January MCC - Judge signup thread

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bravelion83
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Post by bravelion83 » 4 years ago

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(This month's banner is my own elaboration on the cycle of basic lands by Sam Burley.)


January MCC

Judge signup thread


(A little early for our habits, but theoretically this should go up a few days before Round 1...)

For a Magic player, a new year means a new set. The winter set. This year is no exception. We're back on Theros, beyond the veil of death. Technically, this month will probably feel like a "best of" in a sense, because multiple elements will be reprised. For example, I am sure that someone remembers Jeff Lionheart. No, he's not going to die and visit the Underworld of his home plane, but you
will see him again this month. You might remember I wrote his origin story back in July and August 2015. I hosted both months, it was on MTGSalvation, and Magic Origins had just come out, so I decided to write his origin story and use it for flavor on those months. I'm going to do the same thing this month. After four years and a half, and after writing a 1200 pages long novel and having several other already planned, I want to try it again and see if I've really gotten much better as a writer as I think. Still very far from a professional, but getting much better with exercise. But the road to becoming a star writer, having the devotion of thousands of fans, and entering the constellation of the best authors of all time is still very long. Well, in the meantime I will not give up! I will keep writing! I will get there eventually. (Maybe...) So, anyway, this month I... guess what? I'm going to tell you a story! No, not Jeff's one again. He's involved, but it's not his story. We will follow the adventures of another character. Often, if not always, changing the point of view changes the story. And I won't say anything more about that for now to avoid spoilers.

That's the flavor. A story. A saga if you want. On the mechanical side, I'm also going to reprise something. Don't worry, all challenges are new, based on THB mechanics, but the focus on rarity in Main Challenges will also stay for another month, even if not all rounds will ask for commons. That was last month. There is a thing that never changes though, one that never escapes us in the MCC: the need for judges.


If you want to sign up as a judge for the October MCC, just reply to this thread. If you've already judged before in the MCC, that's enough. Otherwise, if you've never judged before, there is a little extra step required: please try to judge the sample card you can find below with the MCC rubric and post your sample judgment here. I will reply to you as soon as possible with my own thoughts about it and if you did good enough of a job, I will officially welcome you as an MCC judge. (Don't worry, I don't remember ever having to turn down anyone, and by the way I've also helped a number of MCC judges on their first experience.)

As always, since I am hosting, I am also going to be a judge. How many judges we need this month will depend on how high the player participation will be. I think we will need at the very least two more, but if player participation is so high that more judges will be required I will certainly not complain! That's a problem that I actually would like to have.

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


SAMPLE CARD
As always when I am host, my sample cards are kind of a preview of some features of the challenges that are about to come. This month makes no exception about that either. So enjoy the following "preview".

Assume all challenges (Main Challenge and both Subchallenges) are met.

