March MCC Round 4 (finals) - Accusation (plus OPHTMH Episode 4)

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bravelion83
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Post by bravelion83 » 4 days ago

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March MCC Round 4

Accusation



As is tradition by now, this month we will celebrate the latest set, in this case Murders at Karlov Manor, by exploring its mechanics and themes, as usual in this kind of MCC months.
One pierced heart, two mindful horns - Episode 4/4
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One pierced heart, two mindful horns


EPISODE 4

Connecting the dots



Zonez woke up and saw Roy already awake in the other bed in the room.
"Good morning, Roy. How long have you been awake?"
"Quite a while. I couldn't sleep, I kept thinking about this case..."
"Any conclusions?"
"Not yet. I was picturing again the moment I managed to take away the killer's cloak. I can't help but assuming the liar is there: a Gruul boy in a Dimir disguise. I want to hear again from both those guilds."
"Do I have to call my sister to go to the Slizt camp?"
"Maybe later. If there is a guild that's all about lying, it's the Dimir. Also, I haven't actually talked to a Dimir member yet, it was the Golgari guy who led me to exclude them. It's more probable that I gain more information by actually talking to a Dimir than by going to another Gruul camp. Somebody must have given that cloak to the Gruul killer. Let's begin with the Dimir and save the Slizt camp for later."
"Good. Only one problem: how do we find a Dimir member? How do you find a light in the shadows?"
"Very good question... I don't know. Anyway, I need to go to the bathroom. Are you waiting for me here?"
"Yeah, I'll gladly take a little more time to fully wake up..."
Roy left the room, closed the door, headed to the bathroom, but he never got there. A sudden and silent, maybe magical, bump to his head knocked him out.

Once Roy regained his senses, he found himself tied to a chair in the middle of a basement room of his own house. He could recognize the place, but not the figure in front of him. Whoever that was, they were wearing a full face mask and a Dimir cloak that looked exactly the same as the one Roy had taken from the killer. That figure began to speak without Roy asking for it or giving permission. They were clearly talking with some kind of voice-altering device, or maybe they had cast a magical spell to hide their true voice. Roy couldn't know. He could only hear the mysterious figure's altered voice:
"So you think it could be one of us. Maybe even me. And who knows, you might even be correct! You have your clues, don't you? Ones about me as well, I'm sure. You should know many things about me by now. At the very least, you should already know my first name and where I'm from without me being the one to tell you. And even if you don't know it, I will just tell you that with enough determination, a victory is not casual initially, but it can always be eventually achieved. But can you do it? Let me test you, detective. What's my first name? Where am I from? We are in a city, no? But this city is not everything that exists. I am indeed from a city, but which city am I from? I'll give you a hint: it's not actually this one, but at the same time it is. Let's talk hypothetically. If I say I come from the city of flowers, do I come from the city of the tower? I lean towards answering "no" to that question, with no doubts left should you have any. Wouldn't you agree, detective? I don't need to tell you anything more, you know all of it and you're definitely clever enough to put all the pieces together, or at least you pretend to be. But are you really?"
"This is not about me - replied Roy - but about you and what you might have done!"
"I did nothing, and you know it. I'm just like a rabbit sitting there while eating a carrot. You have no evidence against me. There is just a sequence of events that appear to be linked, but sometimes you have to look at the big picture, that's often more than just the sum of its parts. You can't blame me just because you don't like me. And by the way, I don't like you either, detective."
"Instead, what I don't like is these riddles you keep telling me as if you were an Azorius sphinx and not some kind of Dimir assassin. Couldn't you speak clearly? Or do you want me to call the Azorius to test you with a verity circle?"
"I don't see how you would be able to do that given your current position. But anyway, no verity circles are needed, you know the truth is right in front of you, you just have to see it: I didn't do it, nor did anyone from my guild. If anything, we have already lost, but you still have to win."
"It's true that the Dimir have lost a lot in the Phyrexian invasion, are you implying that the Phyrexians might be involved in this? I can't see how. They have no reason to be involved in this investigation so far…"
"'Never rule anything out.' It's one of the very first things they teach you as you join our guild. It's an unwritten rule of our guild. To make my best Azorius impression, I could say it's our 'Regulation 1-bis'. Not just 1 though, as the very first rule is the Dimir guild is like that famous cat, dead and alive at the same time. No one knows whether our guild exists or not, or at least they're not entirely sure, exactly how we want them to be. That would be 'Regulation 1', so the second most important rule, 'never dismiss anything', must be numbered '1-bis'. Suffixes are important, as is their order. Nothing is by chance. Ever. That would be a good 'Regulation 1-ter' if it were needed. But there is no need for that. A truth is still a truth even if it's unwritten."
"Researching the truth about how low guilds can go for their own ends is the exact reason why I joined the Agency."
"Then we might actually be closer than what you think…"
"What is this, an invitation to join the Dimir? Not for now, if I change my mind later I'll let your guild know. But now it's my turn to ask questions: first, who are you?"
"A Dimir member."
"Of course. I meant your name."
"I've already told you: you should already know it. No need for me to tell you."
"Are you wearing the same cloak the killer was?"
"It's a replica, not the original."
"Are you the one who gave the original cloak to the killer to use as disguise?"
"Maybe. Or maybe not. If I wasn't the one, another one of us was, but the net result is the same: the cloak went where it was supposed to go, and it was paid as agreed with the customer beforehand."
"Which means? How was it paid? Who's the seller and who's the buyer?"
"Sorry, there are some secrets that I must keep. I'm not allowed to give any more details about that specific transaction."
"But then, if you sold that cloak to somebody that might easily be the culprit, and then they acted, at that point the property of the cloak was theirs and not yours, so the culprit can't be one of the Dimir… Could you at least confirm this part?"
"I'll tell you that your logic in this reasoning is probably the best one you have used so far and you will ever use in your whole life."
"I'll take it as a yes. Another question: do you know about the poison called 'Stain of Violets'?"
"Sure. You wanna try some?"
"No, thanks. What do you know about it?"
"Many things, of which probably only two are of your interest, so I'll stop at those. Yes, we Dimir use it a lot. And yes, there were some vials of it involved in that transaction we were discussing a few minutes ago. All the rest is guild secret."

In the meantime, Zonez was in Roy's housemate's bed waiting for him to return.
"Why does he take so long to come back? Does he have some... bathroom problems? I'll better go to check, just to be sure."
Roy got up from the bed and went into the corridor. He could see the bathroom from there, but the door was open and the room empty.
"He's not in the bathroom! He said he was going to the bathroom! Where is he?"
Zonez started checking all the rooms in the house looking for Roy.
"He can't have left the house without me. He was the one who kept wanting me to stay with him and also to sleep here every day. And he can't go to the Gruul Slizt camp alone, he doesn't even know where it is. Neither do I for what matters. That's why we need my sister, she's supposed to take both of us there. Yeah, Cez! Maybe I can call her now and she can also help me finding Roy!"
Zonez went back to Roy's bedroom, took the magical stone that he had left on his bedside table into his hands, and cast his spell on it. The stone began to glow.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Zonez, Roy was still tied to that chair in the basement of his own house, talking with the masked Dimir figure.
"Is your identity also a guild secret?"
"Let's say yes. Guild or not, it doesn't matter. To you, it's a secret anyway. And it's better like this, trust me."
"Yeah, for sure, you infiltrated my own house, knocked me to the head, and tied me to a chair in my own basement, and I should trust you? You're very trustable, sure!"
"I like how sarcastic you can be sometimes. I know it's quite peculiar, but if I could tell you who I am, I'm sure you would indeed trust me immediately."
"Then do it! Show me who you are! Your real appearance and your real voice!"
"No. I can't. I'm sorry."
"Why?"
"I can't even tell you way. But I know you would trust me, that much I can tell you, and it will have to suffice."
"Look, whoever you are, I'm tired of this masquerade. I am in my own house, couldn't you just free me and let me go back upstairs?"
"I will, but only after one last question."
"Yeah, whatever... Go ahead."
"Do you still believe one of my guild is involved in the case you're working on besides selling a Dimir cloak to the killer as a disguise? Do you at least trust me if I tell you there is no Dimir involvement whatsoever in what you're working on beyond that?"
"Ok, it wasn't the Dimir. The Dimir only sold the cloak to the killer. Got it. Can you just let me go now?"
"You haven't answered my question. Do you really think that, or are you just telling me that to convince me to let you go?"
"Is 'both' an answer?"
"An acceptable one. At least it includes what I really care about. Let me untie you."
"Please, at least I can go back upstairs. I've still got more work to do on this case."
The unknown Dimir figure untied Roy from his chair and let him go. While going back upstairs, Roy turned back and told to the masked figure:
"Thank you for letting me go at least. I hope never to see you again in my life, and especially in my house! Now you too go away from my basement. Leave my house! And never come back!"
"I can't guarantee you that you will not see me again unfortunately. What I can promise you is to leave your house after you close the basement door."
"Good enough, I guess. See you never again!"

Zonez was searching Roy in the rooms at the ground floor. They met in a corridor.
"Roy! Weren't you just going to the bathroom?"
"Yeah, before some Dimir guy who I don't even know the name of knocked me down and tied me in my own basement..."
"What? That's what just happened to you?"
"Exactly. We talked, they let me go, I came back upstairs telling them to never come back, then finally went to the bathroom, and now I'm here."
"Wow... How did they manage to get in your house?"
"I don't know and I don't wanna know. Look, Zonez, all this experience just unsettled me. I don't want to talk any more about it. All I've got is the Dimir can be definitely excluded from this case, so let's just not care about what happened. Let's go to the Slitz camp and just forget this. Call your sister, Zonez."
"Already done. She's on the way, coming here to join us. I called her while you were... there, where you said... got it?"
"Yeah, while I was downstairs, let's put it this way."
"Exactly. I was looking for you and I called her thinking that she could have helped me find you, but that's not needed anymore."
"She will help. She will take us to the Slizt camp, as she was supposed to do."
"Yeah, I never said she wouldn't have helped. I was just hoping she could give me additional help, but I don't need that anymore. Anyway, let's just wait for her. She's coming."
"Good."

