October MCC Round 4 (finals) - The last undertaking

[bravelion83]

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

October MCC Round 4

The last undertaking

What happens when a "choose your own adventure" month turns into "everybody chose the same adventure"? Is it really an adventure anymore? Well, you know what? I've just had an idea! I'll put it this way! And I'm kinda feeling like a DM as I'm writing this, a DM that has to improvise because his plans have been completely subverted by the players, which is perfectly legal and can absolutely happen in D&D.

So, it turns out that we all thought these people were going each on their own road, fighting each other as they met. But these three heroes begged to differ. Being more like best friends than adversaries, they chose to explore Eldraine, this new and unknown plane that offered a lot of opportunities for heroes pursuing individual feats, in a different way, together. They decided to turn what was supposed to be a battle to the death into a show of friendship. So their first choice was to go on an adventure, yes, but all together, helping and supporting each other like only real friends do. But that wasn't enough. One fell down in battle and was wounded. So, while that hero took care of themselves, eating food to heal and regain their strength, the other two went on another adventure as knights, once again together, and once again being there for each other like true friends. Then they came back and found their wounded friend healed, so now they decided to let them live another knightly adventure, like they had just done, while the two of them stopped to eat and regain strength. It didn't seem right to them that the two of them had lived two adventures and their other friend didn't also get to live a second one. Then, their friend was back. The three friends camped in the wilds and gathered around the camp fire, looking each other in the eyes, and asking themselves: "So what do we do now?" All the other heroes that had started their adventures on Eldraine with them had fell. Only the three of them were left. And they knew the story wanted a single winner. But they didn't want to fight each other. Each of them wanted the other two to win. Their friendship was too adamant to battle each other. So they each hired a knight to fight in their place, having the hired mercenaries fight to the death while the three of them watched the fight from afar, together, arms around each other's neck. The winner among them would have been the one who hired the last one standing among the mercenaries. So, what was our heroes' last undertaking on Eldraine? Turning what was supposed to be the ultimate fight into the triumph of friendship. After all, isn't this the best ending this adventure on Eldraine could have had? Yes. Yes, it was. So thank you, Syr Flatline, Syr netn10, and Syr Subject16, for subverting my plans as DM and allowing me to unexpectedly write the best ending I could have imagined for our story on Eldraine a mere four hours before posting this. Thank you for your loyalty, your knowledge, your persistence, your courage, your strength, but most of all your friendship!

Main Challenge - Choose one of the following. You cannot choose the same options you chose in Rounds 1, 2, and 3. Which just means all three finalists have to choose the "Adamant" option, so let's just get to that. The "don't post anything except for your submission and optional render" rule is back into place. Please, do NOT mention the option you chose, we all know what it is at this point. This one:
• Adamant - Design a nonland permanent card with adamant. Your card can't share a color with any of your previous cards from Rounds 1, 2, and 3. Do NOT quote your cards or anything from previous rounds, I've got everything tracked myself (see the list of players below).

What the other options would have been

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• Adventure - Design a nonland permanent card that has an adventure.
• Food - Design a nonland permanent card that creates Food tokens or uses Food as a cost.
• Knights - Design a nonland permanent card that mechanically cares about your Knights.
The "can't share a color with previous rounds" part would have also been there in all the options.

Subchallenge 1 - Your card is exactly monocolored and has none of the card types you used in previous rounds. Again, do NOT quote your cards or anything from previous rounds, I've got everything tracked myself (see the list of players below).

Subchallenge 2 - Your card's flavor text contains the word "Eldraine" as the name of the plane. No other potential meaning is allowed.

Clarifications

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Ok, so having all the "surviving" players have to choose the same option allows me to delete a whole bunch of this, probably to the benefit of everyone. No need for nested spoilers anymore.


Main Challenge

• Do NOT quote your cards from previous rounds, I'm tracking everything myself (see the list of players below).

• Your card must have adamant. An card that doesn't have adamant doesn't pass the Main Challenge and is thus DQ'ed.

• Your card must have adamant, but it can also have other mechanics from Throne of Eldraine, in addition to adamant.

