo might value and then designing the mechanics around that trait or quality. Free will, truth, responsibility, laughter, and imagination. You are evaluating these cards in a vacuum, sure. You still have the card itself to evaluate, though. Does it come together as unified package?

Also, I don't subscribe to the notion that a card needs to use all of it's colors to be a good design. It's actually fairly common for multicolored cards to not need all of their colors. Roil Spout could be mono-blue. Invocation of Saint Traft could be mono-white. Mournwillow could be mono-black. Engineered Might could be mono-green. Enigma Drake could be mono-red. Note that these are all cards from sets that don't have a multicolored focus. If we look into sets with a multicolor theme, you actually tend to have just as many "un-necessarily multicolored" cards as "necessarily multicolored" cards. On the same token, you could make a colored card that could potentially have been made as a colorless card. In my opinion, adding colors doesn't detract from the design. Meanwhile, removing colors that are necessary for the design, can potentially detract from it.
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"Why are numbers beautiful? It's like asking why is Beethoven's Ninth Symphony beautiful. If you don't see why, someone can't tell you. I know numbers are beautiful. If they aren't beautiful, nothing is."
― Paul Erdős

“I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.”
― Stephen Jay Gould

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bravelion83
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Post by bravelion83 » 4 years ago

[mention]Rithaniel[/mention]. For me, it was essentially a text length and complexity issue. Those rules texts are all very long, and some quite intricate too, and I tend to vote for shorter and more elegant cards (elegant in the sense of Elegance in the MCC rubric), and every day there were some, so yours always tended to fall on the sidelines in my eyes. I really like the idea of making gods of positive things, and three-colored ones (that have never been done). I wonder if the execution was what made them feel long and complex to me. Probably.
Author of the MCC Guidelines and FAQ. | For my projects, including Jeff Lionheart, my murder mystery story "One pierced heart, two mindful horns", and republished articles from my series "The Lion's Lair", see Leo's content index (Last updated on March 24th 2024 - Added OPHTMH Episode 4).
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Post by slimytrout » 4 years ago

@Rithaniel -- it's far easier to activate, at least on offense, since you just have to refrain from tapping any of your creatures before you attack (once you turn your creatures sideways, then it doesn't matter that they're tapped because the god has already attacked). And unless your opponent is playing blue, it's virtually impossible for them to turn him off.

And I'm not sure if any of the color combinations quite worked with their descriptors, at least from my perspective. In my mind, White definitely doesn't believe in free will, Red has no particular attachment to truth (at least compared to White), Black doesn't really believe in responsibility since it generally has moral connotations, Blue isn't usually thought of as the most hilarious color, and Red is more imaginative than Black. I don't want to claim I'm "right" about those opinions, but that's what I felt when evaluating them.

And I totally agree with you about it being possible for a card to be good without using all its colors, but I do think, along the same lines as bravelion, that cards that use all their colors are more elegant. And you'll notice that all but one of the cards you named were "signpost gold uncommons" (i.e., played an important role in the context of their set), while the other was a clear reference to an existing card that *did* need to be U/W.

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Post by Rithaniel » 4 years ago

@bravelion83 Interestingly, I've actually been sidestepping your cards these last couple weeks because I felt the intensify mechanics made the cards a bit too complex. It's rare to get a card with multiple activated abilities, but, with intensify, you suddenly get cards where each activated ability serves as two activated abilities, and so a creature with two activated abilities actually has four. You get a bit of a complexity explosion.

Though, what about Mnophaph or Raeng Kratun? Did they still feel too complex? Or were they more in the realm of what is acceptable?

I imagine that Mi Sasang ended up being the most complex, but I'm happier with this version than with all previous versions. At one point she effectively had a Vendilion Clique effect once every turn, and I thankfully caught it before the deadline and managed to change it. A lot of the complexity, I think, comes from the need to make a mythic (and a god at that) feel unique.

@slimytrout Well, you've persuaded me on Raeng Kratun. I will revise him a bit. Also, on the color pie, if that's what you felt, then that's what you felt. I can't fault you for any of that, but if you want to know my logic, it's in the spoiler below.
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So, RWB is free will first because is very much about free will. That one is automatic. cares about free will because it cares about itself, and if it doesn't have control over what it does, then it is very unhappy. cares about free will in a more subtle way. It cares because, without free will, justice and law doesn't make any sense. You can't put a rock slide on trial for killing a small village, even if the rock slide wasn't justified. The rock slide didn't have a choice. If someone caused the rock slide, they did have a choice. They exerted their free will, and so cares about them. In a world without free will, doesn't even exist. No matter how feels about free will, it is defined by it, and so must value it.

GUR gets truth, but in the sense of searching for the truth. In a way, it's the pursuit of answers. might not be willing to cross certain lines to get to the truth, or it might establish one particular lie as truth, thereby actively acting against it. is much more naturally truth-seeking, because it won't just accept an answer of "because I said so." It wants to know. It wants to try the experiment itself. won't just accept that fire burns, it'll try sticking it's hand in the flame to be sure. care about reality, and so naturally cares about the truth. Meanwhile are the natural scientists, and so naturally seek what is true.

WBG gets responsibility. gets responsibility because responsibility is a personal thing. If you have a responsibility to yourself, a responsibility to your family, or a responsibility to your nation, it's still your responsibility. It belongs to you. is the color of the individual, and so responsibility to yourself is the most purely form of responsibility, but responsibility is still in 's purview. Meanwhile obviously cares about responsibility, and cares about tradition, and so responsibility easily falls in both of their domains.