In the basement, the Dimir masked figure had gone to hide behind a piece of furniture, where he had hidden his real clothes by giving them to a Dimir girl who had also been hidden there all the time, since before Roy was even tied to the chair in that same room. Her name was Tamyev. She spoke quietly while the masked figure was taking off their mask and cloak and putting on their real clothes.
"How did it go, Lubyd?"
"Well enough, I think. I don't think he understood it was me, and I know him well enough to understand his tone. He was afraid but at the same time absolutely honest and sincere when he said he got that we only sold the cloak to the killer and nothing more."
"That's the truth by the way."
"Yeah. I think he will really leave us alone now, at least as far as this case is concerned."
"Which was exactly what you wanted, wasn't it?"
"Exactly. I care too much about him, and I know he wouldn't last a single day in our guild."
"You don't want him to join us."
"No. Ever. Should he join the Dimir, it would be the worst day of my life. I don't want him as a guildmate..."
"You want him as a different kind of mate."
"Indeed. And the Dimir are too much for him. I want to scare him away from joining our guild."
"It looks like you've just done exactly that."
"I really hope so. How lucky I was that I overheard him talking about wanting to ask a Dimir member about his case from the other side of the wall..."
"And that's why you called me."
"You know. I've already explained that to you. Thank you, Tamyev. You did your part."
"And you did yours."
"In fact. Good, I'm done."
"Can we go now?"
"Using the basement's secondary entrance, but sure. Look at me now, Tamyev! My real clothes! Now I can go back to just be 'Lubyd, Roy's housemate'!"

Ceztra had arrived and had joined Roy and Zonez at the ground floor of the house. She asked to Roy:
"Didn't you say you live with a housemate?"
"Yeah, but I can't introduce him to you right now, I'm sorry. It looks like he's disappeared."
Zonez added:
"I couldn't see him either while searching you in all the house's rooms..."
"He must have woken up early and left home to run some errands probably... We need to buy food, drink, and whatever is needed. We usually take turns doing that, and this time it was supposed to be his turn. Maybe if he had been home he could have defended me from that Dimir guy who knocked me out earlier... Anyway, you were right, Zonez. It would have been better to call your sister and go the Slitz camp first... Oh, well, let's do that now!"

Under Ceztra's guidance, Roy and Zonez entered the Slitz camp. Ceztra was greeting the few people she personally knew in that camp. The other Gruul clans might consider the Slizt as cowards, but even in the Gruul, friendship goes over cowardry. If your friend is a coward, they can still be your friend after all. After about half an hour in the camp, that was formed by a square arrangment of tents, Ceztra saw one of her friends sitting under a tree with several roots, and walked towards him. Roy followed, thinking:
"I wonder how many roots that tree actually has..."
Zonez also followed. That boy sitting under the tree was playing with a golden ring in his hands, one that he had probably stolen from someone somewhere else in the planewide city. Ceztra called him while approaching him:
"Hey, Zbalek! Over here!"
A human young adult, apparently aged around twenty or just a little more, arrived to greet his Ghor friend. Notably, he had blonde hair, combed as a crest. He put the golden ring at one of his fingers, stood up, and walked to join Ceztra:
"Hi, Ceztra! How's it going?"
"Wonderful! What about you?"
"Good... Hold on!"
He had seen Roy and Zonez behind Ceztra. Zbalek indicated Roy with his ringed finger and screamed:
"YOU! YOU ARE THE ONE WHO RAN AFTER ME!"
He instinctively ran away, and Roy ran after him. Again. Ceztra had been left with only his brother next to her in just a few seconds. Zonez asked his sister:
"That's essentially a confession. I believe he's just admitted he's the killer of that Selesnya hierarch, the one that shot the poisoned arrow from under a Dimir cloak. Did you know it, Cez?"
"No idea. He's just one of my friends in this camp, I didn't know he was a killer. Maybe little things like small thefts, or little fires... All the Gruul know bigger things aren't usually Slizt doing."
"That ring he had at the finger? Was it stolen?"
"Probably... but don't arrest him, Zo, please! He's still my friend!"
"Don't worry, a Boros knows when to close his eyes. But if he's really the killer, that's a big thing, regardless of how the other Gruul clans think about the Slitz."
"Yeah, I had no idea a Slitz could be a murderer, let alone Zbalek..."
"Maybe we should join them."
"Do you think Roy managed to stop him?"
"He did it once, he can do it again. Let's go and see..."
"I'm with you, brother. As always!"

Roy had indeed managed to tackle him again. Zonez and Ceztra found Roy holding Zbalek to the ground while calling for them from afar:
"Zonez, Ceztra, come here! Would you please help me?"
"Sure!"
"Then grab his arms, either of you the right one and the other the left one, to keep him from running away again? I want to have a little talk with him..."
Zonez immediately grabbed Zbalek's right arm. Ceztra looked at him and said:
"How hard can it be to choose between your brother's friend and your own friend... I'm sorry, Zbalek."
She grabbed his Slitz friend's left arm, even if using a much lower pressure that Zonez, and not that much because her brother's muscles were naturally stronger than hers, rather because while he was a killer, Zbalek was still her friend nonetheless. With the two minotaur siblings holding him in place, Roy looked at Zbalek in the eyes and said:
"So, your name is Zbalek."
"Indeed. What do you want from me?"
"Information, at the very least. I think I have enough evidence to know it was you shooting that poisoned arrow at the loxodon in the plaza... So maybe even a confession, if you prefer to skip straight to the point..."
"Yeah, that was me. Happy now?"
"Ok, so you chose the confession path. Good choice. Anything else you might want to confess?"
"Like what?"
"Was it you who also poisoned that arrow before shooting it?"
"Yeah, again, still me. Then?"
"I wish it were this easy every time! Do you know the name of that poison?"
"'Stain of Violets'. A vial broke and it stained the cloak!"
"Appropriate name then..."
"I guess. But I'll tell you why! They had to give me a Dimir poison! I told them: 'let me use one of ours, I've got much better practice handling those...' But no, they insisted, 'use the Dimir one! And also the Dimir cloak! We don't want to give away it's us!', they said."
"Who are 'they'? Who do you keep referring to?"
"Someone..."
"WHO?"
"They have much more power than me in the clans..."
"Power?"
"Yeah, quite a lot!"
"Again, who is that?"
"No! Can't say it!"
"Are they the ones who hired you to do it?"
"Yeah!"
"So somebody hired you. Interesting. More to say about them? Maybe their name and where to find them?"
"No! No names from me!"
"Ok, we'll come back to that later then... Was the poison enchanted with some kind of toxicity enhancement spell or something like that?"
"Not by me. I'm not actually that good at manipulating mana... And the value of such a move wouldn't have been high, that poison is already strong enough by itself!"
"Strong enough to kill a person just by piercing their heart with a single shot of an arrow poisoned with it?"
"Definitely! Would be enough to kill even tougher guys than that meager loxodon! Toughness is important, but it can't save your life from this kind of poisons!"
"Anything more you'd like to say?"
"About what?"
"In general..."
"SLITZ ARE NOT COWARDS!"
"...or maybe that name..."
"NO! Too afraid of saying it..."
"Wait! Haven't you just screamed you Slitz aren't cowards?"
"In fact we're not! The other clans think that about us, but that's not true! We are not cowards!"
"So you're not cowards, but you're afraid to say the name of whoever hired you?"
"Exactly! Won't say it! Ever! Just give up!"
"Yes, that reasoning makes perfect sense... Anyway, you're still on time before we leave you at your destiny..."
"Won't say it! Keep trying as much as you want! I'm not a coward!"
"Ok, I'll try to get to them by other means then... Thanks for the confession anyway."
Roy looked at Zonez:
"Sergeant Namezt, do you want to arrest this man for homicide? I believe it would be in your powers to do so."
"Yes, it would, but look at him, Detective Biklyev... Is he a coward or not in the end?"
"I! AM! NOT! COWARD!"
"So you'd stand being arrested without any problems then, nothing can make you afraid, not even a mere arrest!"
"Uhm... maybe... actually..."
"Yes? What?"
"Now... being arrested... I'm just the means..."
"This sounds like a coward talking to me..."
Zbalek just cleared his throat in response.
"Sergeant, he is right. He's indeed just the means, we still have to understand who hired him. Unless now he feels like telling us..."
No reply came from the Slitz boy.
"Alright, then. I'll get to them by myself. And as for the arrest, Sergeant... He actually does look like a coward to me..."
"Yeah, Detective. Just an ordinary coward! I'd suggest to just let him go then."
"Yeah, coward! Go away, maybe you can go stealing some other jewels... Sergeant and... Miss, I guess? Anyway, let go of his arm and let him run away. Zbalek, you tried to run away twice and failed. Let me tell you: the third time will indeed be the charm. I won't even follow you this time: I've already got everything I could want from you. Goodbye."
Zonez and Ceztra let go of Zbalek's arms and watched as he ran away in the ruins of the Slitz camp. Zonez and Roy were smiling, satisfied. Ceztra was crying, feeling guilty and fully aware she might have just lost a friend. Roy said:
"I'm sorry, Ceztra. Just know that it's only for you that I let him go. I knew you would have preferred that over him being arrested."
"Same reasoning I did, Cez. I care more about you than about him. We were just playing with him a little bit towards the end... Let us have just a little fun at least!"
Still in tears, Ceztra replied:
"Thanks, guys. Thanks for not arresting him, and for having done that for me. At least you gave me the chance to try to fix things with him at some point in the future... I can't believe my friend is a killer..."
"Again, I'm really sorry, Ceztra."
"Don't worry, Roy. You did your thing."
"No, I didn't. I still haven't solved the case. Who hired Zbalek?"
Roy looked thoughtful for a few seconds and then said:
"You know what? I can't file this mystery yet, and I probably will never be able to crack this case until I stay here in the Ninth District. I need to go to the R.A.M.I. headquarters in the Tenth, that's where the evidence lockers are. The body should be there now, and maybe there are more clues on it. I can have a necrotopsist analyze it. I can talk to much more experienced colleagues. I need to go there as soon as possible."
"Do you want me to come with you?"
"I'd really like to, Zonez, but I'm not even sure they will let you enter there. Yes, you're a Boros Sergeant, but that's not automatic. And maybe my dad needs you here more than I would need you there. Maybe you should go back to the Wojek department."
"Are you sure? Your dad told me to stay with you until needed, no matter how long it would have been."
"Yeah, but what if we make all the travel together and then they don't even let you in? And how much of an expert are you with examining dead bodies?"
"I could at least be your bodyguard until you get there."
"You're much more muscular than me, that's for sure. But then you make the whole travel back alone?"
"If they don't let me in, yeah, why not? And if they do let me in, that's even better, isn't it?"
"Ok, Zonez... Even though a bodyguard is what I may need, a friend is what I actually want. What about you, Ceztra?"
"I can just go back to my Ghor camp from here, it's actually closer than coming to your house and then back from there."
"And you might also need some time to recover from all this mess, I guess?"
"Yeah, indeed. I can't deny that."
"We're greeting here then, at least for now..."
"I guess so..."
"It's been a pleasure to get to know you, Ceztra. If you ever need me again, just ask your brother, I'm sure he'd gladly take you to me."
"Indeed. Cez, thanks for your help. Remember the stones! Use yours whenever you need me or Roy."
"I will. I hope to meet you again soon, Zo! My brother!"
"I hope too, Cez. Come here."
Zonez and Ceztra had a long goodbye hug, then Roy and Zonez left her, directed to the Tenth Disctrict.

