December MCC, Round 1 - Fee, Fi, Fo, Fum

[void_nothing]

Banner based on Polar Kraken by Mark Tedin and Wizards of the Coast. Thanks to bravelion83 for the "Core Set Style" MCC Logo

December MCC, Round 1 - Fee, Fi, Fo, Fum

Welcome to the December MCC! It's Big Things Month here at the MCC.

Main Challenge: Design a Giant creature card
Subchallenge 1: Your card has mana value 3 or less.
Subchallenge 2: Your card has at least one other creature type which has never been in the same typeline as Giant before.

DEADLINES

Design deadline: Thursday, December 9th 23:59 EDT

Judging deadline: Sunday, December 12th 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
Ink-Treader

If you are not interested in playing, please sign up to judge the contest!

Players:
Anyone is welcome to enter this first round!

[marioguy3]

Army Starfish
Creature — Giant Starfish (Rare)
Haste
Whenever Army Starfish attacks, create a token that's a copy of Army Starfish tapped and attacking.
Recruitment as an Army Starfish requires vigilance in the face of other competing forces. One benefit is the ability to generate new recruits.
3/3

[slimytrout]

Kalemne's Marksman 1WW
Creature — Giant Archer (R)
Vigilance
1W, T: Kalemne's Marskman deals damage to target attacking or blocking creature equal to the number of attacking or blocking creatures you control.
It's easier to aim when gravity does most of the work.
3/3

[kwanyeegor-ii]

Grandblade Contractor BB
Creature - Giant Assassin (Rare)
As an additional cost to cast this spell, sacrifice two creatures.
Trample
When Grandblade Contractor enters the battlefield, destroy target creature.
4/3

[vishamon]

Hybrid Goliath xug
Creature — Giant Mutant (R)
Graft X (This creature enters the battlefield with X +1/+1 counters on it. Whenever another creature enters the battlefield, you may move a +1/+1 counter from this creature onto it.)
1g, t: Target creature you control with a +1/+1 counter on it fights target creature an opponent controls. (Each deals damage equal to its power to the other.)
0/0

[MonoRedMage]

Wandering War-Speaker 1R
Creature - Giant Artificer Advisor {R}
Wandering War-Speaker enters the battlefield under the control of an opponent of your choice with two service counters on it.
At the beginning of your upkeep, remove a service counter from Wandering War-Speaker. Then, if Wandering War-Speaker has no service counters on it, its owner gains control of it.
T, Sacrifice another creature: Create a token that's a copy of target Equipment you control.
6/6

[netn10]

Bandak and Deraz, Storybounds UWR
Legendary Creature - Giant Dwarf (Rare)
Giants, Dwarves and Wizards you control have lifelink.
Whenever an enchanted or equipped creature you control deals access damage, double that damage.
The stories of Surtland and Axgard became one when two heroes forged in fire, blood and fate.
3/3

[Henlock]

Osgir's Line Inspector 1rw
Artifact Creature - Giant Assembly-Worker (r)
Each other artifact is a Clue in addition to its types. (It has ", Sacrifice this artifact: Draw a card.")
Every flaw is a small step towards betterment.
2/5

[RaikouRider]

Boldwyr Uprooter 1RR
Creature - Giant {R}
Trample
At the beginning of each opponent's upkeep, that player creates a 1/1 white Kithkin creature token with protection from Giants.
6/6

[Freyleyes]

Mesa Shaper 2R
Creature - Giant Monk {R}
T, Sacrifice a Mountain: Mesa Shaper deals 2 damage to any target. You may search your library for a Plains card, put it onto the battlefield, then shuffle.
Some giants believe themselves geomancers, but their craft is nothing more then picking up boulders and throwing them at passersby.
3/3

[void_nothing]

Extending this for more entries by another day.

[Venedrex]

Pest Brewer Giant
Creature — Giant Warlock (C)
Whenever you sacrifice a creature, Pest Brewer Giant gets +2/+2 and gains deathtouch until end of turn.
3/3

[Lorn Asbord Schutta]

Advocate of Might
Creature — Giant Advisor (R)
Vigilance
Each creature you control with power greater then their mana value has hexproof from enchantments and can't be tapped by spells or abilities your opponents control.
"If the might makes right" he reasoned, "Then how the strong ones can be expected to obey laws not made by them?"
4/2

[void_nothing]

And that'll end the round. Judging assignments are the following, and the top four contestants per judge will advance:

void_nothing:
marioguy3
kwanyeegor-ii
netn10
RaikouRider
Freyleyes
Lorn Asbord Schutta

Ink-Treader:
slimytrout
vishamon
MonoRedMage
Henlock
Venedrex

[Ink-Treader]

All finished

slimytrout

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Design
(2/3) Appeal - Timmy can appreciate something that scales, especially with creatures. Spike enjoys that this has a lot of potential play patterns. Nothing really for Johnny here.
(2.5/3) Elegance - The ability takes a little bit of careful reading to understand, but otherwise this is fine.