Underworld Beast 1GBW
Enchantment Creature — Beast (R)
Constellation — When an enchantments enters the battlefield, choose one -
• You gain life equal to your devotion to green and white.
• Choose a color. Target opponent loses life equal to their devotion to that color.
Its it's aura that determine the fate of your encounter with it. If its in a good mood, it will make you gifts. Otherwise, wounds and scars.
3/3
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.
Judge signups will stay open until the design deadline for Round 1 or until we get enough judges, whichever comes first. If needed, the judge signups will be going on in parallel with Round 1. Round 1 will be posted on the 31st, both to get one more day for Round 1, which never hurts in a contest, and also because I'm not sure what my own state will be on the 1st. Don't worry, I'll very probably be just fine, I don't drink alcohol and I'm used to stay up late at night. I will just be tired.
Author of the MCC Guidelines and FAQ. | For my projects, including Jeff Lionheart, my murder mystery story "One pierced heart, two mindful horns", and republished articles from my series "The Lion's Lair", see Leo's content index (Last updated on March 24th 2024 - Added OPHTMH Episode 4).
After I'm done republishing my articles I want to reprise the series focusing it more on editing, wording, and templating. Suggest potential future article topics here.
My CCCG Resume (Updated on February 27th 2024)
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Blue = MTGSalvation Green = MTGNexus
MCC - Winner (9): Oct 2014, Apr Nov 2017, Jan 2018, Apr Jun 2019, Jan Mar 2022, Apr 2023 || Host (30): Dec 2014, Apr Jul Aug Dec 2015, Mar Jul Aug Oct 2016, Feb Jul 2017, Jun Nov 2018, Feb Jul 2019 (last on MTGS), Aug 2019 (first on MTGN) Oct 2019, Jan Jun 2020 Apr Oct 2021, Feb May Sep Dec 2022, Mar Jun Sep Dec 2023, Mar 2024 || Judge (58): every month from Nov 2014 to Nov 2016 except Oct 2015, every month from Feb to Jul 2017 except Apr 2017, then Oct 2017, May Jun Nov 2018, Feb Jul 2019 (last on MTGS), every month from Aug 2019 (first on MTGN) to Feb 2020, May Jun 2020, Mar Apr Sep Oct 2021, Feb May Sep Dec 2022, Mar May Jun Sep Dec 2023, Jan Mar 2024
CCL - Winner (4): Jul 2016 (tied with Flatline), May 2017, Jul 2019 (last on MTGS), Jun 2021 (tied with slimytrout) || Host (5): Feb 2015, Mar Apr May Jun 2016
DCC - Winner (3): Mar 2015 (tied with Piar), Feb Apr 2022 || Host (12): May Oct 2015, Jan 2016, Jun Sep Dec 2021, Mar Jun Sep Dec 2022, Mar Jun 2023

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Ryder
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Post by Ryder » 4 years ago

Sign me up ;)

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bravelion83
MKM MCC going on now
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Post by bravelion83 » 4 years ago

Oh, I'd absolutely love to work with you here too. Have you ever judged in the MCC before? I think so, maybe years ago, but I'm not sure. Could you confirm it, please? Just to be sure it's not a trick of my mind (which wouldn't surprise me at all by the way...).
Edit : I have checked and you have indeed judged before. You are absolutely and officialĺy in right now. Thank you. I am looking forward to working with you again.

Round 1 wiĺl be posted tomorrow night.
Author of the MCC Guidelines and FAQ. | For my projects, including Jeff Lionheart, my murder mystery story "One pierced heart, two mindful horns", and republished articles from my series "The Lion's Lair", see Leo's content index (Last updated on March 24th 2024 - Added OPHTMH Episode 4).
After I'm done republishing my articles I want to reprise the series focusing it more on editing, wording, and templating. Suggest potential future article topics here.
My CCCG Resume (Updated on February 27th 2024)
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Blue = MTGSalvation Green = MTGNexus
MCC - Winner (9): Oct 2014, Apr Nov 2017, Jan 2018, Apr Jun 2019, Jan Mar 2022, Apr 2023 || Host (30): Dec 2014, Apr Jul Aug Dec 2015, Mar Jul Aug Oct 2016, Feb Jul 2017, Jun Nov 2018, Feb Jul 2019 (last on MTGS), Aug 2019 (first on MTGN) Oct 2019, Jan Jun 2020 Apr Oct 2021, Feb May Sep Dec 2022, Mar Jun Sep Dec 2023, Mar 2024 || Judge (58): every month from Nov 2014 to Nov 2016 except Oct 2015, every month from Feb to Jul 2017 except Apr 2017, then Oct 2017, May Jun Nov 2018, Feb Jul 2019 (last on MTGS), every month from Aug 2019 (first on MTGN) to Feb 2020, May Jun 2020, Mar Apr Sep Oct 2021, Feb May Sep Dec 2022, Mar May Jun Sep Dec 2023, Jan Mar 2024
CCL - Winner (4): Jul 2016 (tied with Flatline), May 2017, Jul 2019 (last on MTGS), Jun 2021 (tied with slimytrout) || Host (5): Feb 2015, Mar Apr May Jun 2016
DCC - Winner (3): Mar 2015 (tied with Piar), Feb Apr 2022 || Host (12): May Oct 2015, Jan 2016, Jun Sep Dec 2021, Mar Jun Sep Dec 2022, Mar Jun 2023