Roy and Zonez reached the entrance of the R.A.M.I. headquarters with no big problems. To get up there they used an agency griffin, that Roy was able to obtain by showing his badge. He showed his badge again for him and Zonez to be allowed to get into the central atrium.
"I have a feeling I will be asked to show my badge a lot of times today..."
Roy still didn't know whether Zonez was allowed to stay with him of if could only access the atrium. Roy looked for the nearest General support officer he could see. Roy, with Zonez still behind him, saw one and went to her.
"Excuse me?"
"Hi, how can I help you?"
"I'm Detective Royznod Biklyev from the Ninth District division. I'm working on a case and I need some help for my investigation. Here next to me is Sergeant Zonez Namezt of the Boros Legion, also from the Ninth District. Is he allowed to stay with me here in the headquarters?"
"What kind of case are you working on, Detective?"
"A Selesnya hierarch has been killed in a public plaza while holding a speech."
"Oh, so it's homicide then?"
"Yes."
"Then of course you're with a Boros member! It's typical for homicide investigations to be a joint effort with either the Azorius or the Boros. Of course he's allowed to help you! You're welcome here, Sergeant."
"Thank you."
Zonez then spoke into Roy's ear:
"See? I told you they might have let me in!"
The officer looked back at Roy:
"What kind of help do you need exactly, Detective?"
"The victim's body should be here in the evidence lockers. I need a necrotopsist to analyze it."
"Sure! We'll have the body moved to a necropsy chamber and call a necrotopsist. Please follow me! "

The necrotopsist, a female elf named Samarta, had Roy and Zonez wait in her office while she analyzed the body, then she went back to them.
"So, is there any specific detail you're looking for or do you prefer a general report, Detective?"
"I already have a very good lead, that leads to somebody still undetermined having hired a Gruul archer to shoot a poisoned arrow. I'm looking for any potential detail that could help me understand who hired him."
"So the arrow might be of particular interest to you. It's still attached to the body, and unmistakably Gruul indeed. It has multiple sets of spikes: three attached to the tail end, four arranged in right angles at the middle, and a number that I haven't been able to determine at the end that's inside the body, that with the poison. Unfortunately only some of them are still visible while others must be there but have completely entered the body, so their exact number can only be estimated and I'm not able to tell it to you with absolute certainty. I can only tell you that it looks like those spikes are more than those at the tail end or in the middle."
"And what about the rest?"
"Just a normal loxodon body. Nothing out of the ordinary, no inner damage except for the pierced heart. The dynamic is obvious: The top of the arrow injected its poison directly in the heart, and the poison reached every part of the body running with the blood flow. Clothes are also perfectly reasonable for a Selesnya hierarch, the only remarkable detail might be the blood staines on the fabric around the top of the arrow. It looks like after the hit, the victim's heart beat a few more time, pushing multiple sets of blood drops out of the hole made by the arrow, and the drops deposited around that point. The nearest sets can't be determined with certainty as it's partly covered by the innermost piece of clothing, that's unfortunately blocked by the top of the arrow. Then it looks like more blood spilled out each time: there is a middle set of twelve blood stains and the outermost set is of seventeen blood stains."
"Anything else you've noticed?"
"Not with a quick analysis, but if you want me to take a deeper look at the body, just ask."
"I think this is enough for now. I think you might have given me some ideas I have to think about... Thank you."
"You're welcome, Detective. Again, if you want me to take another deeper look, come back here to me at any time."
"Thanks again. Let's go, Zonez."

While going back towards the atrium, Zonez asked Roy:
"Do you really have ideas or did you just way that to make the necrotopsist happy?"
"No, I do have some for real. Noticed how she talked about multiple set of clues?"
"Yeah, of course, it's her job to look for such patterns."
"Indeed, and she did a very good job. I just have to think back at the sequences of events that have brought us right here and right now. There must be a single truth behind all this, there can't be two of more truths..."
As he said that, Roy was counting with the fingers of his hands.
"It's not possible that there are as many different versions of the single truth as I have fingers on my human hands."
Zonez replied:
"Are we back to square one? Do we have to ask all the ten guilds plus the guildless again?"
"No! I just told you: there are indeed ten guilds in this city, but we're definitely looking at a smaller number of hypothesis here. Only a few, actually. I just have to understand the single point where they all overlap with each other..."
"Roy, I'll just admit it: I can't reach any conclusion personally..."
"Let's think a little more about it while we walk to the atrium..."

They had almost reached the atrium when Roy suddenly stopped walking and put his right hand onto Zonez's left shoulder so that he also stopped walking, then he repeated the gesture on the other side and with both hands he shook Zonez's whole body, while looking at his minotaur companion with eyes wide open and screaming to him:
"Zonez! ZONEZ! I'VE GOT IT! I KNOW IT ALL! HOW COULD I NOT THINK OF IT BEFORE?"
Zonez excitedly replied:
"Really? Did you got it? For real?"
"Yes! Yes, I do! And you, what about you? Do you?"

CASE SOLVED! - DON'T CLICK HERE IF YOU WANT NO SPOILERS!
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Roy told to Zonez:
"Do you still feel like being my bodyguard?"
"Sure! Where do I have to escort you?"
"Out of these headquarters and into the Rubberbelt!"
"Who are we looking for?"
"Nylea of the Gruul! She hired Zbalek!"
"But why?"
"She's the head of the Zhur-Taa clan, the ones that believe in the Old Ways! They have a whole patheon of gods! Of course, each single one of them has to do with the destruction of civilization, but disregard that... One of those gods is the boar, Ilharg! The Selesnya hierarch was shot by a Gruul archer exactly as he was mocking Ilharg! It can't be by chance! Let's go to her!"
"But this time do we actually arrest her, provided it's really her, or we just let her go like that coward Slitz boy?"
"I don't know. Let's go to hear what she has to say about this!"
"Ok. Am I back to guard your body then?"
"Yeah! Isn't that what a bodyguard does? I wouldn't want my body to end up like that hierarch's one... And it's your job to ensure that!"
"Alright, got it. Let's go."

Roy and Zonez had reached the Rubberbelt and had found Nylea in Zhur-Taa territory. Roy spoke directly to her, accusing her without even greeting her first:
"Nylea of the Zhur-Taa Gruul clan, you have commissioned the homicide of the Selesnya hierarch Katel in the Ninth District!"
"Have I? I don't even know who that person is."
"He spoke against Ilharg!"
"Oh, alright. Those ones?"
"Why plural?"
"I have sent out agents throughout all the city, in all Districts, a whole slew of Gruul warriors equipped so that they can deal with whoever has the courage to insult any of the Utmungr, and especially Ilharg. If one of them dealt with somebody I don't even know, they must have caught them in the act of blasphemy and given them their rightful reward."
"All over the city?"
"Yes. Too many people are disrespecting our gods, it's time we take action!"
"Sergeant Namezt, this is another confession. Do we have sufficient evidence to proceed with an arrest?"
"Maybe, Detective Biklyev. Maybe... Anyway, it's been a pleasure to work with you."
"My pleasure, Sergeant Namezt! And this time we don't even have to wait for tomorrow to proceed with the arrest, we can do it right now! Sergeant, make your play!"
"With pleasure. I don't know if this work has been good, but as the saying goes, all good things must come to...


THE END



Leo's explanation
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This was my biggest public attempt at being a writer so far in my forty years of life. There is an even bigger one that I have mentioned, the novel I wrote set on my custom plane of Vukanat, you might have seen me throwing some references to that here and there, but that's private. Only very few select people in the world have access to it. This is public instead, and again, it's the biggest and longest story I've written publicly. To have a reference point, I took all ten main episodes of the MKM story and checked the word count. It's 5000 words. Four episodes are slightly fewer, six are slightly more, but the average is 5k. I tried to adopt the same word count, only I had four episodes at my disposal instead of the ten Seanan McGuire had to plan and execute my own murder mystery story. Overall, I managed well enough: Episode 1 is slightly less, this one is 6k but I couldn't cut any parts so I just accepted that, telling myself that it makes up for Episode 1 being on the short side. Episode 2 and 3 are almost perfectly 5k words.