• Your card must be a nonland permanent card, that is an artifact, a creature, an enchantment, or a planeswalker. You can't use the same colors you've already used in previous round though. Pay attention: this time the color check too is part of the Main Challenge instead of just being a Subchallenge.

• Your card can have more than one card type, but if you want to pass Subchallenge 1, ALL card types you use must be ones you haven't already used in previous rounds.


Subchallenge 1

• 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 card types of your cards from Round 1 and Round 2. (Again, do NOT quote your cards from previous rounds, 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.

• If your card has more than one card type, ALL card types you use must be ones you haven't already used in previous rounds.

• 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 a previous round. (Again, do NOT quote your cards from previous rounds, I'm tracking everything myself, see the list of players below).


Subchallenge 2

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

• This subchallenge only specifically looks at the flavor text. If the name of the plane "Eldraine" 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 here, feel free to ask in the discussion thread.

DEADLINES

Design deadline: Wednesday, October 30th 23:59 EDT

Judging deadline: Sunday, November 3rd 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

This is the final round. Every judge will judge all the cards. The player with the highest combined score will be crowned as the new King of Eldraine (Beware, King Kenrith!)... Uhm... I meant... as the MCC champion for this month.

Next to the name of each player I've reported the options and colors available to them to pass the Main Challenge, and the card types available to them to pass Subchallenge 1.
(I feel like I could have just written the colors, as everything else is the same except for netn10 also having the enchantment card type still available...)

Flatline
Available options: Adamant
Available colors: UR
Available card types: Artifact, planeswalker.

netn10
Available options: Adamant
Available colors: BR
Available card types: Artifact, enchantment, planeswalker.

Subject16
Available options: Adamant
Available colors: WB
Available card types: Artifact, planeswalker.


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.

[Subject16]

Stonesealed Sword 2W
Legendary Artifact — Equipment (Rare)
Adamant — When Stonesealed Sword enters the battlefield, if at least three white mana was spent to cast it, attach it to target creature you control.
Equipped creature is legendary, gets +3/+3, and has first strike, vigilance, and "When this creature dies, return it to your hand."
Equip 4
Eldraine has five courts, but only one High King.

[netn10]

Shadow Queen's Heart 5B
Legendary Artifact (Mythic)
Adamant — When Shadow Queen's Heart enters the battlefield, if at least three black mana was spent to cast this spell, target opponent sacrifice a creature, loses 3 life and discards a card.
Whenever a creature dies, an opponent loses life or discards a card, put a quest counter on Shadow Queen's Heart. Then, if it has twenty or more quest counters on it, you win the game.
What the heart yearns for, Eldraine is quick to grant.

[Flatline]

Author's Quill 2u
Artifact — Equipment (U)
Adamant — When Author's Quill enters the battlefield, if at least three blue mana was spent to cast it, create a 1/1 white Human creature token and attach Author's Quill to it.
Equipped creature can't be blocked and has "Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, draw a card."
Equip 2
The denizens of Eldraine would never stand in the way of a good story.

[bravelion83]

The round is closed. Every judge judges all cards. So, once again and for the last time this month, good work to my fellow judges! Let's do our thing one last time! And just know that I've willingly put the judging deadline one day later than I would have done normally exactly so that you all can party as long as you want tonight. I won't.

---

Judgments complete. I don't remember having all finalists tied in my own judgments before. The other judges will be determinant here. No time to reread these now, so sorry about any typos. I'll fix them later tonight.

Subject16

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Stonesealed Sword 2W
Legendary Artifact — Equipment (Rare)
Adamant — When Stonesealed Sword enters the battlefield, if at least three white mana was spent to cast it, attach it to target creature you control.
Equipped creature is legendary, gets +3/+3, and has first strike, vigilance, and "When this creature dies, return it to your hand."
Equip 4
Eldraine has five courts, but only one High King.

