October CCL, Top 4: Leader of Darkness

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void_nothing
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Post by void_nothing » 4 years ago

CCL October Round 4/Top 4

"Leader of Darkness"


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Kraum, Ludevic's Opus, taken from MTG Art, by Aaron Miller and Wizards of the Coast
Welcome to the Card Creation League! Everyone is free to participate in either or both of the first two rounds. Come join us!

Theme

It's October, and we all know what that means in both Custom Card Contests and out in the real world: Are you ready to get spooked? This month will be tribal themed, around the creepiest creature types Magic has to offer.

Challenge
Design a legendary creature card that has a creature type from each of your round 1 and 2 cards in its typeline.
Clarifications
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  • No, changeling does not count.
  • Make sure to note both of your original cards in your post.
  • If you designed a creature card with two or more creature types in either round 1 or round 2, you can use either of those types for your choice from the round. For example, if you had designed a Vampire Soldier and an Eldrazi Bat, you could make an Eldrazi Vampire or Bat Soldier.
  • Make sure to include a rarity.
Contestants:
Raptorchan
Ink-Treader
slimytrout
barbecube
Your submissions are due Sunday, October 27th, 23:59 EST.
Schedule
  • Round 1 — Open to Everyone (September 30th-October 7th)
  • Round 2 — Open to Everyone (October 8th–14th)
  • Rounds 1 and 2 Critiques (Due October 16th)
  • Top 8 — Open to top 8 finishers (October 17th–20th)
  • Top 8 Critiques (Due October 22nd)
  • Top 4 — Open to top 4 finishers (October 24th–27th)
  • Top 4 Critiques (Due October 29th)
  • Final (End of month, winner determined by public poll)
Psst, check the second page of Custom Card Contests & Games! Because of the daily contests, a lot of games fall down to there.

The greatest (fake) pro wrestling on the internet - Collaborative Create-A-Booster - My random creations (updated regularly)

Important Facts: Colorless is not a color, Wastes is not a land type, Changeling is not a creature type

Ink-Treader
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Post by Ink-Treader » 4 years ago

Round 1
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Ink-Treader wrote:
4 years ago
Steward of the Cycle 1BG
Creature - Zombie Druid (R)
If a permanent would be put into your graveyard from the battlefield, you may exile it instead. If you do, you may search your library for a card with the same name as that permanent, reveal it, and put it into your hand. Then, shuffle your library.
"As empires rise and fall, so too does life blossom and decay, ever onwards."
2/3
Round 2
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Ink-Treader wrote:
4 years ago
Lamentation of the Intrepid BB
Creature - Horror (R)
Deathtouch
Whenever a land enters the battlefield under an opponent's control, if that player had another land enter the battlefield under their control this turn, they sacrifice a creature and lose 2 life.
1/3
Drafar, the Ensouler 1BBG
Legendary Creature - Druid Horror (R)
Whenever a land creature you control deals combat damage to a player, untap it.
BBG, T, Exile a creature card from your graveyard: Return target land card from your graveyard to the battlefield. It's a copy of the exiled creature, except it's still a land and has the abilities of both cards. Activate this ability only any time you could cast a sorcery.
"Only blood can replenish the land, and only flesh can protect it."
3/4
Last edited by Ink-Treader 4 years ago, edited 1 time in total.

slimytrout
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Post by slimytrout » 4 years ago

Ishvar, Death's Shade BB
Legendary Creature – Shade Avatar (R)
Ishvar, Death's Shade's power and toughness are each equal to half the difference between your starting life total and your life total, rounded up.
BBB: Each player loses 2 life.
"Only death lives within Bala Ged."
-Nissa Revane

*/*
Round 1
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Subtle Shade 1B
Creature - Shade (U)
1B: Subtle Shade gets +1/+1 until end of turn.
Whenever Subtle Shade deals combat damage to a player, that player sacrifices a creature.
It seems like just a harmless shadow on the wall, until you turn away...
0/3
Round 2
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Soul of Ixalan 4RG
Creature – Avatar (MR)
Haste
XRG: Until end of turn, target attacking creature gets +X/+X and gains "Whenever this creature is dealt damage, it deals X damage to any target."
XRG, Exile Soul of Ixalan from your graveyard: Until end of turn, target attacking creature gets +X/+X and gains "Whenever this creature is dealt damage, it deals X damage to any target."
6/6
Last edited by slimytrout 4 years ago, edited 2 times in total.