I had the idea for the main puzzle more than a month ago (I'm writing this on February 27th, 2024), way before they had Nylea as the solution for one of the online puzzles associated to MKM. That day when they published that puzzle, I was destroyed. I thought about scrapping all this, and I had the first two episodes already written, and I had already come to love the characters of Roy and Zonez. What happened back in 2019 when I wrote my story for Vukanat with most characters from that story had already happened with Roy and Zonez. They were already way more than simple characters, they had become friends of mine, and I talked with them for several hours almost each day rather than writing them. Roy was always meant to be the protagonist, but in my original plans Zonez was there only for Episode 2, but I had grown too attached to him to let him go, so I revised my plans. And that's only my attachment to them as if they were real people rather than just fictional characters that motivated me to go on anyway. I couldn't abandon them just because Wizards themselves had spoiled the answer that I had chosen for my own murder mistery story. So I decided to turn that into an advantage: was Nylea the solution of Mistery File #9 of the Ravnican Detective Agency site? Ok, I will use that as an additional clue for the reader to get to her rather than throwing everything out of the window, to be polite. So I did.

That clue was in this last episode, as all the clues that you were missing at the end of the first three episodes, and that was intentional. I wanted you to have some ideas of what was going on by the end of Episode 3 but lack a key piece of info that I would have given you in Episode 4, to avoid the possibility that you were able to solve the mystery too early, before the last episode.

So, how were you supposed to solve this and get to Nylea? First, I told you right at the beginning, in Episode 1, that you were looking for someone from Ravnica, and I've also repeated that here in Episode 4. Second, you had to get to the number 5. You had four different and independent ways to do it, all converging towards it:


1. The main puzzle - The overlap of four different famous mathematical sequences:

• The Markov numbers, which I referred to in Episode 3, taking advantage that Markov is also the name of an Innistrad vampire bloodline and that we have omenpaths now, so a vampire from Innistrad could have ended up on Ravnica via omenpaths. The Markov sequence starts like this:
1, 2, 5, 13, 29, 34, 89, ...

• The Fibonacci numbers, which I have referred to here in Episode 4. Fibonacci's real name is Leonardo Pisano, and I've explained in the annotated version of this episode how you were supposed to get to him. We all know the Fibonacci sequence:
1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, ...

• The necrotopsist towards the end of this episode gives you the first two Pythagorean triples, but omitting the 5:
3, 4, 5
5, 12, 17

I tell you multiple times in multiple ways that you're supposed to only consider numbers that are a single digit, or less than ten, say it however you like. The ONLY such number that appears in all those four sequences is 5. I also tell you in this episode that you have to use that number for all of power, toughness, and mana value. Told in a different way, you're looking for a 5/5 for 5 mana in an expansion set on Ravnica. There are only five cards satisfying these requirements, and I worded the very beginning of Episode 1 to make you exclude four of those five, and the only one left after you do that is Nylea's card from Ravnica Allegiance, so it's her.


2. A puzzle based on Latin suffixes, which are very common in the numbering of articles in real Italian laws: "bis", "ter", "quater", etc... Actually, these three are all the ones you needed. Look for them in the episodes. I started giving you those in Episode 2, giving you one each episode afterwards. Each of them is paired with a number and one or two words starting with capital letters. Here they are:

"article 9-ter of the Nature Act" from Episode 2, put in the middle of a series of intended red herrings so that you were unlikely to understand this that early.

"No! We strictly follow the Nature Act! There is a whole section on the cure and preservation of public gardens! Look, we have a copy right here! Look at this one: article 3-quater! What does it say? Read it yourself!" in Episode 3.

"'Never rule anything out.' It's one of the very first things they teach you as you join our guild. It's an unwritten rule of our guild. To make my best Azorius impression, I could say it's our 'Regulation 1-bis'. Not just 1 though, as the very first rule is the Dimir guild is like that famous cat, dead and alive at the same time. No one knows whether our guild exists or not, or at least they're not entirely sure, exactly how we want them to be. That would be 'Regulation 1', so the second most important rule, 'never dismiss anything', must be numbered '1-bis'. Suffixes are important, as is their order. Nothing is by chance. Ever." from Episode 4 (this one, it's Roy's secretly-Dimir housemate speaking to him in their dialogue in the basement of their own house, the following "Regulation 1-ter" is a red herring and the line that contains it implies that).

With that line "suffixes is important, as is their order" that Roy's housemate says I'm actually telling you to put the Latin suffixes in order and look for what comes out of that. So let's do it:

Regulation 1-bis
Nature Act 9-ter
Nature Act 3-quater

The "Nature Act" is referred to twice as a further red herring, just take it once. What results taking the capital letters and the digits in that order is: RNA 193, which is Nylea's card: collector number 193 from Ravnica Allegiance (set code: RNA).


3. In this episode, Roy says "I can't file this mystery yet, and I probably will never be able to crack this case until I stay here in the Ninth District." This is an intended reference to Mystery File 9 (The Unusual Unlock) from the Ravnica Detective Agency web puzzles associated with Murders at Karlov Manor, that has Nylea as its solution. This is the point where I decided to go on with my story and turn Wizards potentially spoiling its ending into an additional and alternative clue, and here it is.


4. In this episode, I also point to the golden ratio intentionally omitting the number 5 from its mathematical formula: "After about half an hour in the camp, that was formed by a square arrangment of tents, Ceztra saw one of her friends sitting under a tree with several roots, and walked towards him. Roy followed, thinking:
"I wonder how many roots that tree actually has..."
Zonez also followed. That boy sitting under the tree was playing with a golden ring in his hands..."
"Golden" is supposed to tell you that this is a reference to the golden ratio. "Half" refers to 2 as the denominator. "One" is at the numerator, summed to the "square root" of "how many roots"? The answer is again 5, the number that goes under the square root sign in the formula and the only element of it that I don't mention here. As a reminder, here is the formula:
MKM-golden-ratio.png

Choose your preferred way(s) to get to the number 5 among the four above. Once you get that number, in this episode there is this dialogue when Roy interrogates the Gruul killer Zbalek in the Slitz camp:

"WHO?"
"They have much more power than me in the clans..."
"Power?"
"Yeah, quite a lot!"
"Again, who is that?"
"No! Can't say it!"
"Are they the ones who hired you to do it?"
"Yeah!"
"So somebody hired you. Interesting. More to say about them? Maybe their name and where to find them?"
"No! No names from me!"
"Ok, we'll come back to that later then... Was the poison enchanted with some kind of toxicity enhancement spell or something like that?"
"Not by me. I'm not actually that good at manipulating mana... And the value of such a move wouldn't have been high, that poison is already strong enough by itself!"
"Strong enough to kill a person just by piercing their heart with a single shot of an arrow poisoned with it?"
"Definitely! Would be enough to kill even tougher guys than that meager loxodon! Toughness is important, but it can't save your life from this kind of poisons!"

The references to power, toughness, and mana value of a Magic card should be evident here. In this passage, I'm telling you to use the number you've found, that's 5, as all three. That's how you get to the 5/5 for 5 mana, and remember I said at the beginning that it's from Ravnica. Put those parameters in your favorite Magic card database to get only five possibilities, four of which are excluded by my careful wording of the very beginning of Episode 1, right there for you to see all along! Here it is again:

On Ravnica, a long time has passed since the original Guildpact was first written by the paruns and then broken by Agrus Kos, since the Simic were reborn from the Zonots, since the Implicit Maze was run and Jace became the Living Guildpact, since several guildleaders were killed, or killed again in the case of the Obzedat, since Nicol Bolas invaded the plane with his army of Eternals, including God-Eternals who all found their demise during the War of the Spark, since Niv-Mizzet became the new Living Guildpact on that same day, and even since the recent Phyrexian invasion of the Multiverse. All of that was gone now, and the ones that matter are the ones who are alive today. Today, not yesterday, last week, or even last month. Those are not the ones that count. The ones being made of living flesh and bones, not those who are only bones if they're lucky, or the ones who are made of so many beings fused together that we're not even sure who or what they are. Normal Ravnican people building a new normality for the plane of Ravnica and for themselves, that's what really matters now.

The five cards are the following:

God-Eternal Rhonas from WAR, excluded with the line "God-Eternals who all found their demise (while) the ones that matter are the ones who are alive today."
Leyline Phantom from GTC, excluded with the line "Those are not the ones that count. The ones being made of living flesh and bones, not those who are only bones if they're lucky". Here I'm referring to the Illusion creature type. Illusions have no flesh, so they don't count here.
Obzedat, Ghost Council also from GTC, excluded with the line "killed again in the case of the Obzedat (while) the ones that matter are the ones who are alive today."
Trollbred Guardian from RNA, excluded with the line "Those are not the ones that count. (...) the ones who are made of so many beings fused together that we're not even sure who or what they are". Here I'm referring to the fact that it's a Simic krasis, that doesn't count either here. Check out its races: Troll Frog. It even has the Simic watermark.
Nikya of the Old Ways from RNA, that's the only one not excluded here and thus the intended final solution of this mystery.

This story took a whole month for me to write, multiple hours almost every day. I'm satisfied enough with the final result, and that's what really matters the most to me, but if you also liked it that only adds to it. So I hope that you liked it! If you didn't, I apologize. I've tried my best, as always. Now if you excuse me, I only have the challenges for Round 1, I know what I want the following rounds to be, but I have yet to write them. I didn't think that writing a mystery story would have taken so long... but it was a fun journey, and that's what matters.