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Sojourner Dusk
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Post by Sojourner Dusk » 4 years ago

I'll offer my services as an editor should you need it, brave. Also, as a Reserve Judge, should there be a dearth for this month.
May your games be chaotic and your decks be rogue.



UBR Nekusar (EDH)
RGW Mayael, Naturally (EDH)

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bravelion83
MKM MCC going on now
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Post by bravelion83 » 4 years ago

If you mean for the story, no editors needed but thanks for the offer. You're officially in as a reserve judge. Feel free to submit a card as a player, it will count as a judge entry if you're actually needed. If somebody else signs up as a judge, that will be your submission. Signups are still open.
Author of the MCC Guidelines and FAQ. | For my projects, including Jeff Lionheart, my murder mystery story "One pierced heart, two mindful horns", and republished articles from my series "The Lion's Lair", see Leo's content index (Last updated on March 24th 2024 - Added OPHTMH Episode 4).
After I'm done republishing my articles I want to reprise the series focusing it more on editing, wording, and templating. Suggest potential future article topics here.
My CCCG Resume (Updated on February 27th 2024)
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Blue = MTGSalvation Green = MTGNexus
MCC - Winner (9): Oct 2014, Apr Nov 2017, Jan 2018, Apr Jun 2019, Jan Mar 2022, Apr 2023 || Host (30): Dec 2014, Apr Jul Aug Dec 2015, Mar Jul Aug Oct 2016, Feb Jul 2017, Jun Nov 2018, Feb Jul 2019 (last on MTGS), Aug 2019 (first on MTGN) Oct 2019, Jan Jun 2020 Apr Oct 2021, Feb May Sep Dec 2022, Mar Jun Sep Dec 2023, Mar 2024 || Judge (58): every month from Nov 2014 to Nov 2016 except Oct 2015, every month from Feb to Jul 2017 except Apr 2017, then Oct 2017, May Jun Nov 2018, Feb Jul 2019 (last on MTGS), every month from Aug 2019 (first on MTGN) to Feb 2020, May Jun 2020, Mar Apr Sep Oct 2021, Feb May Sep Dec 2022, Mar May Jun Sep Dec 2023, Jan Mar 2024
CCL - Winner (4): Jul 2016 (tied with Flatline), May 2017, Jul 2019 (last on MTGS), Jun 2021 (tied with slimytrout) || Host (5): Feb 2015, Mar Apr May Jun 2016
DCC - Winner (3): Mar 2015 (tied with Piar), Feb Apr 2022 || Host (12): May Oct 2015, Jan 2016, Jun Sep Dec 2021, Mar Jun Sep Dec 2022, Mar Jun 2023

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archemediesx
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Post by archemediesx » 4 years ago

I'd like to volunteer to judge this month.

here's the sample judgement i created.
SPOILER
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bravelion83 wrote:
4 years ago
Underworld Beast
Enchantment Creature — Beast (R)
Constellation — When an enchantments enters the battlefield, choose one -
• You gain life equal to your devotion to green and white.
• Choose a color. Target opponent loses life equal to their devotion to that color.
Its it's aura that determine the fate of your encounter with it. If its in a good mood, it will make you gifts. Otherwise, wounds and scars.
3/3
Mcc Rubric