Development
(3/3) Viability - Those abilities are certainly white, and repeatable removal should generally be relegated to rare, though uncommon might not be unreasonable due to its requirement.
(3/3) Balance - I quite like this. It's repeatable removal, yes, but removal that requires some kind of commitment on the player's part, and if offers the opponent some means to work around it.

Creativity
(2/3) Uniqueness - Cards in this vein aren't new to white, but the exact method of the activated ability is pretty unique.
(2/3) Flavor - It is somewhat interesting that this doesn't trigger Kalemne, Disciple of Iroas, but not a big deal. In terms of flavor text, I kind of feel like referencing momentum over gravity would fit the activated ability a bit more. Otherwise, it certainly feels like an archer, just a bit generically.

Polish
(3/3) Quality - Looks good
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - Indeed a Giant creature card
(2/2) Subchallenges - MV is indeed 3 or less, and Archer is new to Giants

Total: 21.5/25

vishamon

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Design
(2/3) Appeal - Timmy can usually enjoy any creature with X +1/+1 counters, and the fight is a nice bonus. Spike likes having a repeatable source of removal, though it's a little challenging to make the most of it. Johnny is always fond of what Graft can enable, though this card's particular effect isn't too exciting on its own.
(3/3) Elegance - Reads fine.

Development
(2/3) Viability - This could have been and likely would be monogreen without issue. Rare is generally appropriate for repeatable removal, but the hoops could allow it to be uncommon.
(2/3) Balance - This feels generally worse than Ulvenwald Tracker, being more expensive (generally having to be cast for at least X = 1), and more restrictive, and I don't believe Graft makes up for that.

Creativity
(1/3) Uniqueness - Graft X is new, but that's not too far from just coming in with X counters. The fight ability also isn't terribly new.
(1/3) Flavor - Flavor text would have been nice here. As a rare, the fight reminder text could have been culled to offer more space to work with. As is, it's pretty generic, and I'd expect a Simic hybrid to be more exotic than a Giant Mutant.

Polish
(3/3) Quality - Looks good
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - Indeed a Giant creature card
(2/2) Subchallenges - MV is 3 or less, and Mutant is new to Giants

Total: 18/25

MonoRedMage

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Design
(2/3) Appeal - Johnny is looking for ways around the drawback, and good uses of the activated ability. Timmy and Spike can both appreciate undercosted beaters, but Spike is apprehensive about letting an opponent have it first, with the general worst case being either one attack + an ability activation or two ability activations, which could then be followed by a sacrifice (which at least requires a different card) to make it sting more. Timmy will likely enjoy turning creatures into whatever splashy equipment they have on hand once they get it back.
(2/3) Elegance - A little bit wordy, and certainly weird.

Development
(2.5/3) Viability - A very unusual effect. Handing cards over the opponent does tend to be in red, and copying Equipment is fine in red. Rare seems very appropriate. That being said, the P/T to Mana value ratio is rather high, though it's not unheard of for it to be even higher.
(2/3) Balance - This is a risky investment, and hard to evaluate. Your opponent (probably) only gets to swing with it once, but it does hit hard. The Equipment effect is less likely for them to effectively make use of, but they'll also be in an excellent position to be rid of it before you get it back. If it survives, it'll be quite good, but I feel it often won't. With lower P/T and Mana value, the activated ability would be fun enough without being overwhelming.

Creativity
(3/3) Uniqueness - Service counters are a novel way to handle this concept, since it's often a permanent hand off on these kinds of effects. Sacrificing creatures to copy Equipment also appears to be new.
(2/3) Flavor - It wanders, and it does some stuff (making weapons) related to war. Sacrificing creatures to make Equipment feels a little weird here, I'd expect something forging related in the name instead, though the Artificer creature type helps.