—Leo, aka bravelion83 on MTGNexus (and on most other places on the internet as well)
Detective Roy has solved the case, with the help of Zonez and others. Let me pay a little tribute to them. They've been my own hidden company for a whole month or even a little longer, and then now they are our mutual friends. Yes, that's exactly the word I wanted to use. They're not just my characters, they've become my friends, and regardless of whether you have liked their story or not, or if you even read it at all, that doesn't change. So, now that this story is over, I can finally present them to you, with some of their tools. So, here they are... My friends:
OPHTMH custom cards
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Roy, Rookie Investigator 1W
Legendary Creature — Human Detective (R)
Vigilance
At the beginning of your upkeep, put X +1/+1 counters on Roy, Rookie Investigator, where X is one plus the number of Cases you've solved this game.
XWW, T: Search your library for an enchantment card with mana value X or less, reveal it, then shuffle and put that card into your hand. If it's a Case card, put that card onto the battlefield instead. Activate only as a sorcery.
"I joined the Agency to see each guild at their worst."
1/1

Zonez, the Mindful Horns 2RW
Legendary Creature — Minotaur Soldier (R)
First strike
As long as you control another red and/or white legendary creature, Zonez, the Mindful Horns gets +2/+1 and has double strike.
"Roy's dad is my boss. All of us in the Wojek department have seen Roy growing up. In a way, he's our own child too, and he calls us his second family. One thing is for sure: we're always there for each other, like a real family."
2/3

Ceztra, Gentle Wildflower 3RG
Legendary Creature — Minotaur Warrior (R)
Other red and/or green creatures you control get +1/+0 and have trample.
Raid — If you attacked this turn, creature spells you cast this turn cost 1 less to cast and can't be countered.
"Belonging to a Gruul clan is not all about rage and raids. It's also about living in harmony with real people who don't wear masks and caring about each other just like you do in a real family."
4/4

Katel, the Pierced Heart 2GW
Legendary Creature — Elephant Cleric (R)
Vigilance
When Katel, the Pierced Heart dies, you may exile it. If you do, create a 1/1 green and white Citizen creature token, then each player who controls a creature may draw a card.
"I was in the crowd as that arrow was shot. I had gone to listen to a Selesnya hierarch's speech just out of curiosity, and suddenly I found myself having a case to solve. I didn't expect it, but in the end it was my job."
—Detective Royznod Biklyev

3/3

Zbalek, the Cloaked Killer 1RG
Legendary Creature — Human Warrior (R)
Haste, deathtouch
At the beginning of your upkeep, if Zbalek, the Cloaked Killer is on the battlefield or in your graveyard, you may exile it. If you do, cloak it. (To cloak a card, put it onto the battlefield face down as a 2/2 creature with ward 2. Turn it face up any time for its mana cost if it's a creature card.)
"Are you wearing the same cloak the killer was?"
—Detective Royznod Biklyev

1/1

Lubyd, Roy's Housemate 2UB
Legendary Creature — Human Rogue (R)
Disguise 3{U/B}{U/B}
Lubyd can't be blocked by creatures with power 1 or less.
2{U/B}: Choose target creature an opponent controls. That creature's power becomes 1 until end of turn. You can't activate this ability if Lubyd has been turned face up this turn.
"I care too much about Roy, and I know he wouldn't last a single day in our guild. I don't want him as a guildmate. I want to scare him away from joining our guild."
2/4

Samarta, Necrotopsist 3BB
Legendary Creature — Elf Detective (R)
Whenever Samarta, Necrotopsist enters the battlefield or attacks, you may return target nonlegendary creature card from your graveyard to your hand. When you do, reveal the top card of your library. If that card has mana value equal to or less than the returned card, put that card into your hand and you lose 2 life.
"After the bad impression the Golgari left after the Phyrexian invasion, the best way for me to not be publicly seen as guilty was leaving the guild and putting my expertise at the service of the Agency."
2/5



Roy's Badge W
Artifact (U)
W, T: Reveal the top card of your library. If it's a nonland card, you gain 2 life. You may put the revealed card on the bottom of your library.
"I have a feeling I will be asked to show my badge a lot of times today..."
—Detective Royznod Biklyev


Lubyd's Mask U
Artifact — Equipment (U)
Equipped creature is colorless, has base power and toughness 2/2, and gains ward 2. (It's still face up.)
Equip 3
"Is your identity also a guild secret?"
"Let's say yes. Guild or not, it doesn't matter. To you, it's a secret anyway. And it's better like this, trust me."


Samarta's Lens B
Artifact (U)
When Samarta's Lens enters the battlefield, you may mill four cards.
3B, T, Exile a creature card from your graveyard: Samarta's Lens deals damage to any target equal to the exiled card's power and you gain that much life.
"So, is there any specific detail you're looking for or do you prefer a general report, Detective?"
—Samarta, necrotopsist, to Roy


Siblings' Stones R
Artifact (U)
2{G/W}, T: You may put a creature card with mana value 2 or less from your hand onto the battlefield. It gains haste and "At the beginning of the end step, return this creature to its owner's hand, then put a +1/+1 counter on another creature you control."
"The last gift I made to my younger sister Ceztra as she left the family to join the Gruul. A means for us to keep contact in the case either of us needed help."
—Sergeant Zonez Namezt


Zbalek's Bow G
Artifact — Equipment (U)
Equipped creature has deathtouch.
3R: Equipped creature deals damage equal to its power to target creature an opponent controls. Activate this ability only as a sorcery and only once each turn.
Equip 2
"A poisoned arrow would be enough to kill even tougher guys than that meager loxodon!"
—Zbalek

And what about you, other detectives? What cases are you working on? Have you already solved them? Or has Roy beaten you in solving his own case faster than you will solve yours? Show us!


Main Challenge - Design a multicolored Case enchantment card (both traditional gold and hybrid count) that has no other supertypes, card types, or subtypes.

Subchallenge 1 - If you consider you Case card in a vacuum, forgetting about any existing real Magic card, then your Case cannot be solved on the same turn it enters the battlefield.

EDIT March 26th 7:30 pm CET: The wording of this Subchallenge has been modified, but in a non-functional way. It's still the same as before just with different words.
EDIT March 25th 8 pm CET (further edited with the rewording of the Subchallenge):
This means that your Case's "To solve" condition can't be met (and thus make your Case solved) on the same turn the Case has entered the battlefield.
Ignore any interactions between the "To solve" condition and any other existing cards (for example Stifle being able to counter the "solve at end of turn" triggered ability, or Opalescence being able to animate your Case) and anything that might make the Case solved by any means other than using the "To solve" condition of your Case itself.
Only the "To solve" condition of your Case is evaluated for the purposes of this Subchallenge.

Subchallenge 2 - Choose one or both —

• The first ability of your Case is a replacement effect that applies to an event OTHER THAN your Case entering the battlefield. (0.5 points)

• Your card's rules text mentions at least three different card types. (0.5 points)


Clarifications (last updated on March 26th 11:50 pm CET - Added my last sample card)
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Main Challenge

There are two requirements that have to be met at the same time:

• The card's type line is exactly "Enchantment — Case", with no additional or different supertypes, card types, and subtype. It can be any rarity.

• The card is multicolored. We're talking color as derived from mana cost (and color indicator if present), NOT color identity here. Off-color mana symbols in the rules text do NOT count. It can be traditional gold, hybrid, or a mix. All that matters is that there are two or more colors in the card's mana cost.


Subchallenge 1

• The Case can be solvable on your opponent's turn. You don't have to wait until your own next turn. All that matters is that it's not possible to solve the case before the end of the turn it entered the battlefield.

• Yes, it can be done. I've thought of at least two different ways to do it. EDIT: I've made FIVE sample cards that meet all challenges this round. You can find them in spoilers in the quotes below.

• From the discussion thread:
bravelion83 wrote:
3 days ago
haywire wrote:
4 days ago
This is, of course, incredibly pedantic, and obviously not what the subchallenge actually refers to in spirit, but because it just says "can't be solved" and not "it's To Solve condition can't be met",
This is exactly the point. I didn't even think about combos involving other cards. This goes to show one thing I always tell when I'm mentoring someone new as a host: no matter how you write a challenge, remember that players will ALWAYS try to break it and it's your job to make the intended boundaries as clear and unbreakable as possible. In this case, all I meant was exactly what haywire points out. Now I'm on mobile, but as soon as I'm at my pc I will reword Subchallenge 1 to a version inspired by what haywire suggested: "Your Case's To Solve ability can't possibly resolve (and thus make your Case solved) on the same turn the Case has entered the battlefield." That's what I've always meant, so to me it's nothing more than a clarification. Ignore all possible external cards or combos when evaluating if your card passes Subchallenge 1.

