January CCL Final Poll

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Whose designs were best?

Poll ended at 4 years ago

Ink-Treader
2
29%
void_nothing
5
71%
 
Total votes: 7

slimytrout
Posts: 1865
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Post by slimytrout » 4 years ago

It's time to vote for the winner of the January CCL! The contestants had to use four mechanics (Fortify, Splice, Totem Armor, and Jump-Start) in the following challenge:

Challenge
Design the following four cards using all five colors and all four rarities:
  • A instant or sorcery with one of the above mechanics.
  • An artifact or enchantment with a different one of the mechanics.
  • A planeswalker that uses the name of a third mechanic (e.g., Wrenn and Six or Narset Transcendent)
  • A creature that uses the name of the final mechanic (e.g., Snapcaster Mage or Keldon Warcaller)



    And here are their entries:
    Ink-Treader wrote:
    4 years ago
    Breath Tax B
    Instant (C)
    Each opponent loses 1 life and you gain that much life.
    Splice onto instant or sorcery—1B or tap an untapped Vampire you control (As you cast an instant or sorcery spell, you may reveal this card from your hand and pay its splice cost. If you do, add this card's effects to that spell.)
    Death is cheaper.

    Druidic Binding GGGG
    Enchantment - Aura (R)
    Enchant land
    Totem armor
    You control enchanted land. It's a 4/4 Elemental creature with vigilance, haste and "This can't be sacrificed." It's still a land.
    Worse than druids could borrow your local landmarks. At least they'll bring it back how they found it.

    Ral, Visionary Experimenter XUR
    Legendary Planeswalker - Ral (M)
    Instant and sorcery cards in your graveyard with converted mana cost less than or equal to Ral, Visionary Experimenter's loyalty have jump-start.
    +1: Draw a card, then discard a card unless you exile an instant or sorcery card from your graveyard.
    -3: When you cast your next instant or sorcery card this turn, copy it. You may choose new targets for the copy. If you cast that spell from your graveyard, copy it twice instead.
    <X>

    Conquest Architect 1W
    Creature - Human Artificer (U)
    When Conquest Architect enters the battlefield, you may attach a Fortification you control to target land you control.
    T: Target fortified land you control becomes a 3/3 Construct creature with first strike until end of turn. It's still a land.
    "A fortress is only suitable to hold what you have. I can do better."
    1/3
    void_nothing wrote:
    4 years ago
    Fulguritize 1RR
    Instant (R)
    Target instant or sorcery card in your graveyard gains jump-start until end of turn. Whenever you cast a spell with the same name as that card this turn, that spell deals damage equal to its converted mana cost to target creature.
    Jump-start
    Ral and Mizzix's target-zapping contests featured infinite do-overs.

    Healers' Ward 2
    Artifact - Fortification (C)
    Fortified land has "T: Prevent the next 1 damage that would be dealt to any target this turn."
    Tap two untapped Clerics you control: Untap fortified land.
    Fortify 2

    Estrid, Who Communes with Umbras GWU
    Legendary Planeswalker - Estrid (M)
    +2: All Auras you control attached to permanents you control gain totem armor until the beginning of your next turn.
    -2: Create a green, white, and blue Aura enchantment token named Estrid's Glory attached to target creature. The token has enchant creature and "Enchanted creature gets +2/+2 and has flying, vigilance, and trample."
    -8: Exile all permanents that aren't enchantments, enchanted, or Estrid.
    {[4]}

    Obsessive Akuba 1B
    Creature - Spirit (U)
    Whenever you splice a card onto a spell, Obsessive Akuba gets +1/+1 and gains lifelink until end of turn.
    Discard a black card: Add BB. Spend this mana only to pay splice costs.
    Left to their own devices, they would steal all of Takenuma's mana, channeling it into a single dark purpose.
    1/1
    Poll will be open for 5 days.

