September CCL, Signups/Round 1: Deeds of Confilct

[Lorn Asbord Schutta]

CCL September Signups/Round 1

"Deeds of Conflict"

Banner based on art from Black Knight, Righteous War and White Knight, by Wizards of the Coast and respectively by Jeff A. Menges, Ian Miller and Daniel Gelon.

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 Knight Month here in the CCL! We will focus on more realistic approach to these type of warriors and on some of the diffrences that put them apart from the other fighters.

The medieval period and knights are close-knit in general perception. However, not every individual who donned armour and wielded a sword in those times was considered a knight in more accurate sense of this word. It was a social institution, with great ties to hierarchy and religion. It came with a honour and rank that elevated even mediocre knight above accomplished mercanery. Due to this dignity of simply having a title many heroes of legends and sagas of old were revisioned later as knights despite little chances for them being one, like Sigfried of Nibelungenlied or knights of Arturian legends. However, no matter if a knight in question is mythical, legendary - like Roland from Chanson de Roland - or historical, if you have heard his - or in some cases her - name, it was due to its grand deeds. And since the knights were warriors, the greatest deeds usually were done during conflicts that were severe enough to span tales.

Challenge

Design a two-colored rare or mythic Saga enchantment with a mana cost having an enemy color pair.

Clarification

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• Enemy color pairs are ; ; ; ; . Your submission should contain only one of those pairs in its casting cost.
• You can read more about Saga subtype here.
• Make sure to include rarity.

Anyone can enter this first round! Your submissions are due Tuesday September 8th, 12:00 EST.

• Round 1 — Open to Everyone (September 1st–8th)
• Round 2 — Open to Everyone (September 8th–15th)
• Rounds 1 and 2 Critiques (Due September 18th)
• Top 8 — Open to top 8 finishers (September 18th–22st)
• Top 8 Critiques (Due September 24rd)
• Top 4 — Open to top 4 finishers (September 24th–28th)
• Top 4 Critiques (Due September 30th)
• Final (September, winner determined by public poll)

Please note: For this month we will continue asking first and second round contestants to evaluate seven other contestants during the critique and top 3 period, in order to increase the total number of evaluations each contestant gets.

[BeneTleilax]

Fall of the Abzan 1BG
Enchantment-Saga R
2: Remove a lore counter from Fall of the Abzan.
I: Destroy target tapped creature.
II: Destroy target artifact. Exile all cards from target player's graveyard.
III: Create a 4/4 green and white Dragon token with flying and lifelink.

[Phyrexian Editor]

The Infection of Mirrodin 3wb
Enchantment – Saga {MR}
I: Create a 3/3 colorless Golem artifact creature token with infect.
II: Put a -1/-1 counter on each creature you don't control.
III: If you don't have an emblem that says "At the beginning of your upkeep, proliferate," gain one.

[slimytrout]

Temporal Crisis 2UR
Enchantment – Saga (R)
I – Return target creature to its owner's hand.
II – You may put a creature card from your hand onto the battlefield. That creature gains haste. Return that creature to your hand at the beginning of the next end step.
III – You may discard a card. If you do, create a token that's a copy of Temporal Crisis.

[netn10]

Lorwyn Descends 4BG
Enchantment - Saga (Mythic)
I - Destroy all noncreature, nonland permenants.
II - Put two +1/+1 counters on each creature.
III - Transform Lorwyn Descends.
/////////////////////////////
Shadowmoor Ascends
Enchantment - Saga (Mythic)
IV - Put four -1/-1 counters on each creature.
V - Starting with you, each player may put a permanent card from their hand onto the battlefield. Repeat this process until no one puts a card onto the battlefield.