Design
(0.5/3) Appeal – Do the different player psychographics (Timmy/Johnny/Spike) have a use for the card?
(-0.5) Timmy finds a four mana 3/3 with no keyword abilities, or immediate board state impact as a poor investment and will value this only slightly above a hill giant in terms of creature stats. Timmy finds the only redeeming quality of this card is its high variance to create a great story for gaining insurmountable life, or closing out a game with a single trigger activation. (-1) for Johnny this creature only possesses the ability for player life gain and life loss, resulting in deeply limited interactions outside of creature combat, and this doesn't satisfy johnnies need to have cards interact with each other. (-1) For Spike, this card is underwhelming as a hill giant on creature stats. While it's ability to potentially punish opponents for going too deep into a single color, it requires build around support, and will likely be a very swingy card in terms of game winning impact potential. Spike is not a player who gambles with odds and variability. This card lacks consistency and power.

(2.0/3) Elegance - Is the card easily understandable at a glance? Do all the flavor and mechanics combined as a whole make sense?
(-1) The overall complexity of getting a modal choice whenever an enchantment enters the battlefield under your control is not difficult to parse. though offering a choice inside of a modal choice has never been templated, likely due to parsing issues. As players are going to be unlikely to cause their opponent to loss anything less than the maximum amount of damage with this ability, it would likely be reworded to indicate they will lose life equal to their greatest color devotion. For a card with only single targets, having it trigger off any enchantment entering the battlefield will likely be missed as players will often assume it only triggers on their enchantments. If the life loss included all opponents, players sense of overall board state activations may better match the current trigger. (0) As an enchantment and creature that cares about other enchantments with either rewarding with life gain in colors that care about that, green and white, or punishing an opponent with life loss in a color that cares about that, black, mechanically the card makes sense in terms of its mechanical flavor and construction.

Development
(0.5/3) 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?
(-1)As a green, black and white creature without any corresponding evergreen abilities to differentiate it pulling from those colors, this creature does not make good use of its gold multicolor status. With some small tweaking to its criteria for life gain, this creature could just as well be a monoblack creature, as both life gain and life loss can be found exclusively in black. (-0.5) beyond the templating issue of having a choice embedded in a modal choice, there is nothing rules breaking with this card. (-1) The power level of the stats on this card are underwhelming at rare, and it lacks the overall package of abilities and power level that is expected with a rare level card. With no keywords and only a single triggered ability with modal single targets, this card belongs at the uncommon power level.

(1.5/3) 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?
(-1) this card is not balanced for rare level rarity in either constructed or limited environments. It lacks raw power in its stats and abilities to match constructed level play. See Siege Rhino for (albeit on the high power end of the spectrum) typical expectations for power level at this cards converted mana cost. In limited it lacks immediate board state presence at rare, and will be likely only be picked 10th to 15th pick due its heavy reliance on enchantment build around to positively affect the game state. (-0.5) It has a high level variance, and though underpowered, for casual players could find a home in play groups that like high variance build-arounds. For Multiplayer it will be underwhelming, though it triggers off all players, the life loss and life gain only affects a single player, it has no board state impact when it lands, and with multiple opponents it can't defend strongly against other converted mana cost 4 creatures. (0) Without strong additional enchantments in any particular format or game being played save maybe limited, this is a vanilla 3/3 creature, requiring it to fit into an enchantment build-around deck, and its low power level ensures that it will not be consistently oppressive without requiring additional cards to manipulate draw consistency.

Creativity
(0.5/3) 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"?
(-1) Over 30 creatures have been designed with a modal choice, and while most are designed with a single enter the battlefield trigger, Scaretiller, does a have repeatable modal trigger just like this creature. (-1) There's nothing new under the sun here. Constellation makes a return. Creatures have already pioneered modal triggers, and players gain and lose life by triggers from creatures and enchantments in every set. (0) Though a card has not been created with this precise template of abilities interconnected, it doesn't render an impression of uniqueness. (-0.5) With a lack of new gameplay patterns this card is no different from any other creature that would offer life gain or life loss.

