October MCC Round 2 - The next chapter

[bravelion83]

(This month's banner is my own elaboration on the art of the card Into the Story by Jason Rainville.)

October MCC Round 2

The next chapter

So, now you've travelled through the wilds, visited the five courts, and filled your stomach. You've written your first chapter, and now it's time to write the next chapter of your own story on Eldraine. But no chapter is equal to any other in a story! So, let's try something different now! The choice is once more up to you. What will be the next chapter of your story?

Main Challenge - Choose one of the following. You cannot choose the same option you chose in Round 1. Be careful because you will literally make your own adventure on Eldraine this month: your choices in each round will be tracked and will influence future rounds. Please see clarifications, especially the "additional rule".

Pay attention: the card types have been rotated among the different options! Only the "Adventure" option has remained the same as Round 1.

• Adventure - Design a creature card that has an adventure.
• Adamant - Design a noncreature artifact, noncreature enchantment, or planeswalker card with adamant. No Tribal cards (like those from Lorwyn).
• Food - Design an instant or sorcery card that creates Food tokens or uses Food as a cost.
• Knights - Design a noncreature artifact, noncreature enchantment, or planeswalker card that mechanically cares about your Knights. No Tribal cards (like those from Lorwyn).

Subchallenge 1 - Your card is exactly monocolored and does not share any colors with your card from Round 1.

Subchallenge 2 - Your card mentions in its flavor text all the virtues of all the Eldraine courts corresponding to its colors.

Clarifications

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Main Challenge

• You cannot mix and match the options.

• You can mix and match the four referenced mechanics from Throne of Eldraine though, as long as the overall card meets one of the options.

• ADDITIONAL RULE: If somehow your card meets more than one option at the same time, you MUST choose one specific option that you're going for this round and you MUST mention your chosen option in your submission post. If you don't do this, your submission will NOT count and your card DQ'ed. This rule is necessary for the proper continuation of this MCC month. Please, please, don't make me actually do this! I did say please!
If your card only meets one option, that's automatically your chosen option. You CAN mention it in your submission post, but your submission will still count if you don't.
To be sure, it's advisable that you mention your chosen option anyway. You will never be DQ'ed for that in any case, and you don't want to take the risk of not realizing that your card unwillingly meets a second option and you get DQ'ed for not mentioning which of the options you were going for, though it was obvious to you. But I and the other judges are not telepaths, we can't see what was in your mind as you designed your card, so, again, please don't make me DQ cards for this! I really don't want to!
Please note: this is a specific exception to the "don't post anything in your submission post except for the text card and an optional render" rule for this round, and counts only for mentioning the chosen option. If you post any other additional content in your submission post that is not your chosen option, normal rules apply and you WILL be penalized.

• If you're wondering, yes, the rotation among options not being perfect is intentional, and actually just due to the fact that Adventures can't be on instant and sorceries.

Main Challenge option-specific clarifications

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Adventure

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• Your card must be a creature, that is have the "creature" card type on its type line. It can have other additional card types though. For example, an artifact creature is fine.

• Your card must have an adventure. A creature that doesn't have an adventure doesn't count for this option.

• A noncreature card (that's a card that doesn't have the card type "creature" on its type line) doesn't count for this option, regardless of whether it can turn into a creature and of whether it has an adventure or not.

• Q: How should I format my adventurer card?
A: Just like if it were a split card. Write the creature part as a normal text card, then add a separator below it (a double forward slash, //, is advised), and then write the Adventure part as it would be written on the left side of a real adventurer card's text box. In the Adventure part, don't forget the "Adventure" subtype and not only you can not put rarity in, but you should not. On real adventurer cards, there is no colored expansion symbol on the type line of the Adventure part.

For example, Flaxen Intruder would be written out like follows.

Flaxen Intruder G
Creature — Human Berserker (U)
Whenever Flaxen Intruder deals combat damage to a player, you may sacrifice it. When you do, destroy target artifact or enchantment.
The middle blade was just right.
1/2

//

Welcome Home 5GG
Sorcery — Adventure
Create three 2/2 green Bear creature tokens. (Then exile this card. You may cast the creature later from exile.)

Adamant

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• Your card must NOT be a creature or tribal, that is NOT have the "creature" or "tribal" card types on its type line. It must be an artifact, enchantment, and/or planeswalker, that is have the "artifact", "enchantment", or "planeswalker" card types on its type line. It can have other additional card types though. For example, an "Enchantment Artifact", like the weapons of the gods from original Theros, is fine.

• A creature card (that's a card that has the card type "creature" on its type line) doesn't count for this option, regardless of whether it has additional card types, or of whether it can turn into a noncreature. Notably, an "Artifact Creature" or "Enchantment Creature" does NOT count for this option.

• No, the Tribal card type is not allowed. A "Tribal Artifact – Knight" does NOT count for this option.

• Your card must have adamant. An card that doesn't have adamant doesn't count for this option even if it has one or more of the required card types.

• A card that doesn't have one of the required card types on its type line doesn't count for this option, regardless of whether it has adamant or not.

Food

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• Your card must be an instant or sorcery, that is have the "instant" or "sorcery" card type on its type line.

• Your card must either create Food tokens as an effect or use Food as a cost. Anything else doesn't count for this option.