Design
Appeal 2/3 - A huge bonus and multiple abilities to a creature? Timmy is definitely excited! Johnny might be intrigued by returning the creature to hand when it dies, but I see not much else for him, and that's the part that I have a little problem with in Viability. Spike looks at the equip cost and she's not happy. She will always use the auto-attach adamant ability, and she's thankful that it is there.
Elegance 2.5/3 - The text is quite long (eight lines plus three breaks in the MSE M15 frame), but still within limits. Other than that, no problems here.
Development
Viability 2.5/3 - "When this creature dies, return it to your hand" feels way more black than white to me, but all the rest is perfect in white. Let's just call it a small bend. Rarity is the least it can be. I could even see this at mythic, but it's fine too at regular rare.
Balance 3/3 - I have no problems with the costs, the mana cost looks reasonable to me, and the high equip cost is necessary given all the bonuses that this sword gives you. In limited, this is kind of a powered-up on-board combat trick. You will play this. I feel like the adamant ability circumventing the high equip cost might give this card a shot at constructed. I see no problems in casual or multiplayer.
Creativity
Uniqueness 1/3 - Nothing here is really new. Old elements put together in a technically new way.
Flavor 3/3 - So, this is the trope that in Italian is called "la spada nella roccia" (literally "the sword in the rock", but I don't actually know what the proper English name is). To be clear, one of the versions of the tale about Excalibur, the one where the sword is stuck in a (magical?) rock, and whoever will be able to take it out of the rock will become the King. The trope is perfectly executed: name and card concept are perfect, in a vacuum I'd say the flavor text is too generic, but for this specific trope is does work. Too bad that the High King is not determined in this way on Eldraine, as you can see in the Planeswalker's Guide to Eldraine on the mothership (I'm so happy that Planeswalker's Guide are back!), but that article was published after the design deadline, so you had no way of knowing it beforehand. Well, unless you have ties to Wizards, but then... What are you doing here?
Polish
Quality 3/3 - All good.
Main Challenge 2/2 - Good.
Subchallenges 2/2 - Both met.
TOTAL 21/25

netn10

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Shadow Queen's Heart 5B
Legendary Artifact (Mythic)
Adamant — When Shadow Queen's Heart enters the battlefield, if at least three black mana was spent to cast this spell, target opponent sacrifice a creature, loses 3 life and discards a card.
Whenever a creature dies, an opponent loses life or discards a card, put a quest counter on Shadow Queen's Heart. Then, if it has twenty or more quest counters on it, you win the game.
What the heart yearns for, Eldraine is quick to grant.

Design
Appeal 2.5/3 - Timmy likes both how this affects the board and alternate win condition. Johnny in particular also loves the latter, and I think this card has just been made for him. I think that Spike isn't that interested in the alternate win condition, and that if she will play this card, it will be for the adamant ability.
Elegance 2/3 - The text is very long and barely fits the M15 card frame (nine lines plus two breaks in MSE), but it is easily understandable. This card has a high board complexity because it requires a lot of tracking and you paying constant attention to see if your opponent does one of those things that trigger the second ability, but an overall low comprehension complexity.
Development
Viability 3/3 - As black as it could ever be and totally mythic. Good.
Balance 2.5/3 - I have no problems with the adamant ability. It's always hard to judge alternate win conditions without playtest, but I feel like twenty is probably about the right number. In limited it's a build-around, and every set has some of those, but I think you'd mostly play it for the adamant ability, which looks very good, with potential constructed implications, even though this might not exactly what you want for six mana in constructed. But the possibility that this sees some Standard play is definitely there, especially if Johnny finds some way to break it. I can easily see this card getting a lot of casual fans. In multiplayer, the adamant ability being "target opponent" is also obviously relevant: you will have to choose who to target with this, and players who, unlike me, like politics in Magic will definitely like this aspect of the card.
Creativity
Uniqueness 3/3 - Ok, this win condition is new. No doubt about it.
Flavor 3/3 - The only remark I might have here is that the flavor text feels a bit too generic to me, but it does work on this card. The name is very good, as is the card concept.
Polish
Quality 1/3 - None of the cards I've found on Gatherer follow the order that you do here (first sacrifice/dies, then life loss, finally discard). They aren't too many, so here they are: Cruel Ultimatum, Death Cloud, Fraying Omnipotence, Pox, Smallpox, Undercity Plague, Vindictive Lich (-0.5). And anyway, a third-person "s" is missing in "target opponent sacrifices a creature" (-0.5). However you choose to word the trigger, something's missing. It could be either "Whenever a creature dies, or an opponent loses life or discards a card", or "Whenever a creature dies, an opponent loses life or an opponent discards a card" (-0.5). There should be no comma between "Then" and "if", it's not an intervening-if clause (the most recent example is right in ELD: Fabled Passage, -0.5).Main Challenge 2/2 - Good.
Subchallenges 2/2 - Both met.
TOTAL 21/25