[kwanyeegor-ii]

Kruphix Changes the Stars 2GU
Enchantment--Saga (Rare)
I: Shuffle your graveyard into your library
II: Mill five cards, then return a permanent card and an instant or sorcery card from your graveyard to your hand
III: You may cast an enchantment or sorcery card from your hand without paying its mana cost

[haywire]

Naktamun's Final Hours Xwwbb
Enchantment - Saga (Mythic)
I:Exile up to X target creatures with converted mana cost X or less.
II: Put 2 -1/-1 counters on each creature.
III:For each creature card exiled with Naktamun's Final Hours, create a token that's a copy of that card, except it's a 4/4 black Zombie.

[Raptorchan]

Revolution In High City 1ur
Enchantment - Saga (R)
I: Look at each opponent's hand.
II: Create two 1/1 red Rebel creature tokens with haste and dethrone.
III: You become the monarch.

[Subject16]

The Fall of Avacyn 3RW
Enchantment — Saga (Rare)
I: Create a 4/4 white Angel creature token with flying.
II: For each Angel you control, exile target nonland permanent.
III: Exile all creatures.

[Lorn Asbord Schutta]

Due to low number of entries there would be an one day extension for round one. Get your entries in!

[jamblock]

Burning of the Old Seas 2UR
Enchantment - Saga (R)
I: Each opponent sacrifices a land unless they have Burning of the Old Seas deal 4 damage to them.
II: Until end of turn, each Island you control has "R, T: This permanent deals 2 damage to any target."
III: You may sacrifice any number of lands, then draw twice that many cards.

[void_nothing]

March of the Nine Titans 1RWW
Enchantment - Saga (M)
I - You may put a historic permanent card with converted mana cost 3 or less from your hand or graveyard onto the battlefield. It gains haste until end of turn.
II - Create a 3/3 colorless Golem artifact creature token. It gains haste until end of turn.
III - Until end of turn, historic permanents you control gain haste and "T, Sacrifice this permanent: Exile target permanent."

[RaikouRider]

Primordial Epoch 3GU
Enchantment - Saga {M}
(As this Saga enters and after your draw step, add a lore counter. Sacrifice after III.)
I - Until your next turn, if a player would draw a card, that player draws two cards instead. Then draw two cards.
II - Until your next turn, if one or more +1/+1 counters would be put on a creature, twice that many +1/+1 counters are put on that creature instead.
III - Until your next turn, if a land's ability would cause a player to add mana, that player adds twice that much mana instead.

[Henlock]

The Grand Race wr
Enchantment - Saga (r)
I, II: Create a colorless 3/3 Wheelcar artifact vehicle token with Crew 1.
III: Whenever a Vehicle attacks this turn, draw a card.

[Lorn Asbord Schutta]

The round is closed. Please critique, and provide a top 3 for, the seven contestants below you on this list, looping to the top as necessary.

BeneTleilax
Phyrexian Editor
slimytrout
netn10
kwanyeegor-ii
haywire
Raptorchan
Subject16
jamblock
void_nothing
RaikouRaider
Henlock

Next round will be up very soon.

[void_nothing]

Critiques

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RaikouRider - I appreciate that these abilities are symmetrical, because otherwise this might be OP - but why does this draw you four cards right off the bat but not let you place any +1/+1 counters or - idk, untap lands or something?

Henlock - Nice. This seems like a lot of fun and relatively justifiable RW card draw. Plus, Kaladesh lore reference!

BeneTleilax - Lore counter manipulation built into a Saga is interesting design space but I'm not a fan of the fact that this can be just used as repeatable creature removal every turn.

Phyrexian Editor - This doesn't feel like a white card at all - it seems pure black to me, or possibly BG. Plus - why can't I get more than one of those emblems if I'm playing more than one copy of this card?

slimytrout - That III ability is wild. I like the symmetry between the first two chapters too!

netn10 - A transform Saga just seems like an excuse to put way too many chapters on, lmao. But, I like a lot of things about this card - the delay between the third chapter of the Lorwyn half and the first of the Shadowmoor half is appreciated. Using +1/+1 and -1/-1 counters on the same card is tricky business though.

kwanyeegor-ii - This seems fine, just a bit fiddly. Also, why sorcery in the last ability?