• "Using Food as a cost" means having to sacrifice Food as an additional or alternative cost to cast your instant or sorcery.

• Your card can have both an effect that creates Food tokens and a cost that uses Food.

• It has to be a cost or effect of the card itself, not something granted to other things. For example, "Creature spells cost an additional 'Sacrifice a Food' to cast" doesn't count for this option because it's not a cost or effect of the card itself.

• A card that's not an instant and not a sorcery (that is a card that has none of those card types on its type line) doesn't count for this option, regardless of whether it creates Food tokens/uses Food as a cost or not.

Knights

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• Your card must NOT be a creature or tribal, that is NOT have the "creature" or "tribal" card types on its type line. It must be an artifact, enchantment, and/or planeswalker, that is have the "artifact", "enchantment", or "planeswalker" card types on its type line. It can have other additional card types though. For example, an "Enchantment Artifact", like the weapons of the gods from original Theros, is fine.

• A creature card (that's a card that has the card type "creature" on its type line) doesn't count for this option, regardless of whether it has additional card types, of whether it can turn into a noncreature, and of whether it has a Knight tribal mechanic or not. Notably, an "Artifact Creature" or "Enchantment Creature" does NOT count for this option.

• No, the Tribal card type is not allowed. A "Tribal Artifact – Knight" does NOT count for this option.

• Your card must have an ability that cares about Knights you control. A card that doesn't have such an ability doesn't count for this option. It might count for the "Adamant" option though.

• "Caring about other Knights of yours" means interacting with one or more Knight creatures on your side of the battlefield or Knight cards you own in any zone other than the battlefield. The interaction can be anything you can think of, doesn't matter whether positive or negative, even if I don't know why you would want to interact in a negative way with your own Knights.

• The interaction, whatever it is, has to specifically include your own Knights. For example, "Knights your opponents control get -1/-1" doesn't meet this option, while "All Knights get +1/+1" does, because it includes your own Knights too. "Target Knight gets +1/+1 until end of turn" also counts, because it can target your Knights, even though it can also target other players' ones. "Search your library for a Knight card" also counts, as you're taking your own Knights out of it. You essentially have to ask yourself: "can this affect one or more of my own Knights on the battlefield or my own Knight cards anywhere else?"

• If your card grants a bonus to "target Knight", it must be able to target one or more Knights you control. All that matters is that it can target one or more Knights if there are on your side of the battlefield. Of course, you can just say "target Knight you control" and have none of these problems.

Subchallenge 1

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• Your card has to meet two conditions:
- It must be monocolored, that is have only one color of mana in its mana cost. We're looking specifically at the mana cost here, not the color identity of the card. Colorless cards and multicolored cards (both traditional gold and hybrid) automatically fail this subchallenge.
- It can't have any of the colors of your card from Round 1. No need to quote your card from Round 1, I'm tracking everything myself (see the list of players below).

• If only one condition is met, the card does NOT satisfy this subchallenge. Both have to be met at the same time.

• This round, off-color symbols in rules text are allowed.

• Traditional hybrid mana (like {R/W}), anywhere on the card, automatically fails this subchallenge (it's not monocolored).

• Monocolored hybrid (so-called "two-brid", like {2/W}) passes this subchallenge, because, well... monocolored hybrid is monocolored! That's as long as you haven't already used that color in Round 1.

Subchallenge 2

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• This subchallenge obviously requires that flavor text is there in the first place. Cards without flavor text automatically fail this subchallenge.

• To see if this subchallenge is met, check your card's mana cost and note all the colors in it. Then, look at the flavor text. All the virtues of all the Eldraine courts that correspond to the noted colors must be there.

• You can also mention the name of the courts, but what counts this round for this subchallenge is the virtues.

• You can use the plural (saying for example: "The strengths of a Garenbrig knight are their muscles, their weapons, and their souls."), but NOT any other derived words. It must literally be the specific word, with its specific meaning and spelling.

• Remember the colors, names, and virtues of the five courts of Eldraine:
- The white court is Ardenvale, and it's about loyalty.
- The blue court is Vantress, and it's about knowledge.
- The black court is Locthwain, and it's about persistence.
- The red court is Embereth, and it's about courage.
- The green court is Garenbrig, and it's about strength.

• The card does not have to be set specifically on Eldraine. If you find a way to mention the virtues while setting your card on another plane, you can technically do it. This subchallenge only cares about whether the virtue words are there, not about which plane your card is set on.

• Your card can mention virtues corresponding to colors the card is not, as long as all the ones corresponding to your card's actual colors are also mentioned.

• If your card is multicolored, all the virtues corresponding to its colors must be there. For example, a Boros-colored card (just a random example...) has to mention both "courage" and "loyalty" in the flavor text. In addition to that, it can also mention "knowledge", "persistence", and/or "strength".

• This subchallenge only specifically looks at the flavor text. If the virtue is mentioned in the card name but not in the flavor text, it doesn't count. Of course, you can still just mention it in both.

If you have any other question that are not included in this (admittedly already long) spoiler, feel free to ask in the discussion thread.

DEADLINES

Design deadline: Tuesday, October 15th 23:59 EDT

Judging deadline: Friday, October 18th 23:59 EDT


RUBRIC

MCC Rubric

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

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

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

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

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

JUDGES

bravelion83
Gateways7
Blydden


PLAYERS

Next to the name of each player I've reported the options available to them to pass the Main Challenge and the colors available to them to pass Subchallenge 1.