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barbecube
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Post by barbecube » 4 years ago

Round 1
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Crooked Sommelier bb
Creature — Vampire (R)
When Crooked Sommelier enters the battlefield, target opponent gains control of it.
At the beginning of your upkeep, if you don't own Crooked Sommelier, put a +1/+1 counter on it.
Damage dealt by Crooked Sommelier also causes its owner to gain that much life.
3/3
Round 2
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Hollow Apparition
1U
Creature — Illusion
Sacrifice Hollow Apparition: Change the target of target spell or ability with a single target.

2/1
Anežka, Dimir PR Agent
2UB
Legendary Creature — Vampire Illusion
Flash
Vampire cards and Illusion cards you own that aren't on the battlefield have flash.
Whenever you cast a Vampire spell, each opponent loses 2 life and you gain 2 life.
Whenever you cast an Illusion spell, you may choose new targets for target spell.

4/4
formerly willows

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Raptorchan
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Post by Raptorchan » 4 years ago

Guess I have to skip this round, bruhs. Sorry for the inconvenience.

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void_nothing
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Post by void_nothing » 4 years ago

I can grant you an extension.
Psst, check the second page of Custom Card Contests & Games! Because of the daily contests, a lot of games fall down to there.

The greatest (fake) pro wrestling on the internet - Collaborative Create-A-Booster - My random creations (updated regularly)

Important Facts: Colorless is not a color, Wastes is not a land type, Changeling is not a creature type

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Raptorchan
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Post by Raptorchan » 4 years ago

Many thanks, will post in 2 hours.

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Raptorchan
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Post by Raptorchan » 4 years ago

Round 1
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Spooky Visitor 3{u/b}
Creature - Zombie (U)
Spooky Visitor can't be blocked by creatures controlled by enchanted players.
You have to learn the difference between being cursed, being damned and being doomed.
3/3
Round 2
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Mirror Twin uu
Creature - Reflection (U)
Defender
Whenever Mirror Twin blocks, it becomes a copy of any creature blocked by it at your choice until end of turn.
"Go to the mirror at night. Wait a minute. Ignite the candle. Try not to scream."
- Innistrad children's game

0/3
Kotchun, Gallery Lich 1ub
Legendary Creature - Zombie Reflection Wizard (M)
Whenever you cast a spell or activate an ability, you may change its text by replacing any number of instances of "top" with "bottom" and vice versa.
ub: Kotchun, Gallery Lich gains your choice of deathtouch, hexproof or indestructible until end of turn.
1/3

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void_nothing
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Post by void_nothing » 4 years ago

Alright, a full complement, very good.

Please, of course, critique all the other contestants and arrange them into a T3.
Psst, check the second page of Custom Card Contests & Games! Because of the daily contests, a lot of games fall down to there.

The greatest (fake) pro wrestling on the internet - Collaborative Create-A-Booster - My random creations (updated regularly)

Important Facts: Colorless is not a color, Wastes is not a land type, Changeling is not a creature type

Ink-Treader
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Post by Ink-Treader » 4 years ago

Onwards and upwards
slimytrout
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Kind of a weird spin on Death's Shadow in a way. I find the activated ability to be really clever. For three black, each player loses 2 life and (assuming your life total wasn't above your starting) then Ishvar gets +1/+1. Not far off from +3/+3 for BBB.
barbecube
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An interesting lord for such disparate tribes. Having these be cast triggers instead of ETB triggers is unusual. I feel like the Illusion bonus is dangerously powerful, though it wiffs against abilities.
Raptorchan
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Even the Sen Triplets find that type line to be a little long. Now, to the fun ability. Off the top of my head, this can do evil things with Junktroller and Reito Lantern, either to your opponents or to benefit yourself. And it's in mill colors too, and you can now use that mill to mill from the bottom now, so you can keep what you want your opponents to draw on top. And unfortunately Gatherer is down right now, so I can't check for anything cleverer right now. I think that one tutor that tutors for you and an opponent might be interesting here too, if it has two instances of top. The activated ability is costly, but that's fair considering the powerful options it gives. Maybe it could just cost 2 though.
Top 3
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1. Raptorchan
2. slimytrout
3. barbecube

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Post by slimytrout » 4 years ago

Ink-Treader: Drafar, the Ensouler -- Hmm, I like the concept of the card, but it's not very elegant. For example, the fact that the creature card is exiled as a cost but the land being returned is targeted would probably confuse people. Personally, I think it would have been better if it just "scavenged" onto a land that you already controlled, so that you could shorten the text and maybe avoid some nasty rules interactions that could crop up. (I don't know for sure that there would be any, but there's never been a clone stapled to a land before so I could definitely imagine there being some.) Also, you definitely didn't have room for that flavor text -- it's dangerously close to microtext even without it.