Laughter I actually was thinking about renaming to something a little more nebulous. "Humor" or "Good-spiritedness" maybe. But, for now I'm sticking with Laughter. URW gets this friendly concept because each one immediately brings something to it. is emotional, and will enjoy itself easily. brings peace, as well as a concept of the "way things ought to be," because if you don't have a baseline, nothing can be absurd. Similarly, brings a degree of understanding of the world, but also a degree of clever wit. You can't make a joke about something unless you can turn it on it's head, somehow.

Lastly, BGU is about imagination. needs to be able to imagine a world in which it has more than what it does now. It must have a dream of being powerful, of being in control, or of simply being free. Without imagination, it can't. meanwhile doesn't have an imagination. reacts, it does not invent. It might create beautiful art, but it's a reflection of something else it has experienced. Sadness becomes a mournful dirge. Rage becomes a chaotic dance. Desire becomes a magnificent portrait. Meanwhile, is imaginative because it is the color of invention and, without imagination, you can't invent. cares about imagination because it values the resourceful creatures of the world. A hunter who can figure out the movement patterns of their prey just by considering what they would do in the prey's position is a better hunter than one who cannot.
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“I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.”
― Stephen Jay Gould

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Post by bravelion83 » 4 years ago

Yes, intensify can do that. Have you noticed I started simple and then ramped up complexity? But yes, I think that's the only problem with that ability, and I'll absolutely keep it in mind when I'll put it in one or more of the sets in my huge plan. Here I was trying to go for splashy cards. I'd never put the Meeting of the Dark Guilds or Gideon, the Returned as is in a real set.

I have a few thoughts about the color pie reasoning you include in that spoiler. I've got no time to write them in detail now, but look forward to me doing so soon.

EDIT: As promised, here they are:
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Rithaniel wrote:
4 years ago
So, RWB is free will first because R is very much about free will. That one is automatic.
Actually it's not automatic at all. Red's end goal is freedom, "freedom through action", "free will" is actually black's side in its conflict with green (free will vs. determinism). But yes, red is obviously at home here. There is a subtle difference between "freedom" and "free will", but while related, they're different concepts.
B cares about free will...
Now, this is automatic instead. You could have even not justified that at all.
W cares about free will in a more subtle way. It cares because, without free will, justice and law doesn't make any sense.
I had never seen it this way before, but yes, this makes sense to me.

Nothing to say about the Temur one.

For the Abzan one, tradition is certainly green as a concept, but I don't see the connection between tradition and responsibility.

For the Jeskai one, I can still see "Humor" in its name, but I also prefer Laughter. I just can't see "Good-spiritedness" printed on an actual card. Here red is automatic. I understand your reasoning about white, but it feels a bit forced to me. The same goes for blue, that feel even more forced to me here than white. One thing is true though: the best comedians are usually very acculturated people actually. They know a lot of things and they're usually quite smart. They usually do have a blue side.

Sultai:
(black) must have a dream of being powerful, of being in control, or of simply being free.
Again, the last (being free) is red and not black. And black doesn't need to dream to want power, it's just its end goal. Power through opportunity. I'd call this black side more "desire" or "greed" than "imagination".
(red) meanwhile doesn't have an imagination. R reacts, it does not invent...
I'm sorry but I don't agree at all with this. Remember that creativity, for which you do need imagination, is a typical UR concept. Red belongs here as much as blue.
(green) cares about imagination because it values the resourceful creatures of the world. A hunter...
I can see this, but it feels weak as a connection to me. And anyway, that hunter is not so much imagining, rather they're trying to put themselves in the prey's shoes. It's more a capacity to foresee the other's actions mainly through instinct then imagining something that's not there yet in reality. In my opinion, this is probably the weakest one overall. Red and blue must be there, they're the colors of creativity. If we accept the (weak in my opinion) justification for green, that might be Temur, not Sultai. Actually, if these didn't have to be wedges, I would have said just UR.
Author of the MCC Guidelines and FAQ. | For my projects, including Jeff Lionheart, my murder mystery story "One pierced heart, two mindful horns", and republished articles from my series "The Lion's Lair", see Leo's content index (Last updated on March 24th 2024 - Added OPHTMH Episode 4).
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MCC - Winner (9): Oct 2014, Apr Nov 2017, Jan 2018, Apr Jun 2019, Jan Mar 2022, Apr 2023 || Host (30): Dec 2014, Apr Jul Aug Dec 2015, Mar Jul Aug Oct 2016, Feb Jul 2017, Jun Nov 2018, Feb Jul 2019 (last on MTGS), Aug 2019 (first on MTGN) Oct 2019, Jan Jun 2020 Apr Oct 2021, Feb May Sep Dec 2022, Mar Jun Sep Dec 2023, Mar 2024 || Judge (58): every month from Nov 2014 to Nov 2016 except Oct 2015, every month from Feb to Jul 2017 except Apr 2017, then Oct 2017, May Jun Nov 2018, Feb Jul 2019 (last on MTGS), every month from Aug 2019 (first on MTGN) to Feb 2020, May Jun 2020, Mar Apr Sep Oct 2021, Feb May Sep Dec 2022, Mar May Jun Sep Dec 2023, Jan Mar 2024
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