Dragonlover
Available options: Adventure, Adamant, Food
Available colors: WUBR

Flatline
Available options: Adamant, Food, Knights
Available colors: WURG

Henlock
Available options: Adamant, Food, Knights
Available colors: UBRG

Ink-Treader
Available options: Adventure, Adamant, Knights
Available colors: WUBR

Krishnath
Available options: Adventure, Adamant, Knights
Available colors: WURG

marioguy3
Available options: Adventure, Adamant, Knights
Available colors: WBRG

netn10
Available options:Adamant, Food, Knights
Available colors: UBRG

RaikouRider
Available options: Adventure, Food, Knights
Available colors: WBRG

Sagharri
Available options: Adventure, Food, Knights
Available colors: WURG

slimytrout
Available options: Adventure, Adamant, Food
Available colors: WBRG

Subject16
Available options: Adamant, Food, Knights
Available colors: WUBG

The_Hittite
Available options: Adamant, Food, Knights
Available colors: WURG

void_nothing
Available options: Adamant, Food, Knights
Available colors: WUBR


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.
Please check out the MCC Guidelines and FAQ if you have the will and time. Link here and in my signature. 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.


BRACKETS

Krishnath didn't submit a card.

Judge: bravelion83
Dragonlover
Ink-Treader
Subject16
The_Hittite

Judge: Gateways7
netn10
RaikouRider
slimytrout
void_nothing

Judge: Blydden
Flatline
Henlock
marioguy3
Sagharri

Top 2 from each bracket advance.

[marioguy3]

Option: Adament

Pool for the Youth
Artifact (Uncommon)
As long as it's not your turn, creatures you control get +2/+2.
Adament — When Pool for the Youth enters the battlefield, if at least three white mana was spent to cast it, you gain 3 life.
The castle of Ardenvale believes that loyalty is best created through preserving the bodies and minds of the young.

[slimytrout]

Option: Adventure

Deliverance Giant 5WW
Creature - Giant (MR)
When Deliverance Giant enters the battlefield, your life total becomes the highest life total among all players.
Sometimes, loyalty is just coming back.
6/6
//
Timely Return 2W
Instant - Adventure
Until end of turn, damage that would reduce your life total to less than 1 reduces it to 1 instead. (Then exile this card. You may cast the creature later from exile.)

[void_nothing]

Dwarven War Formation 4R
Enchantment (R)
Adamant - When Dwarven War Formation enters the battlefield, if three or more red mana was spent to cast it, create two 1/1 red Dwarf creature tokens.
At the beginning of combat on your turn, target creature you control gets +X/+0 and gains menace until end of turn, where X is the number of other creatures you control.
"Take courage and charge! They can never stop all of us!" - Thane Torbran

[netn10]

First round - White Adventure
Second Round - Green Food

Garenbrig's Royal Feast 4G
Sorcery (Rare)
Create three food tokens.
Until end of turn, whenever you gain life, put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control and draw a card.
"There is a strength in feasting with your fellow knights, one that you can't find even in the strongest swords of Ardenvale or the most potent spells of Vantress."
- Yoraz, Royal Chef

[Subject16]

Round 1: Red Adventure
Round 2: Blue Knights

Chasing the Truth 2U
Enchantment (Uncommon)
Whenever one or more Knights you control enter the battlefield or attack, draw a card.
Whenever you draw your second card each turn, target creature you control gains flying until end of turn.
"The pursuit of knowledge will take us to new heights."
-Syr Galamede of Vantress

[Dragonlover]

Round 1: Green Knights
Round 2: Red Food

Food Fight 2R
Instant (U)
Create a Food token, then deal damage to target creature equal to the number of Food tokens you control.
Sometimes, courage is keeping your head high after a pie to the face.

[The_Hittite]

Knights

Chivalrous Charge 3R
Enchantment (U)
Creatures you control get +1/+0.
Knights you control have trample and haste and attack each combat if able.
If there's a difference between "courage" and "recklessness," the knights of Embereth don't know it.

[Ink-Treader]

Round 1: Green Food
Round 2: Adamant

Pursuing Portents 3U
Enchantment (U)
Adamant - When Pursuing Portents enters the battlefield, if at least three blue mana was spent to cast it, up to three target creatures you control can't be blocked until end of turn.
Whenever a creature you control deals combat damage to a player, scry 1.
Rumors, prophecies, legends - no knowledge could be overlooked in search of the Cauldron of Eternity.

[Sagharri]

Food

Vantress Banquet 1UU
Sorcery (U)
Each player creates a Food token, then draw a card for each token created this way.
Banquet means rumors and rumors mean knowledge.

[Flatline]

Mark of the Worthy 1w
Enchantment (U)
Flash
When Mark of the Worthy enters the battlefield, tap up to two target creatures.
Whenever a Knight you control deals combat damage to a player, if it doesn't have a +1/+1 counter on it, put a +1/+1 counter on it.
Those that recognize the mark of the knights of Ardenvale, know enough to stand aside while they pass.