Polish
(3/3) Quality - Looks good.
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - Indeed a Giant creature card
(2/2) Subchallenges - MV is 3 or less, and Advisor is new to Giants

Total: 20.5/25

Henlock

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Design
(2/3) Appeal - Very much a Johnny card, with lots of potential angles to work with. Timmy can enjoy the vastness of the effect, even if sacrificing things for a relatively minor effect isn't terribly exciting. Spike finds the fact that everyone can benefit an issue, especially when artifacts (and artifact tokens) are often pretty common, though the potential is appealing.
(3/3) Elegance - Quite elegant.

Development
(1.5/3) Viability - There isn't a single card that makes Clues in red, though there is at least one card Destructive Digger that can straight up sacrifice artifacts for cards. I strongly suspect the red would be replaced with blue here. Rare is very appropriate. I find it unlikely this effect would be printed as effecting everyone, however.
(3/3) Balance - This enables a lot of potential synergies, but doesn't feel over or underpowered compared to (the admittedly quite old) Infernal Tribute.

Creativity
(2.5/3) Uniqueness - Turning something into one of the artifact token types like that is nigh unheard of (Minimus Containment), and as an additional type isn't a thing at all. Sacrificing artifacts for cards itself isn't too unheard of though.
(3/3) Flavor - I suppose this is something Osgir, the Reconstructor [/card] might have. The flavor text helps sell the concept very well.

Polish
(2/3) Quality - Minimus Containment tells us that the Clue ability needs to be written out as rules text, not reminder text.
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - Indeed a Giant creature card
(2/2) Subchallenges - MV is 3 or less, and Assembly-Worker is definitely new to Giants

Total: 21/25

Venedrex

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Design
(2/3) Appeal - Timmy can appreciate something that can get very large very quickly, offering a nice pay off for sacrificing. Johnny finds it a bit blunt, but Spike likes how brutal this can get without having to dedicate too much to enabling it.
(3/3) Elegance - Straightforward.

Development
(2/3) Viability - Could be monoblack or monogreen. This looks like a signpost uncommon.
(3/3) Balance - On that note, this is similar in functionality to Slaughter-Priest of Mogis, trading off self-enabling and a more flexible trigger for improved durability.

Creativity
(1/3) Uniqueness - Bonuses for sacrificing aren't unheard of, though gaining deathtouch is slightly novel.
(2/3) Flavor - Definitely reads like it belongs to Witherbloom. There's a lot of room for flavor text.

Polish
(3/3) Quality - Looks good
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - Indeed a Giant creature card
(2/2) Subchallenges - MV is 3 or less, and Warlock is new to Giants

Total: 20/25

Scores

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slimytrout 21.5
Henlock 21
MonoRedMage 20.5
Venedrex 20
vishamon 18

[void_nothing]

marioguy3

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Design
(3/3) Appeal - Txmmy loves token swarms. Jxnny sees plenty of interactions. Spike likes the sheer power for such a low cost.
(2.5/3) Elegance - Token copies that generate their own token copies are potentially annoying to keep track of, but mostly fine.

Development
(3/3) Viability - Colors and rarity are fine.
(1/3) Balance - Manifestly undercosted. Two 3/3 attackers right away for 1RW is already too much, and then if both survive to attack the following turn that's already way out of hand.

Creativity
(1.5/3) Uniqueness - Half Brimaz, King of Oreskos, half Mirror-Sigil Sergeant.
(1/3) Flavor - "Giant" doesn't just mean "gigantic" in a typeline - there's a reason Giant Spider and Giant Dustwasp don't have that creature type - so this is at least a deeply bizarre looking creature. The flavor text writing, too, comes off as stilted.

Polish
(2.5/3) Quality - Mana symbols are the wrong way round.
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - Done.
(2/2) Subchallenges - And done.

Total: 18.5/25

kwanyeegor-ii

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Design
(2/3) Appeal - Txmmy doesn't like having to sacrifice creatures to get one but likes the size for the cost and the powerful ETB. Jxnny likes Aristocrats-style decks. Spike would use this if they had fodder tokens to sacrifice like in a Tevesh Szat, Doom of Fools EDH deck.
(3/3) Elegance - Sure, looks easy to understand.

Development
(3/3) Viability - Definitely a black rare.
(2/3) Balance - Hard to evaluate, and definitely swingy. This is net zero cards - you sacrifice two to get a beater and kill an opposing one. This can obviously majorly change the tenor of a game, and can backfire - that may be a good thing for this design's intent, but ultimately having such a low mana cost and high nonmana cost puts this in a tricky place balancewise.

Creativity
(1.5/3) Uniqueness - A mashup of very familiar effects stretching all the way back to Nektrataal.
(2/3) Flavor - I mostly get it - a Giant Assassin with a huge sword who demands a massive payment. Sacrificing creatures doesn't fully line up with putting a price on a head though.