Flatline

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Author's Quill 2u
Artifact — Equipment (U)
Adamant — When Author's Quill enters the battlefield, if at least three blue mana was spent to cast it, create a 1/1 white Human creature token and attach Author's Quill to it.
Equipped creature can't be blocked and has "Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, draw a card."
Equip 2
The denizens of Eldraine would never stand in the way of a good story.

Design
Appeal 2.5/3 - Timmy approves and is already dreaming of giving "unblockable" and "curiosity" (in quotes because they're not actual keyword, but you get what I mean) to his fatties. Johnny could maybe use the card draw and the token somehow, but this doesn't look like a card for him to me. Spike has no problems with this card.
Elegance 2/3 - A card creating a token of another color is never a particularly elegant thing. No problems with all the rest of the card. Also, MSE shows me we're at the limit of microtext. There are a few words that fall on single lines by themselves, occupying the whole line. In fact, the fourth line is just "Quill to it.", the seventh line is just "card."", the eighth is just "Equip 2", and the tenth is just "good story." Thanks to this, we are at ten lines with three breaks, one more break than what I consider as the reference: Animate Dead from EMA, which is ten lines plus two breaks. We're really borderline here. I'm convinced that if Subchallenge 2 hadn't been there, this card wouldn't have had flavor text, and would have looked much better in the frame without it.
Development
Viability 2.5/3 - Though white is indeed their primary color, Humans are in all colors, so this could have just created a blue Human token. But cards creating tokens of colors they are not do exist, so this is not a big problem. Rarity looks plausible enough to me.
Balance 3/3 - So this gives you two options: 2U for just the base ability, or UUU to have an additional auto-equip option. That sounds very reasonable to me, as does the equip cost. I'd definitely play this in limited, mainly because the unblockability is a very good way to break a stall. In constructed, you'll probably just care more about the card draw, and the fact that the curiosity activation is guaranteed thanks to the unblockability is very nice there. We all know drawing cards is the most powerful ability in Magic, so I wouldn't be surprised to see this card see some play in Standard. No problems in casual of multiplayer.
Creativity
Uniqueness 1/3 - The most original thing here might be a color creating tokens of another color, but that also already exists...
Flavor 3/3 - Excellent! The author (the Human token) picks up his quill (attach this to the token) and then writes their story (the curiosity ability). It reminds me of something that I have done myself for the last seven months and just finished... but I digress. The name is exactly what this object is flavorfully. I've seen that you've changed the flavor text. I'm glad you did, I like this one much better. It should probably not be there at all because of microtext (see Elegance), but if you have to have it, this one is good.
Polish
Quality 3/3 - All good.
Main Challenge 2/2 - Good.
Subchallenges 2/2 - Both met.
TOTAL 21/25

Results (no longer TBD!)

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Were TBD, now not anymore!

Subject16: TBD 21
netn10: TBD 21
Flatline: TBD 21

TBD! All was TBD! Yes, I can go back to writing that! I'm so, so glad that now we know the code for Theros Beyond Death is actually THB! If you're wondering how I know... Well, I personally don't care about spoilers (and we're talking real spoilers here, as in "unintentional leaks", not what too many people in the MTG community call "spoilers" but are actually just official "previews", and in fact you'll never see or hear me calling those like that) in general, be it about MTG cards, movies, books, or whatever. At the contrary, I will often go look for them myself. But if you're a person that wants to avoid leaks and real unofficial spoilers (really, you've been warned!), stop reading now and just don't worry about it. If instead you're like me, and want to know what I'm talking about, then do your own research as it's something we can't talk about here. Or just head to the "unofficial previews" section of this forum, but remember not to talk about it out of that specific section of this site!