[RaikouRider]

Round 2 option: Black/Food

Skewer B
Sorcery {U}
Destroy target creature. Its controller creates a Food token. (It's an artifact with "2, T, Sacrifice this artifact: You gain 3 life.")
"You didn't think I was going to hand your foe to you on a silver platter?"

[Henlock]

Welcome to the Feast 2gg
Sorcery (r)
Create a Food token for each creature you control.
Whenever you sacrifice a Food this turn, you may put a +1/+1 counter on target creature.
Strenght in numbers is a fine approach for setting the table.

[bravelion83]

The round is closed. Krishnath didn't submit a card. Brackets are as follows.

BRACKETS

Judge: bravelion83
Dragonlover
Ink-Treader
Subject16
The_Hittite

Judge: Gateways7
netn10
RaikouRider
slimytrout
void_nothing

Judge: Blydden
Flatline
Henlock
marioguy3
Sagharri

Top 2 from each bracket advance.

Judges, good work. You know where to find me if you need anything.

---

Judgments complete.

Dragonlover

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Round 1: Green Knights
Round 2: Red Food

Food Fight 2R
Instant (U)
Create a Food token, then deal damage to target creature equal to the number of Food tokens you control.
Sometimes, courage is keeping your head high after a pie to the face.

Design
Appeal 1.5/3 - Timmy likes cards that can affect the board in a spectacular way! He still doesn't like his creatures dying out of that though. If this card could have targeted players too, Johnny could have tried something like creating an absurd number of Food tokens somehow and then use this as a finisher, but as is I'm not sure how much he can do with it. This is removal, and Spike will always like that.
Elegance 2.5/3 - Having the word "Fight" in the name without having the actual fight mechanic (see Flavor) also impacts here too. No problems except for that though.
Development
Viability 1.5/3 - I feel like Food tokens are a bend in red, justifiable only because it's one of the main themes of the set. Rarity is fine. There are also rules problems here: damage needs to have a source (also see Quality).
Balance 2/3 - What you lose in Appeal by targeting only creatures, you gain back here. Picturing this with many Food tokens does look like a dangerous scenario if this card had the ability to also hit players, and it's not that hard to do. I've seen ELD limited decks managing to reliably keep five or six Food tokens on the battlefield, if not more, at any given time. But it's also true that this looks maybe a bit too weak to me. Maybe it could have said "target creature or planeswalker"? Obviously, this reasoning is actually relevant mostly in constructed, as in limited this is removal and you'd just play it, period. It's even splashable! A limited BG Food deck could totally splash red just for this card. In constructed, I can't see this played as is. In my opinion, it would need to hit players too or at the very least planeswalkers to do. No particular problems in casual or multiplayer.
Creativity
Uniqueness 2.5/3 - No cards in ELD deal damage based on Food tokens. Also, this is a card that uses Food as a resource but doesn't require you to sacrifice the tokens. This is new too, though nothing groundbreaking.
Flavor 2.5/3 - Humorous, but still not too silly for black border in my opinion. I like that kind of humor on cards like this. Everything makes sense together. My only remark is that it feels a little strange to have a card with "Fight" in the name that does not have the fight mechanic. I get that you wanted to keep the pun in the name, but in that case, I would have totally tried to find a way to use the fight mechanic on this card.
Polish
Quality 1.5/3 - This is not a mythic without room for it, so reminder text for Food tokens is needed (-0.5). The source of the damage is missing: in "then deal damage..., what's dealing the damage? All damage must have an object as its source, and no, "you" as a player can't be a source of damage yourself. It needs to be a game object. This is a functional mistake, so -1.
Main Challenge 2/2 - Good.
Subchallenges 2/2 - Both met.
TOTAL 18/25

Ink-Treader

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Round 1: Green Food
Round 2: Adamant

Pursuing Portents 3U
Enchantment (U)
Adamant - When Pursuing Portents enters the battlefield, if at least three blue mana was spent to cast it, up to three target creatures you control can't be blocked until end of turn.
Whenever a creature you control deals combat damage to a player, scry 1.
Rumors, prophecies, legends - no knowledge could be overlooked in search of the Cauldron of Eternity.

Design
Appeal 2/3 - Timmy likes making his creatures unblockable, but I don't think he cares too much about the scry and he would probably prefer his win condition to also be a creature. Johnny can use the scry, but this is not really a card for him. Spike likes every part of this card.
Elegance 3/3 - No problems here.
Development
Viability 2/3 - No problems with the color pie. I'd probably see this card better at rare: good potential as a finisher, and repeatable scry to improve the quality of your draws. If the scry ability had said "Whenever one or more creatures...", so that it would have triggered only once on your attack regardless of the number of attacking creatures, I would have seen it better at uncommon. As is, I feel like it sits exactly at the border line between uncommon and rare, and I'm not convinced it would actually be uncommon if it were to be printed for real.
Balance 3/3 - In limited, you'll play this most of the time, the adamant ability in particular is an excellent way to break stalls. In constructed, the scry ability will probably be more relevant, and two other things are important here. First, the synergy between the abilities, with the first making creatures unblockable so that they will trigger the second ability regardless of your opponent's defenses. Second, this enchantment does something right as it hits the battlefield, which we all know is a very important thing for a card to see competitive constructed play, but the fact that it's something that requires other cards to be fully effective is a point against that. Overall, this card looks rather balanced to me. No problems in casual or multiplayer.
Creativity
Uniqueness 1.5/3 - There is only a single thing that's new here: in ELD, there are no adamant abilities making creatures unblockable. A technically new but really very easy design space to go to. All the rest are things we see every set.
Flavor 3/3 - No problems here. The name is good, and the flavor text is a clear reference to the Holy Graal, the real world inspiration for The Cauldron of Eternity on Eldraine. Good.
Polish
Quality 2.5/3 - It should say "...can't be blocked this turn", not "until end of turn" (recent example: Ashiok's Skulker, -0.5).
Main Challenge 2/2 - Good.
Subchallenges 2/2 - Both met.
TOTAL 21/25