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

Total: 20.5/25

netn10

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Design
(3/3) Appeal - Txmmy likes pretty much everything about this card. Jxnny is attracted to doubling and Voltron-type builds. Spike likes two powerful global (if situational) abilities for three mana.
(3/3) Elegance - Two easy-to-understand bonuses involving damage.

Development
(2.5/3) Viability - Rare is definitely correct. Not sure where blue comes in mechanically but it's necessary for the Kaldheim tribal aspect.
(3/3) Balance - Really nothing to complain about here. Both abilities are strong but only apply to a subset of creatures that have to very much be built around.

Creativity
(1.5/3) Uniqueness - Mass lifelink and damage doubling are both well-known effects, but this is a new combination and feel.
(3/3) Flavor - Excellent justification. Having two people, one of whom's a Giant, only be 3/3 comes off as a little odd but that's a minor quibble.

Polish
(1.5/3) Quality - "If an enchanted or equipped creature you control would deal damage, it deals double that damage instead." Also, that flavor text looks to be missing a "were". Finally, the mana symbol order should be URW.
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - Good.
(2/2) Subchallenges - Done.

Total: 21.5/25

RaikouRider

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Design
(2.5/3) Appeal - Txmmy appreciates a cheap, big trampler. Jxnny likes unusual drawbacks to work around or possibly exploit. Spike likes the level of mana efficiency but is afraid the drawback might come back to bite them.
(2.5/3) Elegance - This card relies on the unusual interaction that a 6/6 trample creature blocked by a single 1/1 creature that has protection from it can assign 5 combat damage to the defending player or planeswalker (CR 702.19b).

Development
(3/3) Viability - Feels perfectly both red and rare.
(2.5/3) Balance - As noted, since trample means this card can safely ignore one or several of the free blockers it generates, it might take awhile before the drawback becomes meaningful.

Creativity
(2/3) Uniqueness - There have been plenty of things like the Hunted creatures in the past but this is a unique take on that idea.
(3/3) Flavor - Perfect even without flavor text. Love the image of an oblivious Boldwyr giant driving kithkin from their homes.

Polish
(3/3) Quality - Fine.
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - Looks good.
(1/2) Subchallenges - No unique subtype combination.

Total: 21.5/25

Freyleyes

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Design
(3/3) Appeal - Txmmy likes a damage-flinging Giant. Jxnny has lots to work with. Spike just likes the sheer value and power.
(2.5/3) Elegance - Elegant idea, but involves lots of searching and shuffling.

Development
(3/3) Viability - Yeah, definitely the right color and rarity.
(2/3) Balance - This looks quite efficient, especially considering you can effectively use it as mana accel (tap for red, sacrifice the Mountain, get the Plains, tap for white), not to mention getting landfall triggers and deck thinning.

Creativity
(2/3) Uniqueness - Yes, this is a pinger, but it's one with an unusual feature - terraforming.
(3/3) Flavor - Great. Flavor text made me smile.

Polish
(3/3) Quality - Looking good.
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - Done.
(1/2) Subchallenges - I can't give you the unique subtype one here because of Boonweaver Giant.

Total: 21.5/25

Lorn Asbord Schutta

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Design
(2.5/3) Appeal - Txmmy doesn't want their stuff messed with. Jxnny focuses in on the wackiness of "can't be tapped." Spike, although they appreciate narrow hosers, might think this is TOO narrow, although also having 4 power for three mana helps.
(2/3) Elegance - An unusual condition that grants unusual bonuses, but all in all not hard to understand (everyone knows what hexproof from and "can't be tapped" mean).

Development
(3/3) Viability - Colors and rarity do look right, although I'd honestly think that this should be more of a RWW cost given that the card leans white.
(3/3) Balance - Sure. The marquee ability can be powerful but it's also highly situational.

Creativity
(3/3) Uniqueness - Hexproof from enchantments and "can't be tapped" are thoroughly unusual.
(3/3) Flavor - Love it. All ties together.

Polish
(2.5/3) Quality - "Greater than its mana value" - singulars and plurals can be a tricky issue in sentences formatted like this.
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - Done.
(2/2) Subchallenges - And done.

Total: 23/25

Totals (bold advance)

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Lorn Asbord Schutta 23
netn10 21.5
RaikouRider 21.5
Freyleyes 21.5
kwanyeegor-ii 20.5
marioguy3 18.5