[Gateways7]

Subject16

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Design
(2.5/3) Appeal - Do the different player psychographics (Timmy/Johnny/Spike) have a use for the card?
Timmy likes the ability to have really powerful and boosted creatures, as well as the power to bring it back after the first time it dies. I think that Johnny likes the ability to be able to loop some recursions, especially paired with cards like Burning-Tree Emissary or Heritage Druid. Spike doesn't like this card's expensive price when cast normally, but I think it's good with playing the card on the Adamant mode.

(3/3) Elegance - Is the card easily understandable at a glance? Do all the flavor and mechanics combined as a whole make sense?
It's a bit pushed in terms of the amount of text on the card, but considering Blade of Selves, Dowsing Dagger, Helm of Kaldra, and other 8/9-line Equipments are found at rare, this is fine, and the flavor and the mechanics mesh.

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 this might serve as a better mythic than rare, but the color pie (returning things to the battlefield or hand is frequent in white, if not as regular as black) and the rules of the game are all intact.

(3/3) 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 works really well as a bomb in Limited that can buff your creatures and loop them, but I think that the price of the card is high enough that it's not broken. I think that this might even see a bit of Constructed play to use that loop, which I like. Great job!

Creativity
(1.5/3) 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"?
An adamant card that's an equipment is interesting, but the rest of the card is just a less interesting Nim Deathmantle. I can't really grant high marks 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 sword-in-the-stone inspiration is one that works really well, and it certainly does it a lot more flavorfully than Embercleaver.

Polish
(3/3) Quality - Points deducted for incorrect spelling, grammar, and templating.
I see no problems here, great 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?
This is an Adamant nonland.

(2/2) Subchallenges - One point awarded per satisfied subchallenge condition.
This fits your color / card type restrictions and has Eldraine in the FT, great job!

Total: 23.5/25

netn10

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Design
(2.5/3) Appeal - Do the different player psychographics (Timmy/Johnny/Spike) have a use for the card?
I think that Timmy likes the adamant bonus and the splashy alternate win-con, I think Johnny really loves the alternate win-con, and Spike is not the biggest fan of the card, but is happy to find an infinite combo with lifeloss, creature sacrificing, or discarding.

(2/3) Elegance - Is the card easily understandable at a glance? Do all the flavor and mechanics combined as a whole make sense?
That's a lot of text (9 lines), which is on the really high end for a card, and I don't think there's enough mechanical or flavorful value to justify having that much text. However, the mechanical elements are interesting and feel elegant - just not when looked at on the card.

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?
Color is good, no rules were broken, and this is perfect as a mythic.

(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 pretty fair, as I think the cost of 20 triggers of these three things is perfect for a Constructed environment, especially for Commander, where a card like this is a serious threat to win the game. In Standard, this is pretty fair, and you have a possibility of going off with it, but not a guarantee. However, I'm going to dock a point here because it's almost impossible to go off with it in Limited, which is an important format to care about, and it's a bit of a feels-bad to pull a mythic in Draft that's basically completely useless.

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 Adamant "torment"-esque ability as well as a very new and interesting win-condition makes this very interesting and novel card.

(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?
What is a "shadow queen" in the context of Eldraine? This could have just been an Ayara reference, and I think it would have been a lot neater if it was.

Polish
(1.5/3) Quality - Points deducted for incorrect spelling, grammar, and templating.
You probably want "target opponent sacrifices a creature", not "sacrifice". As Brave pointed out, your trigger is worded incorrectly, and there is no comma in between "then" and "if".

(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?
Adamant nonland.

(2/2) Subchallenges - One point awarded per satisfied subchallenge condition.
Color, type, and FT restrictions met.

Total: 20/25

Flatline

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Design
(1.5/3) Appeal - Do the different player psychographics (Timmy/Johnny/Spike) have a use for the card?
Timmy enjoys giving huge creatures unblockable to close out games. I don't think that Johnny has a use for it, and Spike is not that happy with this but can maybe pull out a similar strategy to what Timmy wants to do.

(2/3) Elegance - Is the card easily understandable at a glance? Do all the flavor and mechanics combined as a whole make sense?
There is too much text on here, and at uncommon that really isn't good. That said, the rest of the card has an easy to comprehend text that isn't hard to understand once it lands on the battlefield.

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?
Everything looks fine to me here!