Subject16

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Round 1: Red Adventure
Round 2: Blue Knights

Chasing the Truth 2U
Enchantment (Uncommon)
Whenever one or more Knights you control enter the battlefield or attack, draw a card.
Whenever you draw your second card each turn, target creature you control gains flying until end of turn.
"The pursuit of knowledge will take us to new heights."
-Syr Galamede of Vantress

Design
Appeal 2.5/3 - Timmy likes to give evasion to his biggest creatures, but I feel like he doesn't care too much about the rest. Johnny and Spike, at the contrary, are both big fans of repeatable card draw, to dig for pieces the former and to get card advantage the latter.
Elegance 3/3 - No problems here.
Development
Viability 3/3 - No problems with the color pie or rarity.
Balance 2.5/3 - The first ability will always trigger the second, as both a Knight entering the battlefield and attacking are things that happen on your turn, when you've already drawn your card for the turn during your draw step. Luckily (for an uncommon) you will have this happen on your turn only once, thanks to the first ability saying "one or more" and the second only triggering out of the second card you draw and not the third, fourth, and so on. If not on your turn, you will have to find a way to draw two cards at instant speed, and the reward will be giving flying to one single blocker for one single turn. In limited, it's in the wrong color to be taken advantage of by Knight decks, unless they are willing to splash blue for this, which is possible. And anyway, the second ability is useful to everybody playing blue, not just Knight tribal decks. If this will see competitive constructed play, it will be for the draw ability. Not a given, but also not impossible. No problems in casual or multiplayer.
Creativity
Uniqueness 1/3 - Nothing new here. Even the "enters or attacks" trigger is something we've seen before on a memorable cycle (the Titans). Yes, this is just another case of old elements put together in a technically new way.
Flavor 3/3 - I have no problems with the name. The flavor text is just a pun, but one that I could definitely see printed for real. The "truth" being represented by drawing cards and "the new heights" by the Jump ability makes sense. Overall, maybe not exceptional, but still definitely good enough to get full points here.
Polish
Quality 3/3 - The only detail here is the hyphen in the attribution technically needs to be a em dash (—, ALT+0151 in Windows), but that doesn't feel like enough to me to deduct points by itself. If I were using quarters of points, which I don't, I might have considered a deduction of 0.25 points here.
Main Challenge 2/2 - Good.
Subchallenges 2/2 - Both met.
TOTAL 22/25

The_Hittite

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Knights

Chivalrous Charge 3R
Enchantment (U)
Creatures you control get +1/+0.
Knights you control have trample and haste and attack each combat if able.
If there's a difference between "courage" and "recklessness," the knights of Embereth don't know it.

Design
Appeal 2.5/3 - Timmy is in love with this card. The only downside is something he wants to do anyway! Maybe Johnny could use the haste in some tap/untap engine? Maybe... Spike likes an anthem that can act as the top end of a go-wide aggro deck.
Elegance 3/3 - No problems here.
Development
Viability 3/3 - No problems with the color pie or rarity.
Balance 2.5/3 - In limited, you'd probably play one of these if you're in a Knight archetype containing red, but I honestly don't see myself playing more than one. The power-pumping ability working with any creatures, not just Knights, makes this playable by non-Knight decks too, even though they won't be able to maximize this. Still, I think that +1/+0 to your whole team is something any red aggro deck likes, again, as their top end. Not sure about this in constructed. The effects are desirable for a Knight deck or any red aggro deck but I'm not sure this is what a constructed aggro or midrange deck wants to spend four mana on. I see no problems in casual or multiplayer.
Creativity
Uniqueness 1/3 - Nothing new here. Again, this is just yet another case of old elements put together in a technically new way.
Flavor 3/3 - The name is good, I just love the flavor text, and they both make perfect sense with the mechanics.
Polish
Quality 3/3 - All good.
Main Challenge 2/2 - Good.
Subchallenges 2/2 - Both met.
TOTAL 22/25

Results (bold advance)

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Subject16: 22
The_Hittite: 22
Ink-Treader: 21
Dragonlover: 18

[Blydden]

(holder) All done!

Flatline

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Mark of the Worthy 1w
Enchantment (U)
Flash
When Mark of the Worthy enters the battlefield, tap up to two target creatures.
Whenever a Knight you control deals combat damage to a player, if it doesn't have a +1/+1 counter on it, put a +1/+1 counter on it.
Those that recognize the mark of the knights of Ardenvale, know enough to stand aside while they pass.