EDIT - Done.
haywire wrote:
4 days ago
@bravelion83 on a more serious note for subchallenge 1, do we only have to consider black-border situations? I have a potential option, but an un-card (not one of the ones legal in commander) breaks it.
@haywire Yes, only black border, as always unless specified in the challenges, and this is not the case here.
slimytrout wrote:
4 days ago
@bravelion83 I am also curious about what the level of strictness is on subchallenge 1, since as haywire so aptly demonstrated above there are always going to be corner cases. Does the card I submitted satisfy it? It generally can't be solved on the turn it's played, but obviously the existence of cards like Stifle and Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines means that you can't fully rely on a card's own ETB to prevent it from being solved. Is that the intention of the challenge?
@slimytrout The intention is that the Subchallenge only cares about solving the Case via the "To solve" ability. Ignore any interactions with any existing cards (like the two you mention) and any possible combos involving cards other than your Case (like the only haywire points out a few posts above). Your card by itself is what you should consider for Subchallenge 1, it's all that matters.
bravelion83 wrote:
3 days ago
haywire wrote:
3 days ago
@bravelion83
bravelion83 wrote:
3 days ago
@slimytrout The intention is that the Subchallenge only cares about solving the Case via the "To solve" ability. Ignore any interactions with any existing cards (like the two you mention) and any possible combos involving cards other than your Case (like the only haywire points out a few posts above). Your card by itself is what you should consider for Subchallenge 1, it's all that matters.
So this is just saying does the card solve itself in a vacuum? Wouldn't nearly every existing case pass then? They all require other cards to solve, such as Case of the Gateway Express requiring 3 creatures, or Case of the Filched Falcon requiring other artifacts. I'm even more confused now.
@haywire The "To solve" condition can check other cards, spells, and/or permanents you control. What my quote means is that you should ignore things that can interact with your Case in the moment it triggers or resolves, like countering the ability for example, and you should also ignore alternative ways to make your Case solved via any combo involving other existing cards, like the one you point out with Opalescence and the double Cytoshape. Ignore combos and any external sources that might interfere with your Case's "To solve" ability triggering and resolving. That's what it means.
bravelion83 wrote:
3 days ago
Subject16 wrote:
3 days ago
I am aware that it is possible to solve it on the same turn it enters the battlefield if you cheat it in with something like Planar Bridge or Sun Titan's attack trigger.
Again, ignore combos with existing cards. If you have to mention other cards like you do with Planar Bridge and Sun Titan, then it doesn't matter for Subchallenge 1. (...)
bravelion83 wrote:
2 days ago
haywire wrote:
3 days ago
@bravelion83 I'm very confused by this interpretation of subchallenge 1. Every case, by nature, requires other cards to solve. I'm not wrapping my head around what distinguishes "needs 3 creatures" in Case of the Gateway Express from "needs a way to put onto battlefield without casting" in Subject16's entry. Both are relatively generic, can be accomplished in myriad ways within the game, and neither is something I would consider a particular "combo".
For Subchallenge 1, you evaluate the "To solve" condition, remembering that in the CR it's actually the intervening if clause of a triggered ability ("At the beginning of your end step, if [insert "To solve" contition here] and this Case is not solved, this Case becomes solved." This is a triggered ability, so to have its effect (the Case becoming solved), it has to first trigger (at the beginning of your end step) and then resolve. The check for the intervening if is made at both times and the condition must be true at both times for the ability to trigger and resolve. This is the technical way solving Cases works. What I am telling you is that nothing that's not also on your own card (such as any existing real Magic cards) can interfere with this process while it's happening, that is nothing external from your card can interfere with the ability triggering and resolving. This means you can exclude things like Stifle and Elesh Norn. Mother of Machines. The ability that stays behind your "To solve" condition will always try to trigger and resolve. Only other abilities of your same cards are considered able to modify the trigger or resolution of that ability. Nothing else can.

Another thing you should also ignore are any combos that result in your Case becoming solved via means other than its own hidden triggered ability that I've just talked about.
In the end, you can just say you ignore all existing real Magic cards interfering with the ability that solves your Case. They still exist if they are included in the "To solve" condition, but there can't be any interfering from the outside (from the inside is allowed, that is other abilities of your same Case can do that instead) during the process of checking the "To solve" condition at end of turn. Other cards are considered not to exist only if they interfere with your Case solving, messing with the trigger and/or resolution of the ability that checks the "To solve" condition, or if they form a combo that solves the Case without passing through the normal check of a "To solve" condition on a Case card.

Hope this helps.

EDIT:
haywire wrote:
3 days ago
can be accomplished in myriad ways within the game
Only one of those myriad ways count: the ordinary one via the "To solve" condition. Any other way doesn't count for Subchallenge 1.
bravelion83 wrote:
2 days ago
I'll read the last two posts now, in the meantime you can check the four sample cards in my last post, that unfortunately has fallen back on the last page of the thread, so I'll copy and paste it here too for convenience. I've discovered a bug in the fifth one so I won't post it until I manage to fix it. Look at these at your own risk.
All of these cards pass all the challenges (Main, Sub 1, Sub 2 both modes) (Done for now)
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bravelion83 wrote:
4 days ago
Main Challenge - Design a multicolored Case enchantment card (both traditional gold and hybrid count) that has no other supertypes, card types, or subtypes.

Subchallenge 1 - If you consider you Case card in a vacuum, forgetting about any existing real Magic card, then your Case cannot be solved on the same turn it enters the battlefield.
EDIT March 26th 7:30 pm CET: The wording of this Subchallenge has been modified, but in a non-functional way. It's still the same as before just with different words.
EDIT March 25th 8 pm CET (further edited with the rewording of the Subchallenge):
This means that your Case's "To solve" condition can't be met (and thus make your Case solved) on the same turn the Case has entered the battlefield.
Ignore any interactions between the "To solve" condition and any other existing cards (for example Stifle being able to counter the "solve at end of turn" triggered ability, or Opalescence being able to animate your Case) and anything that might make the Case solved by any means other than using the "To solve" condition of your Case itself.
Only the "To solve" condition of your Case is evaluated for the purposes of this Subchallenge.

Subchallenge 2 - Choose one or both —

• The first ability of your Case is a replacement effect that applies to an event OTHER THAN your Case entering the battlefield. (0.5 points)

• Your card's rules text mentions at least three different card types. (0.5 points)
The Main Challenge should be evident for all of these. I'll explain the Subchallenges.
S1 = Subchallenge 1
S2.1 = Subchallenge 2 mode 1
S2.2 = Subchallenge 2 mode 2


Case of Altered Time 4UR
Enchantment — Case (R)
Each opponent skips their upkeep step.
To solve — A spell or ability resolved during your upkeep step this turn while you controlled this Case. (If unsolved, solve at the beginning of your end step.)
Solved — At the beginning of your upkeep, scry 1, then create a 1/1 red Construct artifact creature token named Clockwork and a 1/1 blue Elemental enchantment creature token named Time Distortion. Those tokens gain haste until end of turn.

S1 - Only opponents skip the upkeep, you don't. You get your upkeep normally, so that's not the point here. This Subchallenge is passed thanks to the "while you controlled this Case" part. There is no way (that doesn't require external help, again, we're reasoning in a vacuum here, the board is still there but this card is all that exists while we do our reasoning here) that the "To solve" condition is true if I cast this Case this turn. The earliest I can cast this Case is my first main phase, and by then my upkeep has already passed, so even if something resolved during my upkeep, I didn't have this Case under my control yet, I had yet to cast it. If something resolved during my upkeep it wasn't "while I controlled this Case". So S1 is met here.

S2.1 - The word "skip" identifies a replacement effect by definition in the CR. The affected event is the existence of the upkeep step for your opponents, not the Case itself entering the battlefield.

S2.2 - In the Solved ability I mention artifact, creature, and enchantment as the card types of the tokens.


Case of Leyline Entanglement 2RG
Enchantment — Case (R)
If one or more artifact, creature, and/or enchantment tokens would be created under your control, that many tokens plus a Treasure token are created instead.
To solve — You've spent no mana this turn. (If unsolved, solve at the beginning of your end step.)
Solved — Whenever a Treasure you control is sacrificed for mana, put a +1/+1 counter on target creature you control, then that creature fights up to one target creature an opponent controls.

S1 - I've already spent the mana to cast this Case itself, so that will make sure the "To solve" condition is false on the turn this entered. The fact that there are ways to cast this or put it onto the battlefield for free using external help doesn't count. Without external help that's impossible, and external help doesn't count for this Subchallenge.

S2.1 - The word "instead" at the end identifies the first ability as a replacement effect. The affected event is the creation of the tokens, not the Case itself entering the battlefield.

S2.2 - In the first ability, I mention artifact, creature, and enchantment as the types of tokens whose creation allows you to get an extra Treasure. By the way, the extra Treasure doesn't invoke the replacement effect again, it doesn't generate an infinite loop because a replacement effect can only change a given event once.


Case of the Burning Bonfire 1BR
Enchantment — Case (R)
If another source you control would deal noncombat damage to a battle, creature, or planeswalker an opponent controls, it deals that much damage plus 1 to that permanent instead.
When this Case enters the battlefield, it deals 1 damage to any target.
To solve — No noncombat damage has been dealt this turn. (If unsolved, solve at the beginning of your end step.)
Solved — Players can't gain life and damage can't be prevented. This Case has "At the beginning of your upkeep, this Case deals 1 damage to any target."

S1 - The 1 damage on ETB is noncombat damage (external sources might counter the ETB ability or prevent the damage, but again, external help doesn't count while evaluating this Subchallenge), so at the end of the turn this Case entered, at least that noncombat damage will have been dealt and thus the "To solve" condition can't be true, which makes this Case not solvable on the turn it enters.

S2.1 - The Case can still have an ETB ability (or any abilities by the way) after the replacement effect and before "To solve". The first ability is still a replacement effect as identified by the word "instead". The affected event is dealing noncombat damage, not the Case itself entering the battlefield.

S2.2 - In the replacement effect I mention battle, creature, and planeswalker.


Case of the Fallen Soldiers 3WU
Enchantment — Case (R)
If you would draw a card during your draw step, instead put a memory counter on this Case, then scry X, where X is half the number of memory counters on this Case, rounded down, then draw a card.
To solve — There are three or more memory counters on this Case. (If unsolved, solve at the beginning of your end step.)
Solved — At the beginning of each combat, choose up to one target creature, planeswalker, or battle you control. Prevent all combat damage that would be dealt to that permanent this turn. If it's a creature, untap it.

S1 - Without external help (for example proliferate), it's not possible for this Case to have three memory counters on it at the end of the turn it was cast and entered. Actually, the draw step has already passed when I get the first chance to cast this in my turn, that is as soon as I get priority in my first main phase, so the replacement effect, which is the way to generate memory counters, will not even get a single chance to apply until my next draw step, that is in my next turn, not this one. So there will always be zero memory counters on this at the end of the turn it was cast and entered, and so the "To solve" condition can't be true at that point. Even just it getting a single memory counter would require external help, which we don't consider while evaluating this Subchallenge.