Top 3

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1. Henlock
2. slimytrout
3. netn10

[slimytrout]

netn10

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I don't really get the point of the transformation, other than the flavor and the fact that it causes a turn of doing nothing. Seems like it would be cooler to transform into something else (static enchantment, creature, etc.) Balance is probably ok given its high mana cost, although it does pile on a bunch of high-rarity abilities.

kwanyeegor-ii

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Seems like just a super slow way to cheat-cast Omniscience or Enter the Infinite.

haywire

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Yikes, seems like a bit of a rules nightmare. How does it remember what X is? Sure there are cards like Gadwick that remember the value of X from being cast, but those don't have to deal with things like, say, Vampire Hexmage, which could reset this to the first chapter without making it a new object -- what happens then? Also seems super swingy -- if you can nab two 2-drops with it it's going to end up being like a 5-for-1, but if your opponent is pressuring you with midrange creatures then you won't be able to get it down in time.

Raptorchan

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I'm not in love with the Peeking, since it just ends up making the game more boring, but otherwise a very fun way to do a multiplayer saga.

Subject16

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Huh. I prefer this to the earlier version that I happened to see, but it still ends up being a bit of a weird Angel of Sanctions plus wrath, and is kind of a nonbo with itself. Does have really good flavor though!

jamblock

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If this is a reference to actual flavor, I don't get it, but it's still a fun card. Really makes you want to play a lot of Steam Vents!

void_nothing

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I don't quite get the whole haste theme. Why give the golem haste in a separate ability instead of just making a hasty golem? Seems like a meaningless difference unless you're worried about your Gingerbrute deck. And why give historic permanents haste during your draw step? Rarely matters unless you have a Thopter Assembly. But overall a fun card!

T3

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1. Raptorchan
2. jamblock
3. void_nothing

[kwanyeegor-ii]

Critiques

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haywire: never seen an X saga design before! This one looks like lots of fun. But maybe a bit close to Hour of Eternity.
Raptorchan: Really simple and balanced conspiracy themed saga. I like it
Subject16: I know Avacyn turned red in SOI but this card seems pure white. Nothing red about this at all
jamblock: I'm not sure what story event this refers to but it's an interesting synergistic design
void_nothing: Nice, the Invasion lol? Looks really strong but fun
RaikouRaider: I like all the doubling here. Not sure about the flavor though
Henlock: Great design but probably too strong

Top 3

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1 raptorchan
2 void_nothing
3 haywire

[jamblock]

stuff

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void_nothing - I like the first two modes of this for sure, and then it just comes down to whether I think the final mode is overpowered. I kinda think my answer is yes, just because you can have a bunch of artifact-y tokens and use them to blow up all your opponents' lands, though they do have a couple turns to intervene, somwhat. Still, wish it said nonland there, but I like the overall gist.
RaikouRaider - This is an interesting challenge to play with. When you first play it, unless you have extra mana/stuff to draw with, you're probably just giving the opponent an advantage. Then you just need to be ready with counter shenanigans and expensive spells, but the symmetry of this makes me feel like it might end up feeling bad more than it'll feel good.
Henlock - I love this. I'm not sure if it's broken or just strong or not even strong but it's so simple and elegant and all that jazz, it just hits me the right way.
BeneTleilax - I think this is possibly too good, to be able to hold up mana to be able to threaten any tapped creature on your draw step, or just keep destroying artifacts over and over. Also, even without the activated ability, this is just pretty (too) strong for three mana, getting you all that destruction and then a 4/4 flying lifelink for three.
Phyrexian Editor - Interesting that the emblems can't be stacked, but maybe for the best. This feels pretty swingy, mostly depending on if your opponent is already poisoned and what kind of board presence/removal they have. A 3/3 without haste at 5 mana isn't necessarily likely to get through if the opponent doesn't want it to. Overall, this one is hard for me to assess, but I do like it on flavor grounds, for sure.
slimytrout - This is the saga that never ends, it just goes on and on my— but seriously folks, so let's see, every two turns you can bounce a creature, and the other turns you can dash a creature. That MIGHT be very good? I think I would have preferred if either the middle stage exiled/sacrificed it, OR of the third stage just fully did something else, but it still intrigues me as to how it would play.
netn10 - So side one clears the board to just our creatures, then makes them all big, so you hope you have the advantage on creatures by then, which you can in green, then we take a quick break to flip it, then we tear everything down, then we empty our hands. I worry that, from a gameplay perspective, this is really encouraging both players to just not cast creature spells unless they absolutely have to until it's all over. I'm not sure if that's fully fun, though it is interesting