Design -
(2/3) Appeal: Spike likes this card's baseline versatility combined with its payoff potential.
Timmy loves attacking with his creatures to make them bigger.
Johnny doesn't like this card very much as it is too reactive to effectively build around.
(2.5/3) Elegance: This card has nine total lines of text when rendered, which constitutes an inelegance due to sheer wordiness.

Development -
(3/3) Viability: This card is suitably both White and Uncommon.
(3/3) Balance: This card seems very fair while being suitably powerful as an Uncommon, especially in Limited. It is mediocre without any Knights, but if even just one Knight can connect (especially one with a relevant keyword like first strike or vigilance), then it is definitely worth casting.

Creativity -
(1.5/3) Uniqueness: White is known for tapping creatures at Instant speed. The last line of rules text does most of the work for this criterion.
(1.5/3) Flavor: The mechanical flavor of this card is top-notch. However, a bland card name and overly wordy flavor text let the rest of the flavor down significantly. Again, the card name is generic, which fits poorly with how specific the mechanical flavor of the card is. Similarly, I cannot think of a way to reword the flavor text without it still being mere exposition, so I would rewrite it entirely.

Polish -
(3/3) Quality: Pefect!
(2/2) Main Challenge: Knightly!
(1/2) Subchallenges: Subchallenge 1 met!
As for Subchallenge 2, while the flavor text does mention "Ardenvale", it does not mention the word 'loyalty'.

Total: 19.5/25
Final thought: White has a lot of marks.

Henlock

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Welcome to the Feast 2gg
Sorcery (r)
Create a Food token for each creature you control.
Whenever you sacrifice a Food this turn, you may put a +1/+1 counter on target creature.
Strenght in numbers is a fine approach for setting the table.

Design -
(2/3) Appeal: Johnny and Timmy both like this big effect that is easy to build around. This effect is otherwise too slow for Spike to be interested.
(2.5/3) Elegance: There is a minor memory issue with the second line of rules text, which constitutes an inelegance.

Development -
(3/3) Viability: Indeed, creating lots of Food and possibly +1/+1 counters seems both Green and Rare to me.
(3/3) Balance: It is pretty easy to create two or three Foods if you are playing this card on curve in a Green deck. Getting the most use out of the Food without mana flood is the tricky part. Some cards that come to mind include Feasting Troll King, Giant Opportunity, Savvy Hunter, and Wicked Wolf. None of these combinations seem overpowered to me.

Creativity -
(1.5/3) Uniqueness: Throne of Eldraine has passed a lot of Food around the Magic table, but not quite like this. Encouraging players to figure out unique ways to sacrifice Food helps with this criterion as well.
(2/3) Flavor: I love the card name, and the mechanical flavor tastes perfect to me.
The main issue with this card is the flavor text. I don't want a "fine" approach for setting a metaphorical table; I want a similar boisterousness from the flavor text!

Polish -
(1.5/3) Quality: In the flavor text, the word "strenght" is misspelled and should be 'strength' (minus half a point).
This card is also missing the necessary Food reminder text at the end of the first line of rules text (minus one point). (Food tokens are artifacts with ", , Sacrifice this artifact: You gain 3 life.")
(2/2) Main Challenge: Delicious!
(1.5/2) Subchallenges: Subchallenge 1 met!
As for Subchallenge 2, the word 'strength' has been misspelled as "strenght", so while the spirit of the subchallenge was met, the letter of it was not.

Total: 19/25
Final thought: A tasty feast is still a welcoming feast, even with a misspelled welcome sign.

marioguy3

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Pool for the Youth
Artifact (Uncommon)
As long as it's not your turn, creatures you control get +2/+2.
Adament — When Pool for the Youth enters the battlefield, if at least three white mana was spent to cast it, you gain 3 life.
The castle of Ardenvale believes that loyalty is best created through preserving the bodies and minds of the young.

Design -
(0.5/3) Appeal: Spike dislikes this card because the effect is too defensive to leverage for the intended deck.
For Johnny, this is a Sorcery-speed card that only works on other player's turns, so not a great build around.
For Timmy, I could imagine him liking this card because it is both different and especially defensive in multiplayer.
(2/3) Elegance: Remembering effects that are only relevant during other player's turns can be difficult. Otherwise, this card is relatively straightforward.

Development -
(1.5/3) Viability: This card is definitely White. However, this card's first line of rules text belongs on a Rare, unlike the card's second line of rules text which belongs on a Common.
Moreover, the first line of rules text potentially being so impactful only on other player's turns is a viability bend.
(1/3) Balance: For White specifically, this is the kind of permanent that can have Flash. Otherwise, this card does not function very well without it. This card overly punishes aggressive decks while doing very little against much of anything else. For better or worse, this becomes more and more like a true anthem in multiplayer.

Creativity -
(2/3) Uniqueness: There are plenty of cards in Throne of Eldraine with Adamant that gain life, either through Food or otherwise. There are a couple of cards similar to this one as well, like Force of Virtue and Dictate of Heliod.
(0.5/3) Flavor: This card's flavor is all over the place. I do not like the card name; it is overly wordy for no adequate reason. I don't fully understand why this card is an artifact, rather than an enchantment. As far as I can tell, it mechanically emphasizes the value of defensiveness, rather than loyalty.
Lastly, the flavor text, which is also overly wordy, does not make much sense for the castle it is referencing. It makes more sense for another castle such as Locthwain.