(3/3) 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 very fair compared to cards like Prowler's Helm or Whispersilk Cloak, especially with the ability to get a Human bonus.

Creativity
(2/3) 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"?
Compared to the aforementioned cards, this is interesting in that you get a creature to equip it to, but otherwise, pretty standard fare.

(2.5/3) 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?
I think that the flavor is very strong as a stand-alone card, as you're clearly making a reference to writing a story and the Human creature being able to write it, but I don't think that it fits as well as a card in Eldraine - Eldraine is not a world about the inhabitants of the world being storytellers, but the world referencing stories. A Kamigawa card or a Tamiyo reference would have made a lot more sense, but this is just a minor gripe.

Polish
(3/3) Quality - Points deducted for incorrect spelling, grammar, and templating.
Seems 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 certainly a nonland with Adamant.

(2/2) Subchallenges - One point awarded per satisfied subchallenge condition.
Meets your restrictions.

Total: 21/25

Results

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Subject16 - 23.5/25
netn10 - 20/25
Flatline - 21/25

[Blydden]

(holder) All done!

Flatline

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Author's Quill 2u
Artifact — Equipment (U)
Adamant — When Author's Quill enters the battlefield, if at least three blue mana was spent to cast it, create a 1/1 white Human creature token and attach Author's Quill to it.
Equipped creature can't be blocked and has "Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, draw a card."
Equip 2
The denizens of Eldraine would never stand in the way of a good story.

Design -
(1.5/3) Appeal: Spike and Timmy both enjoy not having to worry about an opponent's blocks, and like drawing extra cards.
Johnny has no use for this card. The token is unimpressive, and there are better ways to both draw cards and allow creatures to deal damage to the opponent.
(2/3) Elegance: This card takes up 10 lines of text on an Uncommon, which is majorly inelegant. It would have fit properly without the flavor text. This card is otherwise straightforward.

Development -
(3/3) Viability: This card is definitely Blue and definitely Uncommon.
(3/3) Balance: I find this to be very well-balanced. Casting this for either 2U or UUU seems fair. This card would be great in both Limited and Sealed as well as decent in a Standard brew of mono-Blue tempo. Well done!

Creativity -
(1/3) Uniqueness: This story, however good, has been written and re-written plenty of times over.
(2.5/3) Flavor: This card's flavor is almost perfect. My one nitpick is that the Human token is White, but the Adamant ability word demands triple Blue. That's just weird.

Polish -
(3/3) Quality: Perfect!
(2/2) Main Challenge: Adamant!
(2/2) Subchallenges: Both subchallenges met!

Total: 20/25
Final thought: So, everyone's wisely made a colored artifact this round, but I still wonder what an Adamant planeswalker might have looked like.

netn10

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Shadow Queen's Heart 5B
Legendary Artifact (Mythic)
Adamant — When Shadow Queen's Heart enters the battlefield, if at least three black mana was spent to cast this spell, target opponent sacrifice a creature, loses 3 life and discards a card.
Whenever a creature dies, an opponent loses life or discards a card, put a quest counter on Shadow Queen's Heart. Then, if it has twenty or more quest counters on it, you win the game.
What the heart yearns for, Eldraine is quick to grant.

Design -
(2.5/3) Appeal: This card is very expressive for both Timmy and Johnny. Spike likes this card, but she only cares about the first half of the card, which is quite slow at 3BBB.
(2.5/3) Elegance: I personally think nine lines of text on a Mythic Rare is fine. Tracking a few very different conditions on a single card is a bit tedious, but I don't believe that is majorly inelegant in this case.

Development -
(3/3) Viability: Yeah that's a Black card with an alternate win condition befitting a Mythic rarity.
(2.5/3) Balance: The fact that this card is both somewhat slow and weak to artifact hate helps out this balance score significantly. In addition, without the alternate win condition, this card is simply an overcosted sorcery.
There is a risk with any alternate win condition in that it is extremely unfun if it is too easy to fulfill. Many decks won't have a choice but to play into this, since the alternate win-condition is very broad and there are a few different ways to go about it. Nonetheless, I don't foresee any of those ways being both faster and more consistent than any of the normal ways of winning a game of Magic.