T3

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1. Henlock
2. void_nothing
3. slimytrout

[Henlock]

Done!

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Bene Tleilax: I think that the counter manipulation is pretty interesting but paired with the first effect is actually too strong. Second one is more situational and If I am right there's no way to put extra angels as you sacrifice on third counter. I kind of like the presence of white at flavor level but at the same time an extra in the cost would have gone a long way into balancing it, even with the counter manipulation.

Phyrexian Editor: Orzhov is not a combination I picture when I think of infect but WAR has pushed proliferate into white. I feel this is a bit too slow as a card with effects oriented towards winning, as you even have to wait an extra turn for the emblem to go off.

slimytrout: This reminds me of Bounty of the Luxa, you get to alternate effects within turns. Here, it will cost you a card eveey cycle and that's probably a good choice because this might be very powerful. I'm actually more wary about the first effect, but it creature light decks thi nis probably slow enough to be safe. I'm
still trying to picture how I would play it.

netn10; I like how effwcts from the first side revert in the second. Falvor is great. I think that all abilities arw quite relevant,

kwanyegorii: I don't like how the first effect works with the second. I'm sure this is a very powerful third effect that aims to cast dramatic stuff, so it might jave been a balance decision.

haywire: .It might not be very goid for handling big threats, but it is great at dealing qith many small creatures. This makes sense with the last ability that aims at getting as many creatures as possible. I don't quite like the second effect as it is quite redundant conaidering the first.

Raptorchan: Pretty good multiplayer oriented saga. I would considering rasing the tokens to three so as to fit a typical commander table.

1. Raptorchan
2. slimytrout
3. netn10

[Raptorchan]

Crits

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Subject16
The third mode kinda contradicts with third one since you probably won't be able to attack with that angel without wxtra precautions. Other than that, pretty good.

jamblock
Seems to be working fine in a land with even number of Islands and Mountains, yet second and third more force you to play saga's abilities instead of spells (especially second one), which is different from most Sagas that usually do their jobs indifferently.

void_nothing
Feels strong, just like the Nine Titans themsalves, but requires a bit of building around. I approve.

RaikouRaider
Powerful but it would be okay in Simic build (Someone in WotC would die if Simic won't be broken this set, ya know), bue the first ability is confusing. It says draw two cards but you actually draw four. Honestly this effect is already close to 5 mana but your opponent gets some benefit too, so-so... Flavor is on point, we all miss good ol times when we bathed in a primordial soup and walked with dinosaurs.

Henlock
A 2 mana saga that gives you two 3/3 creatures (with restrictions but still) and can draw two or more cards. Seems very strong, maybe even broken. Flavor is on point.

BeneTleilax
A card than can exist even though it has two effect close to white but isn't white itself. I am not a big fan of an additional ability that removes counters though and though.

Phyrexian Editor
Seems strong, but by my opinion, yet again it blends outside of the Saga design space.

TOP

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1) Subject16
2) void_nothing
3) Jamblock

[Lorn Asbord Schutta]

Bumping the thread for visibility.

[void_nothing]

Last minute visibility bump!

[Lorn Asbord Schutta]

And is locked.