January MCC Round 3
A sign in the stars
The story continues.
"What a stupid I've been! What a stupid all leonin are, willingly choosing not to believe in being that actually exist. Why can't we see the truth? This is the truth: that we're blind to the truth just because we put a blindfold on our own eyes all by ourselves. Is there a way to escape if Phenax, the so-called god of deception, was actually deceiving me? Maybe he's laughing of me behind my shoulders and there is no falling star to wait for. Maybe I should go back to him. Or maybe not, do I want to go back to him just to let him deceive me again. It's us, as a whole race, who deceived ourselves. A god can't deceive you if you don't believe in them, but you can easily deceive yourself if you think you're the owner of the world, if you think there is no being higher than himself. It's this self-deception that ruins us leonin. Now I see it. And I also see that we should have indeed helped that human, regardless of him invoking a god. Heliod. According to what Erebos said between one whip and another one Heliod exists too, even if I haven't seen him yet here. Anyway, it's clear now that Jeff was right. Jeff, wherever you might be now, know that you did good by disobeying to me, your boss. You were right. My order was wrong. I was wrong."
One day, while still looking thoughtful at the sky, he saw it.
"Here it is! The falling star! Phenax wasn't deceiving me, at least not this time. I have to go back to him right now."
He ran to the same spot of the previous times.
"Oh, here it is. My fugitive little bird."
"What do I have to do?"
"Oh, you want to go directly to our business. I was hoping you were open to some small talk before..."
"No, no more of that nonsense, please!"
"You're just lucky I have no whip like Erebos's one. If I had one its tip would be hurting your back right now."
"How can I leave this hell of a place?!?"
"Oh, it's quite literally a hell. Well, not all of it. Ilysia, where those who were heroes in life are allowed to spend their afterlife, is actually a beautiful place. But it's not for you. You're not required to go there. Your mission is another."
"Now we're talking. What is it?"
"A simple task that will allow you to leave this place with a mask but your identity intact!"
"What is it?"
"Your ticket back to the world of the living!"
"What. Is. It!"
"Your ultimate prize!"
"You're just deceiving me!"
"Who knows? Maybe. Do you still want to escape or not?"
"Of course I do."
"Good. Just solve me a little problem... and freedom will be yours again!"
"What's the problem?"
"I know that you leonin don't care about our own private matters... but thereìs a war here! A war among the gods!"
"What a pity!"
"Keep your sarcasm to yourself."
"Says the god of sarcasm!"
"Well, in a sense sarcasm is a form of deception, so I guess you're actually right about that. Anyway, I'll tell you a secret..."
"How many people have you already told it to?"
"Ah, I like the way you reason! Let's say 'enough'. You've finally realized we gods exist, but what if I told you we weren't the first?"
"Go on."
"Oh, come on, show at least a little stupor on your face... No? Fine, I'll just tell you. Titans! Gigantic beings who thought they ruled the world!"
"It reminds me of someone..."
"Oh, no. No, no, no. We gods are different."
"In which way, specifically?"
"We're powerful!"
"Weren't them?"
"More powerful! We fought, and we sealed them away here in the Underworld. One of us, called Klothys, the god of destiny, even offered to seal herself here as their jailer. But here's where my problem starts. As if Erebos and his whip weren't enough to hinder my people escaping, she also had to interfere! How dared she!"
"And what does this have to do with the war among the gods?"
"Because my direct enemies are Erebos and her."
"And how did this war start?"
"That's not much of your business, but let's say there has been an intrusion... With Klothys sealing herself here, her place in Nyx was briefly taken by an impostor, who had the brilliant idea of showing to the world that a mortal could become a god. Yes, I'm also the god of sarcasm. I've been keeping it a secret for a long time, then this satyr comes, ascends to godhood, and look! Now everybody knows they can become a god! And if they become gods, where will we go? All of us turned paranoid, and what happens when you put together fifteen such beings who just became suspicious of each other?"
"War?"
"Exactly!"
"So how is she your direct enemy? Has she got a weapon like Erobos's whip?"
"She has the best weapon you could have. People."
"People?"
"Yes, she calls them 'agents of fate', and she sends them after people who, as she says, want to escape their destiny of staying in the Underworld. So, I make people like you escape and both Erebos and Klothys get mad at you and at me, and one whips you while the other sends enemies after you."
"How about going back to my mission?"
"I'm getting there. There are two parts. The first is to just kill as many agents of fate as you can."
"Without weapons?"
"We'll talk about that in just a second."
"And anyway, how do I recognize them?"
"By the webs they all carry. They and their creator gave them some pathetic name like 'webs of destiny' or something like that. They use them to trap fugitives! Unacceptable! They must be taken out."
"Ok, so this is part one. Killing these agents of fate. What's part two?"