Polish -
(1.5/3) Quality: The word 'Adamant' has been misspelled as "Adament" and has not been italicized either (minus one and a half points).
(2/2) Main Challenge: Adamant!
(2/2) Subchallenges: Both subchallenges met!

Total: 13/25
Final thoughts: Does this card better depict a Fountain of Youth or a swimming pool? No wrong answer as far as I can tell.

Sagharri

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Vantress Banquet 1UU
Sorcery (U)
Each player creates a Food token, then draw a card for each token created this way.
Banquet means rumors and rumors mean knowledge.

Design -
(1.5/3) Appeal: Each player psychographic likes this card, since they all like cards that draw cards. Timmy also likes that each player around the table gets something positive out of this card as well.
(2/3) Elegance: This card only has one line of rules text, but it still required me to read it multiple times. The main issue is that it is a little unclear who is drawing the cards after the tokens are created. Clauses like 'then you draw a card…' or 'then target player draws a card…' would have been clearer.

Development -
(3/3) Viability: This card is definitely Blue and as well as Uncommon.
(1/3) Balance: This card is fair in any two-player game, but it quickly scales up to be ridiculous in multiplayer. You can draw four cards in a game of Two-Headed Giant or potentially more in Commander for three mana. This is easy to get away with because a Food token far from equals the value of a card.

Creativity -
(1/3) Uniqueness: Throne of Eldraine still has plenty of Food to go around, but every single set has Blue card draw effects.
(2/3) Flavor: This card has a great mechanical flavor and a decent card name, but the flavor text feels incomplete. It is missing something; it needs some more intrigue about enemies feasting together before battle, or something to that effect.

Polish -
(1.5/3) Quality: In the flavor text, "Banquet means" should be 'Banquets mean' for plural agreement (minus half a point).
This card is also missing the necessary Food reminder text at the end of its rules text (minus one point). (Food tokens are artifacts with ", , Sacrifice this artifact: You gain 3 life.")
(2/2) Main Challenge: Delicious!
(2/2) Subchallenges: Both subchallenges met!

Total: 16/25
Final thought: Even Food depicted within Custom Magic cards seems to make me feel famished!

Results!

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Flatline - 19.5
Henlock - 19
Sagharri - 16
marioguy3 - 13

If your username has been bolded here, congratulations are in order — you have qualified for Round 3 of the October MCC! Best of luck!
If your username has not been bolded here, there is always next month. Thank you for competing; best of luck next month!

[Gateways7]

net10

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Design
(2/3) Appeal - Do the different player psychographics (Timmy/Johnny/Spike) have a use for the card?
Timmy can probably use some lifegain triggers to boost a massive army of creatures with this, Johnny can probably use this as a part of some infinite-lifegain combo or just general lifegain synergy, but I don't think Spike really has a use for it.

(3/3) Elegance - Is the card easily understandable at a glance? Do all the flavor and mechanics combined as a whole make sense?
Yep! This is very easy to understand, both mechanically and flavorfully.

Development
(2.5/3) 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?
The food tokens are definitely green, but having that kind of lifegain trigger (especially the drawing cards part) feels more white, blue, black, or all three than green. That said, the rarity is good, and it works well within the rules of the game.

(2/3) 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?
I think that it's honestly a little weak - if you want to be able to crack the Food tokens on the same turn, it's going to cost 7 mana to put a +1/+1 counter on everything and draw a card, or 9 to put two counters and draw two cards. There's a lot of setup that has to go into making this good, and if you're at the point where you can setup that much, you can probably win the game already. That said, I think there's a fun deck that could be built around this card, so I'm not entirely down on it.

Creativity
(2.5/3) 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"?
We've seen a lot of cards with a lifegain trigger to put +1/+1 counters on a creature, but never on a non-permanent before, and never extending to all of your creatures while also drawing you a card, so I think this is pretty unique!

(3/3) 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?
The flavor is pretty cool here, reminiscent of cards like Feed the Clan, but with the second ability to really pull it all together. I like it a lot!

Polish
(2.5/3) Quality - Points deducted for incorrect spelling, grammar, and templating.
Food should be capitalized, but everything else looks fine to me here.

(2/2) 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?
This is a Food token-producing instant or sorcery, which works! I also think the trigger on the card is pretty unique, so I'm a fan.

(2/2) Subchallenges - One point awarded per satisfied subchallenge condition.
This is a mono-colored card, not white, and uses the word "strength".

Total: 21.5/25

RaikouRider

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Design
(2/3) Appeal - Do the different player psychographics (Timmy/Johnny/Spike) have a use for the card?
Timmy might not like it, but Johnny and Spike alike can definitely use this as a tool to take out threats and let them do whatever they're going to do to win the game, be it to combo off without the threat of dying or out-value them.

(3/3) Elegance - Is the card easily understandable at a glance? Do all the flavor and mechanics combined as a whole make sense?
Perfect here! This works really well!

Development
(2.5/3) 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?
I think the color of the card is more white than black, but I think the rarity and the rules are both fine.

