September MCC: Judge Signups

[void_nothing]

Banner based on Yawgmoth's Vile Offering by Noah Bradley and Wizards of the Coast. Thanks to bravelion83 for the "Core Set Style" MCC Logo

A new month has begin and thus it's time for another MCC! This means we'll need 3-4 judges to handle the contest. If you've judged before here or on MTGSalvation just post that you're interested. If you've never judged before, it's easy - there's a rubric ready for you to follow.

MCC Rubric

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Design
(X/3) Appeal - Do the different player psychographics (Timmy/Johhny/Spike) have a use for the card?
(X/3) Elegance - Is the card easily understandable at a glance? Do all the flavor and mechanics combined as a whole make sense?

Development
(X/3) Viability - How well does the card fit into the color wheel? Does it break or bend the rules of the game? Is it the appropriate rarity?
(X/3) Balance - Does the card have a power level appropriate for contemporary constructed/limited environments without breaking them? Does it play well in casual and multiplayer formats? Does it create or fit into a deck/archetype? Does it create an oppressive environment?

Creativity
(X/3) Uniqueness - Has a card like this ever been printed before? Does it use new mechanics, ideas, or design space? Does it combine old ideas in a new way? Overall, does it feel "fresh"?
(X/3) Flavor - Does the name seem realistic for a card? Does the flavor text sound professional? Do all the flavor elements synch together to please Vorthos players?

Polish
(X/3) Quality - Points deducted for incorrect spelling, grammar, and templating.
(X/2) Main Challenge (*) - Was the main challenge satisfied? Was it approached in a unique or interesting way? Does the card fit the intent of the challenge?
(X/2) Subchallenges - One point awarded per satisfied subchallenge condition.

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

New judges, please judge the following card according to the rubric:

SPOILER

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Tsunami Arc GUR
Sorcery (C)
This spell can't be countered.
You gain 2 life.
Scry 2.
Tsunami Arc deals 2 damage to any target. The damage can't be prevented.

[bravelion83]

Thanks to bravelion83 for the "Core Set Style" MCC Logo

You're welcome. If you need, I have it as its own image file in all the most common image formats, with transparent background in those formats that allow it. I also have similar ones for the CCL and DCC. I have actually made them to be the expansion symbols for my MSE files (I have a different MSE file for each contest), it's only then that I thought that they could also have other uses, and I used the MCC one on both my custom banners for July on MTGSalvation and August here. If you notice, the two banners, the last one on MTGSalvation and the first one here, had the same elements, including that logo, and mirrored each other in their structure, changing only in the main color. That was totally intentional and intended to be a representation of the mirrored themes: the end (July, with a black banner, black is clearly associated with the end for obvious reasons) and the beginning (August, with a green one, green as the color of hope and luck, at least that's like that in Italy). Ok, I've digressed as usual. If you need the image files just let me know.

Back on topic, as promised, I will judge this month too.

[void_nothing]

We'll need at least one more judge. At this rate it's likely we'll need two more.

[slimytrout]

If it gets really desperate then I would be willing to drop my entry and judge instead -- just let me know and I will put together a judging for the test card.

[void_nothing]

If it gets really desperate then I would be willing to drop my entry and judge instead -- just let me know and I will put together a judging for the test card.

Please consider doing so? I'd be glad to judge your entry out of competition as well.

[slimytrout]

Yeah, I can do that, and no need to judge my entry -- I don't think it was my best showing anyway. May or may not get to the trial judging tonight, but if not will do it tomorrow morning.

P.S.: I'm a little confused about how I should address the main challenge/subchallenges section, since the card pretty clearly wasn't actually designed for the challenge and would properly earn a DQ, but that seems to kind of defeat the point...

[void_nothing]

Oh, don't take this month's challenge into account at all when judging the sample card. They've always been random designs that have nothing to do with the monthly challenge, as not to take an idea away from an actual entrant.

Just ignore the challenge-related sections and judge only Design, Development, Creativity, and Quality. I should have specified that initially.

[slimytrout]

Sample Judging

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Appeal: 2/3
Spike basically likes it, since it's got plenty of riders and effects for them to get an edge with. Timmy is fine with it, but would likely prefer one bigger, splashier effect to a couple smaller ones. Johnny doesn't love it either, but the uncounterability and the scry give him something to like.

Elegance: 3/3
Three colors, three abilities, all with the number "2," plus a rider that only those three colors can have: full points.

Viability: 2/3
Effects are on-color, but the rarity is off. There's never been a common "can't be countered" spell, and there's only been one common RUG spell (Snowhorn Rider, a simple 5/5 trample with morph). Even disregarding that, you don't usually get three separate effects on a common. This pretty much needs to be an uncommon – too complex for common and too weak for rare.

Balance: 2.5/3
For a three-color card, it's a little on the weak side, even for limited. If the format were *very* multicolor friendly then this would see play, but it could use a little more oomph.

Uniqueness: 1.5/3
All of these effects (other than perhaps the uncounterability) are pretty boilerplate stuff that you'd see every set. Admittedly, they aren't usually all combined this way, but that's mostly just because there aren't that many 3-color sets. So some points for combining things that haven't been combined before, but it's not in a terribly novel way.

Flavor: 1.5/3
"Tsunami Arc" doesn't really tell me much about the card, and the lack of flavor text means that there's nothing to make up the difference. I could see WotC naming a card this, but they'd have something more to make the flavor work. (Also, "Tsunami Arc" is a blue, or perhaps blue/red name – I don't see the green in it.)

Quality: 3/3
Almost took off half a point for scry not having reminder text at common, but then noticed that it's lost it recently outside of core sets (Samut's Sprint), so full points.

[void_nothing]

Job well done! Thank you very kindly for volunteering and welcome to the team.