(0.5/3) 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?
(-1) Underworld Beast is a generic name that doesn't indicate the mood that the flavor of the card wants to set. For a creature at Rare it's expected that if it's not a specific legendary name, the card name will at least place it in a highly specified location, or will have an adjective indicating a compelling aspect. I.E. Charming Prince or Clackbridge Troll. (-0.5) The flavor text has an equally generic presence and only speaks to its mechanical ability, and does not provide insight into the creature's place in the set's larger ecosystem and world. (-1) Beasts are most commonly untamed and unrulily, not the type to bestow gifts. On that note, there are no beast type creatures with the bestow ability. Based on this knowledge, Vorthos would find the flavor on this card in discord with itself.

Polish
(1.5/3) Quality - Points deducted for incorrect spelling, grammar, and templating.
(0) All words have been spelled correctly as exist in the template. (-1) More than two grammar mistakes across the card, ETB triggers are always stated "Whenever" not "when". [enchantment(s)] in the constellation ability shouldn't be pluralized. Duplicate words [its it's] at the start of the flavor text, and incorrect use of [its] the second time in the flavor text. Should be "it's" not "its". I.E. "…If it's in a good…" (-0.5) Templating at the end of a modal choice always ends with an em-dash, not an en-dash or hyphen. "Choose one —"

(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?
All Challenges met.
(2/2) Subchallenges - One point awarded per satisfied subchallenge condition.
All Subchallanges met.
Total: 11/25
*An entry with 0 points here is subject to disqualification.
"Easy Dude. You're being very Un-Dude."

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bravelion83
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Post by bravelion83 » 4 years ago

Received. Give me some time to look at it, and then I'll get back to you. (I've managed to find another person with my level of detail, if not even more. That bodes well already..., but it will definitely require some time, not just a few minutes...)

Ok, I'm starting this now. I've opened a Notepad window and I'll be taking notes as I read, then I'll post it here.

EDIT: [mention]archemediesx[/mention] Wow! *looks at the clock* Really? It took me almost three hours to do this? Anyway, these are my notes taken as I (tried to) read it all. Warning: it's long. Like, very long. No, even longer than that!
Leo's notes
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• So, before I even read a single word of the judgment, why isn't the quote properly formatted? Where's the bolded name, the mana cost, the italicized ability word and flavor text? If you have to do quotes like this, it's better not to do them at all (there are judges that don't do them and just post the judgment. You probably should have done the same here. That, or a proper quote. Not this. I'm sorry.

• Why are you putting in "mcc rubric" instead? And why do you copy the rubric questions? You also have a very strange way of writing judgment. You justify every single deduction, and you reason by deduction. Well, that's better than the rest, but you don't need to write the -0.5, -1, etc... for each deduction. At the contrary, it actually and honestly makes it quite harder to read. Just write the total next to each single category and you're fine.

• And I notice that in the categories the bolded formatting has disappeared too. Really, this makes me wonder which strange method you used to write these. If you copy them in word, the formatting should stay. Wait! I think I've got it! You're making what I'm doing now, writing in Notepad! Have I got it? That would erase all formatting. You took the rubric, copied it from here, pasted it in Notepad (losing all formatting in the rubric and quote), then you left the questions and answered them without erasing them. Then you copied the result from Notepad to Nexus, but the step through Notepad removed all formatting. That's a HUGE problem. Please do it in Word (I personally use Word and Excel now, once I had set up an Access database I don't use anymore), probably OpenOffice too would work, but not Notepad, because, well, this happens then... and it's not good.

Ok, now let's navigate this very hard-to-read-without-proper-formatting judgment:

Appeal — Timmy
• No, Timmy just doesn't care about "investment". That's Spike.
• No, Timmy doesn't care about "gaining insurmountable life, or closing out a game with a single trigger activation". That's Johnny. The little that remains is acceptable.