P.S.: The reference to Death's Shadow was very much intentional, hence the name. :)

barbecube: Anezka, Dimir PR Agent -- The concept is a really fun one, but there are a couple things I don't love about the card itself. First off, I think the name is a bit silly -- obviously it' s supposed to be tongue-in-cheek but nothing in the card really reinforced the humor (or I just missed it). Second, the mismatch of the abilities is a bit unsatisfying: the Vampire one is pretty weak, and only benefits from flash in unusual circumstances, while the Illusion one is very strong and absolutely needs flash to do anything. I do like the decision to make it a cast trigger, so that Anezka herself (or himself or themselves) doesn't trigger either ability, so props for that.

Raptorchan: Kotchun, Gallery Lich -- Huh. Definitely the most unique card of the bunch. I'm not sure of any obvious ways to truly break it, because you have to pick which instances to switch before the spell or ability resolves, so you can't decide to turn your Impulse into a super-Ponder once you've seen the cards. However, I'm fairly sure it doesn't currently work within the rules, for two reasons. First, every other example of a "change the text" card ever printed has done so as an instant or an activated ability, not as a triggered ability, and it's not clear how Kotchun would interact with things like paying costs (would you be able to exile the bottom ten cards of your library to Arc-Slogger, for example?) Second, and more importantly, all the other cards (even the Uncard) have specifically defined types of words that they're changing (color words, number words, creature types) as opposed to just two words that can be switched. Could you animate Treebottom Village instead of Treetop Village, and if so, what on earth would that mean? I don't doubt that these issues could be fixed with some judicious editing of CR 612, but it would definitely require some work. Also, not sure what the second ability is for exactly, but it's quite strong.

1. Raptorchan
2. barbecube
3. Ink-Treader

Went in order of elegance and innovation, rather than which was the best gameplay idea. But I think all of the ideas this round have strengths (and a few weaknesses) so it was a really tough decision.

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void_nothing
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Post by void_nothing » 4 years ago

Get those critiques and T3s in if you haven't; I'll be posting the final round tonight.
Psst, check the second page of Custom Card Contests & Games! Because of the daily contests, a lot of games fall down to there.

The greatest (fake) pro wrestling on the internet - Collaborative Create-A-Booster - My random creations (updated regularly)

Important Facts: Colorless is not a color, Wastes is not a land type, Changeling is not a creature type

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Raptorchan
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Post by Raptorchan » 4 years ago

Crits
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Ink-Treader
Drafar, the Ensouler
- looks like this is the card that requires the most jumps through the hoops to get some use from it. It can be played in a specific "land creatures matter" deck and it gets in line with other land matters commanders such as Gitrog Monster, Jolrael and Lord Windgrace... And that's all.

barbecube
Anežka, Dimir PR Agent
- "Thanks, I hate it" (c) Jokes aside, that's a very straightforward card that plays nasty (just like Dimir), enables control (just like Dimir) and tends to slow down the game (just like Dimir). So, yes, this is definetely a Dimir card. My main concern about it - it leads more to "play good stuff" sort of play rather than to some sort of clever and creative play. I may be wrong though.

slimytrout
Ishvar, Death's Shade
- I see what you did there and I like it. It's a card that has good synergy with its own, and it balances utself. I kinda with WotC actually printed more cards like this. Flavor is also on point even though the name feels kinda generic but it was mad on purpose I assume.
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1) silmytrout
2) Ink-Treader
3) barbecube

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barbecube
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Post by barbecube » 4 years ago

no time for crits tonight, here's a t3:
1. slimytrout
2. Raptorchan
3. Ink-Treader
formerly willows

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void_nothing
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Post by void_nothing » 4 years ago

Our finalists are Raptorchan and slimytrout! Round coming soon!
Psst, check the second page of Custom Card Contests & Games! Because of the daily contests, a lot of games fall down to there.

The greatest (fake) pro wrestling on the internet - Collaborative Create-A-Booster - My random creations (updated regularly)

Important Facts: Colorless is not a color, Wastes is not a land type, Changeling is not a creature type

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