Creativity -
(3/3) Uniqueness: You've outdone yourself.
(3/3) Flavor: Yeah, you've seriously outdone yourself.

Polish -
(0/3) Quality: In the first line of rules text, the phrase "this spell" should be the word 'it' (minus half a point). Also, the word "sacrifice" should be the word 'sacrifices' (minus half a point).
In the second line of rules text, the trigger is incorrectly worded (both of bravelion83's methods for rewording the trigger are qualitatively correct, also minus half a point). There should also be no intervening comma between "Then" and "if" (minus half a point).
Lastly, both instances of the Torment effect are incorrectly ordered. It should be either be ordered like lose X life, sacrifice X permanents, discard X cards OR sacrifice X permanents, discard X cards, lose X life (minus half a point each).
(2/2) Main Challenge: Adamant!
(2/2) Subchallenges: Both subchallenges met!

Total: 20.5/25
Final thoughts: In every human heart, there are dark desires. Many different fairytales feature many different twists on the physical human heart; they have been blackened, frozen, hairy…

Subject16

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Stonesealed Sword 2W
Legendary Artifact — Equipment (Rare)
Adamant — When Stonesealed Sword enters the battlefield, if at least three white mana was spent to cast it, attach it to target creature you control.
Equipped creature is legendary, gets +3/+3, and has first strike, vigilance, and "When this creature dies, return it to your hand."
Equip 4
Eldraine has five courts, but only one High King.

Design -
(2.5/3) Appeal: Timmy and Johnny both love how expressive and flashy this card is, plus "legendary matters" is a big theme for the both of them. Spike likes this card for its adamant ability, which makes it a serious power play for aggressive mono-White decks.
(3/3) Elegance: No issues here.

Development -
(3/3) Viability: This card is surely White. This card leans towards Rare instead of Mythic for me, so I agree with the rarity chosen.
(3/3) Balance: I don't believe this would be a problem in any format. This helping to enable mono-White decks in Limited, Sealed, and Standard is a definite plus for me. The equip cost is high enough that this would wheel to the mono-White decks that need it the most, and it serves as a useful mana sink for those decks as well.

Creativity -
(1/3) Uniqueness: Godsend and plenty of other equipments have gotten to this little design space first.
(3/3) Flavor: But none of those other equipments have delivered the flavor of the Sword in the Stone in a way that was quite so spot-on. Well done!

Polish -
(3/3) Quality: Perfect!
(2/2) Main Challenge: Adamant!
(2/2) Subchallenges: Both subchallenges met!

Total: 22.5/25
Final thoughts: Arthurian legends actually have multiple magic swords. The Sword in the Stone is not the same as the Lady of the Lake's Excalibur, for example.

Results!

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Subject16 – 22.5
netn10 – 20.5
Flatline – 20

[bravelion83]

First, I want to make everybody notice that we have a winner on the morning of the 4th of the next month. This is how things are supposed to go, other times we've had to wait the half of the next month, and that's unacceptable. But on the contrary, this month has been exemplar. This is how it's done! Deadlines are there for a reason.

And that has been possible only thanks to two people. So, I have to give a huge shoutout and an even bigger "thank you" to my fellow judges this month: Gateways7 and Blydden, or as we called each other behind the scenes at the beginning of this month, Syr Gateways and Syr Bly. I was Syr Lionheart, that's why you've also seen that in my custom title this month. I knew going in that this wouldn't have been an easy month to judge because of the "choose your own adventure" style with all the different options (something that I had in my mind for a lot of time, I was only waiting for the right occasion to do it, and Eldraine, with its adventure theme, looked like the perfect one to me), but you've both made an excellent job! I hope to work together with both of you as soon as possible. We will meet again, that's for sure.

That said, let's declare a winner. Final scores:
Subject16: 21 + 23.5 + 22.5 = 67
Flatline: 21 + 21 + 20 = 62
netn10: 21 + 20 + 20.5 = 61.5

So, congratulations to Subject 16 for being the October MCC winner!

I hope to see all of you around here. Let me end with a reminder that Round 1 for November is already going on and open to everyone. I'll probably see you again as host in a few months (maybe for TBD THB, Theros Beyond Death, on January or February).