Appeal — Johnny
• "johnnies need" should be "Johnny's need". One of the things I always say to people I mentor as MCC judges is "we must not do the very same mistakes we're supposed to punish". Would you punish that mistake in a submitted card under Quality? Yes, you should. So you must pay extra attention not to make such mistake yourself as a judge.
• This part also sound very strange to me for how it's written. It's not that you said wrong things here, but you said them in a way that is very convoluted at the very least, and very confusing at worst.

Appeal — Spike
• Please use proper capitalization and autocard: "this card is underwhelming as a Hill Giant on creature stats." (This was there for Timmy too, I've just realized it).
• "While it's ability to..." NOOO!!! Why? It's "its" without apostrophe, because it's a possessive "its". Did you see what I did in the last sentence? Again, let's not make the same mistakes we're supposed to punish.
• "While it's ability to potentially punish opponents for going too deep into a single color, it requires build around support, and will likely be a very swingy card in terms of game winning impact potential." This sentence has huge English grammar problems. The "while" subordinate just lacks a verb. Now I'm not only merely confused, now I just don't understand what you're saying at all. Also, hyphens are probably needed too: "build-around", "game-winning".
• "Spike is not a player who gambles with odds and variability. This card lacks consistency and power." I wanted to end on a positive note. This sentence is perfect. I wish all the rest was like this.

• The Appeal score is probably a little lower than I intended for this card, but I could see it.

Elegance —
• I'll be honest, I've reread the -1 multiple times, and I still haven't got it. I'm really sorry to say it, but this is written in very bad and barely understandable (?) English. It's useless to write as much as I usually do or even more if people just don't understand what you write.
• Oh, the 0 made me understand what you did. You were answering to each single question. That's also why you didn't delete the questions. The questions are just meant as a guide, not to be answered one by one like this. This is just an unintended approach to judging, and I'm saying this as one of the two creators of the current rubric, and the writer of the guidelines. Have you read the explanation of the rubric in my guidelines document? If not, you probably should.

• I don't have any problem with the Elegance score.

Viability —
• "(-1)As..." A space is missing there. For the series "let's not do ourselves the mistakes we're supposed to punish." Third time I make that quote here. That must mean something, and unfortunately something not good.
• "a green, black and white creature": haven't you noticed that the order of colors is wrong? Abzan is WBG, and now the Tarkir ordering for 3-colored cards is the only official one. You should use the right color ordering even while saying things in the flow of the discourse, because, say it with me now... We judges shouldn't make the same mistakes we're supposed to punish. And we're only one third of the way. Who knows what the rest will reserve? Let's hope it gets better than this.
• "this creature does not make good use of its gold multicolor status." I totally disagree here. I designed this card to be gold. The first mode is green and white (notice I'm not writing "white and green"), the second mode is black because of the life loss. This is perfectly fine as an gold card, and in fact it was intended to be one.
• "With some small tweaking to its criteria for life gain, this creature could just as well be a monoblack creature": again pretty weird English. Anyway, at least now I understand what you mean, and it's true that you change life gain to draining, the card could be monoblack. But really, just try to use cleaner and clearer English.
• "the templating issue of having a choice embedded in a modal choice" which is not an issue at all... I've let it pass before, but here you say it again. That's not the templating problem on this card, there are some intentional ones, but this is not one of them. This would be perfectly fine on a printed card.
• "The power level of the stats on this card are underwhelming at rare": this is a perfect example of your weird English. Just write: "The power level of this card is underwhelming at rare." It's the same, shorter, and cleaner. And anyway I'm not sure I agree, but that' just personal opinion so it doesn't matter here.
• "it lacks the overall package of abilities and power level that is expected with a rare level card": I hope you don't mean "keywords" for "abitilies" because not all rare must have keywords. And keep in mind that a few vanilla rares also exist: Indomitable Ancients immediately comes to my mind.
• "With no keywords and only a single triggered ability with modal single targets, this card belongs at the uncommon power level.": I'm sorry but this is not the correct way to judge power level or rarity. Neither of them is judged simply by counting the number of keywords and ability. If I have four abilities, but all are very narrow and underwhelming, I'm still automatically rare because I have four abilities? No, I'm sorry. And anyway, you should talk about power level in Balance, not here.