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void_nothing
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Post by void_nothing » 4 years ago

I really enjoy Treader's cards here but I would love some comments if anyone has any.
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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Ryder
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Post by Ryder » 4 years ago

Ink-Treader:
Breath Tax is a neat little card that may actually do some work in Vampire tribal.
I love the concept behind Druidic Binding. I would only remove the stealing effect and adjust the numbers.
Ral with X in the cost for Loyalty is awesome.
Conquest Architect should be a Rare. Otherwise, okay.

void_nothing:
Fulguritize would be so much better if it costed RR. Having to discard a land to cast the spell is drawback enough. The idea is good though.
Healers' Ward could be nice in a set with a good number of Clerics.
Estrid. Oh well. Firstly, I hate cheap PWs that have +2 abilities. That is such a big middle finger to most aggro decks. Secondly, that -2 makes her so much better than Serra's Embrace...
Obsessive Akuba definitely tingles my J senses. I approve.

slimytrout
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Post by slimytrout » 4 years ago

Not voting this month because I ran it, but can still contribute my comments:

Fulguritize: Love the name and the concept. I believe it would still work (and be clearer) if it read 'until end of turn, cards you own with the same name as that card have "this spell deals damage equal to its converted mana cost to target creature."'

Healers' Ward: Love it; great evocative common on both flavor and mechanics, perfect for limited.

Estrid...: Not a fan of the name and, as Ryder said, a 3-mana walker that goes straight to 6 loyalty can be really tough to deal with. Especially if you manage to get an aura on Estrid, in which case the +2 renders her practically immune to Jund colors.

Obsessive Akuba: Big fan. No notes.

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void_nothing
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Post by void_nothing » 4 years ago

Thanks, guys! (Yeah, I think I badly misstepped by giving Estrid a +2 instead of +1, but the Estrid's Glory token doesn't seem to be a problem to me - it's not fair to compare an uncommon Aura that's only ever been Limited playable, if that. and one that was originally printed 20 years ago, no less to a mythic.)

I'll evaluate @Ink-Treader's cards after the poll closes.
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

slimytrout
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Joined: 4 years ago
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Post by slimytrout » 4 years ago

Congrats to @void_nothing, winner of the January CCL!

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

Congratulations, void_nothing!

Anyways, on to critiques

Fulguritize: Interesting bonus to tack onto a this kind of card. Can definitely do some explosive things, but the initial cost keeps it in line early on.

Healers' Ward: Simple, but useful. Fortifications are hard to evaluate, but this at the least doesn't look overpowered

Estrid, Who Communes With Umbras: I do have to agree with Ryder, she's incredibly hard to bring down for a three mana planeswalker, even if she is three color. The +2 has high do-nothing potential, but the -2 helps with that. Ultimate might come a little fast, but it's nothing we haven't seen before at least, considering the Gideon from Return to Ravnica

On that note, I did consider totem armor Estrid as an option myself, but ultimately decided that jump-start might be neat (I also considered an emblem that gave splice 0 as an ultimate instead)

Obsessive Okuba: A fair splice pay off and enabler. I'm wondering if it could instead exile black cards from the graveyard for the activated ability. Splice is in retrospect a lot cooler on paper than it is in practice. It requires keeping cards in hand and paying a cost and casting instants and sorceries, so a little more power wouldn't break this I think.

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Ryder
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Post by Ryder » 4 years ago

Congrats void_nothing :)

About the comparison with Serra's Embrace, by my book higher rarities should be more complex, but not necessarily strictly better than lower rarities, Rare vs Common okay, largely unavoidable. Rares (or Mythics - should be same power-wise) vs Uncommon - nope. This is a good 4 mana Aura. Estrid costs 1 less (okay, color weight and rarity could balance this fact alone), gives trample on top of other effects and you have both repeatability and choices attached! Alright I'm done ;)

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void_nothing
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Post by void_nothing » 4 years ago

Good show Treader!

Breath Tax - This is one of those things that would require some... strange... context to make sense. Splice plus Vampire tribal are of course mechanics that could easily coexist, but I don't think there's a setting that makes sense for them both. Free splicing is a bit strong, especially for something that can heavily affect the life total race. Still, I like alt splice costs quite a bit.

Druidic Binding - Not a lot of precedent for green gaining control of lands, but I know what you're using - Gilt-Leaf Archdruid. That's a bit of a special case though. Still, I don't hate green getting this. It shouldn't be used that often anyway. (I think red should maybe be getting it if at all, though. Blue has always gotten it but hardly needs it, right?) Anyway, the cost is color-heavy but this is clearly strong stuff. Totem armor is all but a drawback here, which I'm not sure how I feel about.

Ral, Visionary Experimenter - There's precedent for Xwalkers - Nissa, Steward of Elements - but this is a great use of this space. Really like this. Feels super Ral.

Conquest Architect - Good stuff. Strong in context but it's a fairly narrow uncommon, and I really like the flavor.
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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