S2.1 - The word "instead" identifies a replacement effect in the first ability. The affected event is you drawing a card during your draw step, not the Case itself entering the battlefield.

S2.2 - In the Solved ability I mention creature, planeswalker, and battle.


I have a fifth one but I discovered a bug in it while I was typing the explanation for it, so I removed it for now. If I manage to fix it I'll put it back here. Otherwise, these four should already be enough.
Subject16 wrote:
2 days ago
Perhaps a way to think about it @haywire is "If I play my Case, take no further actions and go to my end step, can it solve?"

It's not the most elegant way to think about it, but it seems what's being asked is for the Case itself to somehow guarantee that it can't be solved the turn it comes down. Case of the Stashed Skeleton does it by creating a Skeleton you need to get rid of, whereas Case of the Gateway Express checks for an outside condition so it's not a guarantee.
This is perfect and all correct. Thank you, Subject16.
haywire wrote:
2 days ago
I am really sorry for pushing so much on this, but by this logic, Case of the Stashed Skeleton must also pass, correct? It's the same exact line of reasoning. The only way to satisfy it the turn it enters is to sac a creature (or destroy your own creature).
Case of the Stashed Skeleton would pass Subchallenge 1. Without external help, it's not possible to "unsuspect" the Skeleton token on the same turn the Case is cast and enters the battlefield.
haywire wrote:
2 days ago
my current working definition is "If I cast my case normally for its mana cost, and no other cards or effects modify, replace, or interact with any of the case's effects or any permanents or abilities created by the case, its To Solve ability will not successfully trigger at this end step."
Way too detailed. The actual definition would be something like: "If I cast my Case normally for its mana cost, and nothing outside of my Cases's other effects interferes in any way, its To Solve ability will not successfully trigger at this end step."
haywire wrote:
2 days ago
But Stashed skeleton and the example quoted above just require either "sac outlets" or "removal", which I would argue are a similar level of generality.
Nothing requires anything. That's the point. If you have to mention "sac outlets" and "removal", you're already thinking in the wrong way. Just cast your Case normally and assume nothing interferes (notice that I don't even have to say what specifically that "nothing" is or might be). At end of turn, when the first check happens, will you be able to solve the Case? Answer no to that question for Subchallenge 1 to be met.
bravelion83 wrote:
2 days ago
haywire wrote:
2 days ago
@bravelion83 I just have one (hopefully) final question then, following the passive/active paradigm and the specific card paradigm. If my card is Case of the Hey I Need a Squirrel and it has some unrelated first effect, and the To Solve is "You control a Squirrel token", that would pass, because you would actively need to use a specific card to create a Squirrel token to solve it?
It depends whether the "first effect" creates a Squirrel token or not. As you say "unrelated", I assume it doesn't, in which case there would be no way for you to control a Squirrel token without using other cards, and if I've understood that correctly, then yes, Subchallenge 1 would be met. If the "first effect" can somehow produce a Squirrel token, then it wouldn't.

EDIT - I believe I've fixed the fifth sample card. Here it is:
This also meets all the challenges (look at your own risk)
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Case of the Broken Soul 2WB
Enchantment — Case (R)
Flash
If an enchantment card would be put into a player's graveyard from anywhere and this Case entered the battlefield this turn, instead exile that card, then that player exiles another card from their hand.
To solve — Two or more enchantment cards were put into graveyards from anywhere this turn while this Case was on the battlefield. (If unsolved, solve at the beginning of your end step.)
Solved — 4WB: Return target enchantment, creature, or planeswalker card from your graveyard to the battlefield.

MC - It's an "Enchantment — Case" that's multicolored and has nothing more on the type line.

S1 - The "To solve" condition requires the two enchantment cards to have been put into a graveyard with the Case on the battlefield, so it doesn't count eventual enchantment cards that were put into a graveyard this turn before this Case entered the battlefield. It only counts ones that are put on the battlefield after it entering, but if this Case entered this turn then it's not possible for an enchantment card to be put into a graveyard at all because the replacement effect will replace that event with exiling the enchantment card and making its owner (into whose graveyard it will go) also exile another card. The way replacement effects work, the event that has been replaced never actually happens, so if this Case entered this turn, enchantment cards won't go into graveyards for the rest of the turn, preventing the "To solve" condition from being true when it's checked at end of turn: enchantment cards that have gone to graveyards before this Case entered don't count, and after the Case enters enchantment cards will go straight into exile for the rest of the turn, never actually hitting the graveyard. Thus it's not possible to solve this Case on the same turn it enters the battlefield.

S2.1 - Flash is a keyword, and in the clarifications I say that "the first ability" doesn't count keywords before it that have to be on their own line, like flash, so here we actually look at the ability between flash and "To solve", and that is indeed a replacement effect as it contains the word "instead". The event to which it applies is the enchantment card being put into the graveyard, not the Case itself entering the battlefield.

S2.2 - I mention enchantment all over the card, and creature and planeswalker in addition to that in the Solved ability.

Subchallenge 2 mode 1

• A replacement effect is a kind of static ability that replace a specified event, that never happens, with another one that happens in its place. For this Subchallenge mode to be met, the first event, the one that gets replaced, can't be the Case itself entering the battlefield.

• Usually, replacement effects use the word "instead" or they modify how the permanent enters the battlefield, like entering with counters or entering tapped for example. The latter (modifying the event of entering the battlefield) is what this Subchallenge mode forbids.

• Most existing Cases in MKM have ETB triggered abilities, and those are NOT replacement effect. ETB triggered abilities do NOT count for this Subchallenge mode. No existing Cases in MKM have a replacement effect as their first ability.

• Activated abilities do NOT count either.

• This is the final round. A certain knowledge of the rules is expected at this point.

• "The first ability" means the first ability that isn't a keyword ability on its own line. It means what would normally be the ETB ability on most existing Case cards.

• Your case can have any additional abilities between the first non-keyword ability and the "To solve" condition, as long as that first non-keyword ability is a replacement effect that replaces something other than the Case itself entering the battlefield.


Subchallenge 2 mode 2

• The following are the card types that we've seen in premier sets: artifact, battle, creature, enchantment, instant, kindred (formerly tribal), land, planeswalker, sorcery. To pass this Subchallenge mode, at least three of those must be mentioned in your card's rules text.

• Requiring something not to be a specific card type is NOT the same as mentioning that card type by itself, which is what this Subchallenge mode requires. See this post in the discussion thread:
bravelion83 wrote:
3 days ago
Subject16 wrote:
3 days ago
I am aware that it is possible to solve it on the same turn it enters the battlefield if you cheat it in with something like Planar Bridge or Sun Titan's attack trigger.
(...) As for Subchallenge 2 mode 2, saying "nonland" is NOT the same as mentioning the "land" card type.

If you have any more questions, feel free to post them in the MCC discussion thread.
You can also check out the MCC Guidelines and FAQ if you have the will and time. You can find it in a low size PDF version attached to this post and you can also find the link to the original higher size PDF in my signature. They are the same document, I just had to compress it more to be able to put it here as an attachment as the original file, the one linked in my signature, is too large to be attached here. Among the many things you can find there are a detailed explanation of the rubric (section 6.2) and the recommended card formatting (section 4) that you should use to format your text cards. Expect deductions in Quality otherwise.


DEADLINES

Design deadline: Wednesday, March 27th 2024 at 23:59 Eastern Time

Judging deadline: Saturday, March 30rd 2024 at 23:59 Eastern Time


RUBRIC
MCC Rubric
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The MCC Rubric is given below, in an easily "copy and pasted" form. (Courtesy of Rithaniel.)



Code: Select all

[b]Design[/b]
[b](X/3) Appeal[/b] - Do the different player psychographics (Timmy/Johhny/Spike) have a use for the card?
[b](X/3) Elegance[/b] - Is the card easily understandable at a glance? Do all the flavor and mechanics combined as a whole make sense?
 
[b]Development[/b]
[b](X/3) Viability[/b] - 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?
[b](X/3) Balance[/b] - 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?
 
[b]Creativity[/b]
[b](X/3) Uniqueness[/b] - 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"?
[b](X/3) Flavor[/b] - 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?
 
[b]Polish[/b]
[b](X/3) Quality[/b] - Points deducted for incorrect spelling, grammar, and templating.
[b](X/2) Main Challenge (*)[/b] - Was the main challenge satisfied? Was it approached in a unique or interesting way? Does the card fit the intent of the challenge?
[b](X/2) Subchallenges[/b] - One point awarded per satisfied subchallenge condition.
 
[b]Total: X/25[/b]
*An entry with 0 points here is subject to disqualification.


JUDGES

bravelion83
Ink-Treader


PLAYERS

@slimytrout
@Subject16
@Lorn Asbord Schutta
@haywire


A reminder to everyone: In the MCC, putting rarity on cards is mandatory! If you don't put a rarity on your card, expect huge deductions in both Viability AND Quality.
Last edited by bravelion83 1 day ago, edited 26 times in total.
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).
After I'm done republishing my articles I want to reprise the series focusing it more on editing, wording, and templating. Suggest potential future article topics here.
My CCCG Resume (Updated on February 27th 2024)
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Blue = MTGSalvation Green = MTGNexus
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
CCL - Winner (4): Jul 2016 (tied with Flatline), May 2017, Jul 2019 (last on MTGS), Jun 2021 (tied with slimytrout) || Host (5): Feb 2015, Mar Apr May Jun 2016
DCC - Winner (3): Mar 2015 (tied with Piar), Feb Apr 2022 || Host (12): May Oct 2015, Jan 2016, Jun Sep Dec 2021, Mar Jun Sep Dec 2022, Mar Jun 2023

slimytrout
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Post by slimytrout » 4 days ago

Case of the Blank Pages 1UR
Enchantment — Case (R)
As long as this Case entered the battlefield this turn, if an ability you control would trigger, instead you draw a card, then discard a card.
To solve — You drew three or more cards this turn. (If unsolved, solve at the beginning of your end step.)
Solved — Collect evidence 6: Draw a card, then discard a card.
Last edited by slimytrout 3 days ago, edited 2 times in total.