• The Viability score is way lower than I intended when I designed this card. The language keeps being very strange and hard to understand, and in some areas you talk about things that belong in other areas.

Balance —
• More weird English generally, but in particular here: "due its heavy reliance on enchantment build around to positively affect the game state." Just end the sentence at "around". Same meaning, shorter, and clearer. Longer is not always better.
• "For Multiplayer": "multiplayer" should not be capitalized.
• "triggers off all players": "triggers off of all players". The weird English continues.
• "when it lands," please avoid potential ambiguities with Magic terms. You could have said "when it enters" here, or even the proper and full "when it enters the battlefield".
• "with multiple opponents it can't defend strongly against other converted mana cost 4 creatures." Why do you assumed the opposing creatures have CMC 4? I get what you mean, but the literal English of the sentence probably means the opposite of what you actually mean. You mean to compare this card with other cards that have 4 CMC, not that your opponent's creature must have CMC 4. Again, very unclear English. Here too you could have just ended the sentence before: "with multiple opponents it can't defend strongly." Very similar meaning, shorter, cleaner.
• The 0 only continues the theme of written badly and very hard to understand English language, even before getting technical.

• Overall, I agree with the Balance score. For once, not a bad remark.

Uniqueness —
• "trigger, Scaretiller, does a have repeatable modal trigger": for one, you used autocard. You should always use it. And the comma after the autocard is not just wrong but can actually change the meaning of the sentence. It should not be there.

• Yeah, now I've got what you did. Answer sentence by sentence attributing a score to each single sentence. Not the intended way at all. But what happens if, like here for example, there are 4 questions but only 3 points? If you give -1 to all four answer, you should give a -1 final score, but negative scores are NOT allowed (I have to add that in the eventual update to the guidelines document if it's not already there).
• Anyway, we totally agree on the very low Uniqueness score. I'd also probably give this card a 0.5 overall.

Flavor —
• "For a creature at Rare it's expected...": two things here. First, "rare" should not be capitalized. And second, I've lost the count of how many times you use the word "expectation" or the verb "to expect". There aren't really this many expectations in custom card design. We take the card and evaluate it in the context of recent Magic design (say the sets currently in Standard as reference), or another contest if the Main Challenge specifies otherwise.
• Glad to see autocard used here.
• "The flavor text ... only speaks to its mechanical ability": I get what you mean, but this is just a wrong sentence in English grammatically. Unless you mean that the card has a mouth, can speak, and it speaks to its own "mechanical ability" (also a very strange sequence of words) in the same way that I am speaking to you.
• "Beasts are most commonly untamed and unrulily, not the type to bestow gifts." Why couldn't an exception exist? Magic is full of exceptions, in both mechanics and flavor. For example, I say this sentence: "Demons are mana constructs and can't hold a planeswalker spark". This is true. But Ob Nixilis, a demon planeswalker, exists. Maybe the designer here wanted to make an exception, how could you know?

• Getting a low score in flavor was intended, so that's good.