"There is a specific agent of fate that I would particularly appreciate if he were brought down. His name is Calix. He's been created by Klothys to go after one person who's trying to escape. She would have done better to come to me, just like you did, but she's still looking for freedom, and I look at her in a sympathetic way, let's say. Every soul that escapes, regardless of how, is one more hit to Erebos and Klothys. Oh, how beautiful would an empty Underworld be! Everbody has escaped! The highest of visions! Wouldn't you like if it turned real?"
"I care about myself, and my people. I have to go tell my people about you! That's what I would like! That my fellow leonin knew the truth!"
"And to do that you need a mask so they don't recognize you and kill you again on sight, and to retain your identity. We've already gone through that."
"That's what's important to me!"
"You will have that and more if you kill Calix. That's your mission. Kill Calix, and freedom is yours!"
"How do I recognize him in particular?"
"I'm planting into your mind his image right now, for that specific purpose."
"I'm not feeling anything."
"Normal. But you will recognize him, trust me."
"Are you really asking me to trust the god of deception?"
"You're already trusting me by accepting my mission."
"True. I admit this was a good trick."
"Thank you. So, let's recap. In short: side goal, kill as many agents of fate as you can; main goal: kill Calix and let the person he's after escape to freedom. And extra goal: if you're even able to dispose of Klothys herself, that would be the maximum. But I'll be generous and I will deem Calix enough to grant you your own freedom. Is everything clear?"
"Yes. I'll do it."
"Good. But wasn't there some detail left?"
"Which one?"
"The weapons! You need them!"
"Oh yes, I do. What have you got for me?"
"Take a look at these. Nyx daggers forged by Purphoros himself."
"Is he on your side in the war? Is he your ally?"
"He's everybody's ally. To him, keeping the freedom to forge his weapons is enough. I went to him to ask for a weapon specifically for your mission, and these are what he forged for me... No, for you! They even have a name, like all weapons that Purphoros make. They're called 'aktifotas', which means 'rays of starlight', because Purphoros literally forged them from light coming from the stars of Nyx. Take them and try them. Try shattering them against the hardest rock around here!"
Okite unsuccessfully attempted several times.
"They don't break. Something's up here, isn't it?"
"Yes. They've been made to be unbreakable."
In fact, the daggers were of a kind Okite had never seen before, shining with the starry sky of Nyx, that made them divine weapons and thus unbreakable.
"Now you can go, Okite. Your hunt has just begun."
Main Challenge - Design a regular rare card that has exactly one of the four named mechanics from THB (Constellation, devotion, escape, Sagas).
Subchallenge 1 - Your card is not a land.
Subchallenge 2 - Your card has no mana symbols in its rules text.
• Your card has to belong at the required rarity. You can't just take Llanowar Elves, put in a regular rare rarity (yay alliterations!) instead of common and submit it as is. Or better, you technically can, but expect huge deductions in several areas of the rubric if you do. Trust me, it's not a good idea.
• Your card must have exactly one or the four mechanics from THB: it has to have one (no cards without any of the four mechanics), and it can't have more than one (no mix-and-match cards).
• Your choices will NOT be tracked this month, so don't worry about them influencing future rounds. They won't. You will be able to make all four rounds with the same mechanic if you want.
• For Sagas, having the Saga mechanic means that your card is a Saga. It can't simply reference Sagas, it has to be a Saga itself.
Subchallenge 1
• Your card passes this subchallenge as long as it does not have the card type "Land" on its type line.
• The word "Land" can be mentioned with any meaning, including the Magic card type, in rules text or flavor text. This subchallenge only looks at the type line.
Subchallenge 2
• No mana symbols of any type.
• From the discussion thread:
bravelion83 wrote: ↑4 years agoNo, reminder text is not rules text. You can have all the mana symbols you want in reminder text. That's relevant for both escape and devotion.
DEADLINES
Design deadline: Saturday, January 25th 2020, 23:59 EDT
Judging deadline: Tuesday, January 28th 2020, 23:59 EDT
RUBRIC
(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
Ryder
Sojourner Dusk
PLAYERS
[mention]Gateways7[/mention]
[mention]Icarii[/mention]
[mention]netn10[/mention]
[mention]Raptorchan[/mention]
[mention]slimytrout[/mention]
[mention]Subject16[/mention]
A reminder to everyone:
In the MCC, putting rarity on cards is mandatory! If you don't put a rarity on your card, expect huge deductions in both Viability AND Quality.
Please check out the MCC Guidelines and FAQ if you have the will and time. Link here and in my signature. Among the many things you can find there are a detailed explanation of the rubric (section 6.2) and the recommended card formatting (section 4) that you should use to format your text cards. Expect deductions in Quality otherwise.
BRACKETS
This is the versus round. The player with the highest combined score in each pair advance to the final round.
Judge: Ryder
Gateways7 vs. Icarii
Raptorchan vs. Subject16
Judge: bravelion83
netn10 vs. slimytrout
Gateways7 vs. Icarii
Judge: Sojourner Dusk
Raptorchan vs. Subject16
netn10 vs. slimytrout