(0.5/3) 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?
Swords to Plowshares is a card that sees Legacy play, and you made a strictly better version of it. This is probably the best card to open in Limited apart from incredible bombs, and a Standard with this card in it would become super dominant, as you can very cheaply get rid of any threat with very little downside. This is definitely a card that would want to be printed in some kind of Modern Horizons set except for the fact that it's pushed, even for Modern.

Creativity
(2.5/3) 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"?
Although this is clearly a variant on pre-existing effects, I think that using a Food token and having the spell be black are both interesting takes on the established concept, and I think it feels fresh because of that context!

(3/3) 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?
This is a really cool flavorful idea, and I think the flavor text works really well to sell the idea and subvert a common phrase. Love it!

Polish
(3/3) Quality - Points deducted for incorrect spelling, grammar, and templating.
I have no problems here, everything looks really good!

(2/2) 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?
This is a spell that creates Food tokens, and I think giving them to your opponent accomplishes that in a pretty interesting way! This is a cool idea.

(1/2) Subchallenges - One point awarded per satisfied subchallenge condition.
This is a mono-colored card, but it doesn't mention the word "persistence", the virtue of the Locthwain Court.

Total: 19.5/25

slimytrout

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Design
(1/5/3) Appeal - Do the different player psychographics (Timmy/Johnny/Spike) have a use for the card?
Timmy probably thinks that having a big 6/6 that gives you more time to make an army is cool, Johnny probably is fine with this but would probably rather play Angel's Grace, and I think Spike would also rather play Angel's Grace, as this is pretty inefficient. (I go more in depth in this in the Balance section.)

(3/3) Elegance - Is the card easily understandable at a glance? Do all the flavor and mechanics combined as a whole make sense?
Yep! The two halves of this card have clear synergy together, and there is a clear flavorful theme that contributes to that understanding and clarity. Full marks here!

Development
(3/3) 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?
This fits perfectly into the color wheel (a Giant that has the ability that prevents you from dying only seen in white plus a bunch of lifegain when it ETB's is all definitely white), there are no bent rules, and this is good at mythic rare.

(2/3) 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?
I think that this is about on par for a Limited creature, and I think it does a good job of being a big, dumb white creature that has the ability to swing a game in your favor. I think that this might even have a place in a Standard white deck's sideboard as a way to blow out RDW, or a way to stay on par with Congregate creature-spam Commander decks. My only gripe is that the Adventure-half is way overpriced - Angel's Grace does this ability with more protection and Split second at 1 mana, the Adventure could have easily matched it. It's a little weak as-is.

Creativity
(3/3) 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"?
The ability on your creature hasn't been used before (closest things are Axis of Mortality or Invincible Hymn), and it feels really fresh, especially paired with that not as common ability on the sorcery makes the card feel really new.

(2/3) 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?
The flavor seems a bit off, as the "Adventure" that the Giant goes on is a "Timely Return", after which he leaves, and then comes back again? However, the overall theme is very strong and I like it a lot, and especially that flavor text is short and sweet.

Polish
(2.5/3) Quality - Points deducted for incorrect spelling, grammar, and templating.
Your Adventure half of the card is a little too long (five lines when the limit in space is just over 4), but I don't see any other issues. Good job!

(2/2) 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?
He be adventurin'. Cool synergy with it too, I like it.

(2/2) Subchallenges - One point awarded per satisfied subchallenge condition.
This is a mono-colored card that doesn't match your color from last time, and the FT mentions loyalty!

Total: 21/25

void_nothing

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Design
(2/3) Appeal - Do the different player psychographics (Timmy/Johnny/Spike) have a use for the card?
Timmy is probably a fan of this card, as you can double in both smashing in with huge creatures and creating huge armies of creatures, which are both things that Timmy loves to do. I think Johnny might want to use it with these cards, and I don't think that Spike is a big fan of this, as it's not too big of an impact for a 5-mana enchantment.

(3/3) Elegance - Is the card easily understandable at a glance? Do all the flavor and mechanics combined as a whole make sense?
I think this is pretty understandable - it represents Torbran and his dwarves moving for war, and I think it represents both a dwarven invasion as well as their king thane Torbran getting all of the stat buffs excellently.

Development
(3/3) 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?
I think that these abilities fit perfectly into the color pie, don't break any rules, and is perfect at rare. Great job!

(2/3) 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?
I think this is a little on the weak side, especially if you're not playing it for the adamant cost, but overall it's probably fine for a random rare. This isn't going to see play in any constructed format apart from random jank, though.

Creativity
(3/3) 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"?
This has a Might of the Masses feel to it, and I think that it works in making it feel unique by also having it produce tokens, and there's only been one Adamant card that makes a creature token. Good job here!

(3/3) 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?
The name is realistic, the flavor text is fine, and I think the flavor elements all mix together here well!

Polish
(3/3) Quality - Points deducted for incorrect spelling, grammar, and templating.
Everything looks good to me!

(2/2) 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?
This is a noncreature enchantment with Adamant, and I think this is a cool usage of Adamant, great job!

(2/2) Subchallenges - One point awarded per satisfied subchallenge condition.
Mono-colored (and not your old colors), and you do mention "courage", so this works!

Total: 23/25

Results

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Bolded are moving onto the next round.

void_nothing - 23/25
netn10 - 21.5/25
slimytrout - 21/25
RaikouRider - 19.5/25

[bravelion83]

Thanks judges! Time to move on to Round 3!