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Subject16
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Post by Subject16 » 4 days ago

Case of the Missing Body 1UB
Enchantment — Case (R)
Flash
When this Case enters the battlefield, counter target creature or planeswalker spell. Surveil X, where X is that spell's mana value.
To solve — You've cast no spells this turn. (If unsolved, solve at the beginning of your end step.)
Solved — Whenever you surveil, you may have this permanent become a copy of a permanent card in your graveyard you've surveilled this way, except it's an enchantment in addition to its other types, and it has this ability.

haywire
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Post by haywire » 1 day ago

Case of the Contested Will
Enchantment — Case {R}
Whenever an opponent would draw a card, they may instead gain control of this Case.
To solve — You've controlled this Case continuously since the beginning of your previous turn. (If unsolved, solve at the beginning of your end step.)
Solved — Sacrifice this Case: Create seven Treasure tokens, then mill seven cards. You may put an artifact, an enchantment, and/or a land card from among the cards milled this way into your hand.

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bravelion83
MKM MCC going on now
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Post by bravelion83 » 1 day ago

A little more than 12h to the design deadline. We're still missing @Lorn Asbord Schutta's submission. I also remind everybody that you're still allowed to edit your submission until then.
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).
After I'm done republishing my articles I want to reprise the series focusing it more on editing, wording, and templating. Suggest potential future article topics here.
My CCCG Resume (Updated on February 27th 2024)
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Blue = MTGSalvation Green = MTGNexus
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
CCL - Winner (4): Jul 2016 (tied with Flatline), May 2017, Jul 2019 (last on MTGS), Jun 2021 (tied with slimytrout) || Host (5): Feb 2015, Mar Apr May Jun 2016
DCC - Winner (3): Mar 2015 (tied with Piar), Feb Apr 2022 || Host (12): May Oct 2015, Jan 2016, Jun Sep Dec 2021, Mar Jun Sep Dec 2022, Mar Jun 2023

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Lorn Asbord Schutta
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Post by Lorn Asbord Schutta » 1 day ago

Case of the Compromised Letters
Enchantment — Case (M)
If an opponent would draw a card, they instead exile it. They put that card into their hand at the beginning of their next upkeep.
To solve — There are four or more cards opponents own exiled with enchantments you control. (If unsolved, solve at the beginning of your end step.)
Solved — You may cast instant and sorcery cards opponents own in exile, and you may spend mana as though it were mana of any color to cast those spells. If you would cast a spell this way, put that card into its owner's hand instead of putting it into their graveyard as it resolves.

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bravelion83
MKM MCC going on now
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Post by bravelion83 » 19 hours ago

The round is closed. This is the final round, every judge judges every card, and the highest combined score is the winner. Judging may begin right now. Due to real life business, I won't be able to start my judgments until tonight.
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).
After I'm done republishing my articles I want to reprise the series focusing it more on editing, wording, and templating. Suggest potential future article topics here.
My CCCG Resume (Updated on February 27th 2024)
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Blue = MTGSalvation Green = MTGNexus
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
CCL - Winner (4): Jul 2016 (tied with Flatline), May 2017, Jul 2019 (last on MTGS), Jun 2021 (tied with slimytrout) || Host (5): Feb 2015, Mar Apr May Jun 2016
DCC - Winner (3): Mar 2015 (tied with Piar), Feb Apr 2022 || Host (12): May Oct 2015, Jan 2016, Jun Sep Dec 2021, Mar Jun Sep Dec 2022, Mar Jun 2023

Ink-Treader
Posts: 1526
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Post by Ink-Treader » 8 hours ago

Judgeholder
slimytrout
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Design
(2/3) Appeal - I don't believe Timmy would be interested in this. Johnny, however, is enthralled. Spike also likes the nuances of this, though they will be watching what Johnny gets up to with great interest.
(1.5/3) Elegance - That replacement effect is crazy, even if it only lasts a single turn. There's also a very unfortunate interaction with abilities that trigger off drawing and/or discarding. There's also all sorts of bizarre corner cases, like madness, where the card just gets stuck in exile because it's a triggered ability that let's you either cast it or put it in your graveyard.

Development
(2.5/3) Viability - Could be monoblue. Rare is appropriate, but that replacement effect is mythic worthy. This is a weird card in that I feel it could just be that replacement effect; everything else feels superfluous.
(2/3) Balance - This card goes infinite with anything that triggers off drawing or discarding (even if that ability has a "may"). That is a concern that will make it challenging to use, since that's a guaranteed decking if the player doesn't prepare ahead of time (amusingly, Thassa's Oracle fails here, but the original can pick up the slack). Fortunately, it also prevents using those triggered abilities to win the game as simply. I'm very curious if there's a viable path to victory that isn't just the maniac or that one Jace. The interaction with madness is interesting, but also hard to exploit because of the cards getting stuck in exile. Let's you play cards like Phyrexian Dreadnought or Lotus Field without the drawbacks, which is interesting.

On the topic of the solve condition and the solved ability, I like them. That cost feels right for keeping it from being an easy dig.

Creativity
(3/3) Uniqueness - That replacement effect alone justifies full marks here.
(3/3) Flavor - I feel like I can envision the art for this card, and the abilities feel right for the flavor.

Polish
(3/3) Quality - Looks good.
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - Indeed.
(1.5/2) Subchallenges - This definitely fits SC1. Only fulfills the replacement effect part of SC2.

Total: 20.5/25
*An entry with 0 points here is subject to disqualification.
Subject16
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Design
(2/3) Appeal - Timmy can certainly enjoy copying, but it's rather fiddly, and they won't appreciate what they have to do to solve it. Johnny doesn't mind the drawback, and Spike will just build their deck to account for it, because the effect is quite potent.
(2.5/3) Elegance - This can have a curious interaction with other Cases, since it does remain solved.

Development
(2.5/3) Viability - Blue could handle all of this, though black certainly feels appropriate flavorwise. Rare is correct.
(3/3) Balance - The surveil build around requirement should be sufficient to keep this in check.

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"?
(2.5/3) Flavor - I do feel like this should only be able to copy creatures or planeswalkers, but otherwise this is solid.

Polish
(2.5/3) Quality - This seems borderline potential microtext, as your solved ability is longer than the longest ability among current Cases, Case of the Pilfered Proof's Solved ability. The extra space Flash eats up doesn't help.
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - Indeed.
(1.5/2) Subchallenges - Fulfills SC1 to the understanding provided. Only fulfills the "3 or more card types" half of SC2.

Total: X/25
*An entry with 0 points here is subject to disqualification.
Lorn Asbord Schutta
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Design
(2/3) Appeal - Timmy does like the solved ability. There is some Johnny appeal. Spike is only going to have interest in this in multiplayer formats, and would prefer that instants and sorceries cast with it not end up back in their opponents' possession.
(2.5/3) Elegance - A bit fiddly, but not terribly complex.

Development
(1.5/3) Viability - White isn't really needed, but it is the color you'd run to try and force that solve condition. I believe this would be rare, not mythic. I also don't think this would be printed to allow you to cast any exiled instant or sorcery your opponents' own, just ones you've exiled with your own enchantments... or just this Case, more likely.
(2.5/3) Balance - This is horrible in 1v1 formats. I feel that the primary effect is severely overcosted, considering the hoops required to access the solved condition. The condition is much more achievable in multiplayer formats, but I feel this could still cost less with those in mind, especially since your opponents still get the card you cast back. Uba Mask comes to mind as the most comparable effect. This seems much less disruptive than the mask before it's solved.

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"?
(3/3) Flavor - Yeah, that works. Very much represents reading someone else's mail.

Polish
(1.5/3) Quality - First ability should be "If an opponent would draw a card, they exile the top card of their library instead." I don't believe the solve condition is how that should be worded. "Four or more cards exiled with enchantments you control are owned by your opponents." seems more probable. I suspect you don't need "If you would cast a spell this way". I lack a convenient way to test this card's wordiness, but what I can do, is compare this to Case of the Pilfered Proof, whose solved ability appears to be the wordiest of the existing ones. Your's is about 40% wordier than that, and the other abilities aren't particularly short.
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - Indeed.
(2/2) Subchallenges - Fulfills SC1 to the understanding provided. Fulfills both parts of SC2.

Total: X/25
*An entry with 0 points here is subject to disqualification.
haywire
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Design
(1.5/3) Appeal - Timmy likes gamey cards like this. I don't feel that this is a terribly compelling puzzle for Johnny. Spike is only going to play this if they can slip it in on an opponent's end step, as they'd rather avoid the tug-of-war entirely, and any situation where the opponent can't afford to steal it is one where Spike is already dominating.
(3/3) Elegance - Reasonable enough.

Development
(3/3) Viability - This is weird, in that I feel you could drop exactly one of these colors and have this still be fine, with dropping red being perhaps the most dubious. Rare is fine.
(2.5/3) Balance - In 1v1, this feels win more, at least win played fairly; you're only going to solve it when your opponent can't afford to take it back anymore. Less fairly, you just find a way to flash it in, or use some instant speed draw on your opponent's end step. In multiplayer, I feel like this may take awhile to pop off. The reward is absolutely worth 3 mana, but is it worth the hoops? Maybe.

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"?
(3/3) Flavor - Absolutely an effective execution of the trope.

Polish
(X/3) Quality - That first ability should be "If" not "whenever". The latter is used for triggered abilities, which this is clearly not intended to be.
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - Indeed.
(2/2) Subchallenges - SC1 is fulfilled. Both halves of SC2 are fulfilled.

Total: X/25
*An entry with 0 points here is subject to disqualification.

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