Quality —
No, I'm sorry. Just no. Here's why:
• If the 0 is a 0 why even mention it? And anyway, the English of the sentence is still very weird.
• Way more than two mistakes!
• "ETB triggers are always stated "Whenever" not "when"." This sentence is just incorrect in English. "Stated"? To state and to start are different verbs. I think you wanted to say "ETB triggers always start with "Whenever" not "when"", which by the way is also just plain wrong.
• "[enchantment(s)] in the constellation ability shouldn't be pluralized." Two things here: use quotation marks instead of square brackets, and I've never hears "pluralized" as an English word. It's "plural". "The word "enchantments" in the constellation ability shouldn't be plural". Now this is a correct sentence in English.
• You only caught partially the mistake with "its". Actually, "its" and "it's" are both right here, they should only be reversed. You make a long and convoluted discourse about it, so long and convoluted that at a certain point I weren't following you anymore, I admit. And I'm half British, and I speak English since my childhood (I'm 36 now).
• "Templating at the end of a modal choice always ends with an em-dash": true, in fact an em-dash is exactly what I used. Not a mistake.
• You didn't catch at least four (4) intended Quality mistakes.
THE END
I'm very sorry but at the current state, I cannot accept your application. I'll leave you the choice:
• play instead of judging this month, or
• try again submitting a new sample judgment, but starting from stratch. Throw away this one, and make a new one using proper English sentence construction, grammar, orthography (even though I understand that English is probably your second language, but don't worry, it's also my own second language so don't be discouraged by that), and with proper formatting. Don't use Notepad for judging, it takes away all formatting. Use Word or some other word-processing software (there are even free ones like OpenOffice, or even just Google Drive), Don't assign a score to each question in the rubric, those are examples of things you should talk about in that area, not questions that each have an assigned score. Deepen your knowledge of who Timmy, Johnny, and Spike really are, there are some excellent articles by Maro about that.

In short, I'm sorry but I'm rejecting this attempt (first time ever that I do in six years I think, and it feels really bad to me too, trust me). You can play, or try the sample judgment again, but way way better that this. I'm really sorry. If I can help you in any way, I am here. And I'd love you to succeed! I'd love to praise your work. Let me finish with a thing I always say to my students (I'm a high school teacher in real life, even if currently unemployed): "Remember, a teacher is not happy to give you bad marks. Never. I want you all to succeed, and I'm sure my colleagues too." It's the same for you. It's as if now I am the teacher that I am and you're a student who just got a bad mark. I am not happy. I want you to succeed. I want to give you high marks, but you have to allow me. Please do. I'd love if you did. And thanks for trying. Keep trying! Here, as in real life. Never give up!

—Leo


To everyone: the signups are still open.
Author of the MCC Guidelines and FAQ. | For my projects, including Jeff Lionheart, my murder mystery story "One pierced heart, two mindful horns", and republished articles from my series "The Lion's Lair", see Leo's content index (Last updated on March 24th 2024 - Added OPHTMH Episode 4).
After I'm done republishing my articles I want to reprise the series focusing it more on editing, wording, and templating. Suggest potential future article topics here.
My CCCG Resume (Updated on February 27th 2024)
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MCC - Winner (9): Oct 2014, Apr Nov 2017, Jan 2018, Apr Jun 2019, Jan Mar 2022, Apr 2023 || Host (30): Dec 2014, Apr Jul Aug Dec 2015, Mar Jul Aug Oct 2016, Feb Jul 2017, Jun Nov 2018, Feb Jul 2019 (last on MTGS), Aug 2019 (first on MTGN) Oct 2019, Jan Jun 2020 Apr Oct 2021, Feb May Sep Dec 2022, Mar Jun Sep Dec 2023, Mar 2024 || Judge (58): every month from Nov 2014 to Nov 2016 except Oct 2015, every month from Feb to Jul 2017 except Apr 2017, then Oct 2017, May Jun Nov 2018, Feb Jul 2019 (last on MTGS), every month from Aug 2019 (first on MTGN) to Feb 2020, May Jun 2020, Mar Apr Sep Oct 2021, Feb May Sep Dec 2022, Mar May Jun Sep Dec 2023, Jan Mar 2024
CCL - Winner (4): Jul 2016 (tied with Flatline), May 2017, Jul 2019 (last on MTGS), Jun 2021 (tied with slimytrout) || Host (5): Feb 2015, Mar Apr May Jun 2016
DCC - Winner (3): Mar 2015 (tied with Piar), Feb Apr 2022 || Host (12): May Oct 2015, Jan 2016, Jun Sep Dec 2021, Mar Jun Sep Dec 2022, Mar Jun 2023

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