May CCL, Top 8: Streak of Gold

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void_nothing
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Post by void_nothing » 3 years ago

CCL May Top 8/Round 3

"Streak of Gold"


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Mythos of Vadrok, taken from Twitter, by Seb McKinnon and Wizards of the Coast
Welcome to the Card Creation League! Everyone is free to participate in either or both of the first two rounds. Come join us!

Theme

It's Colors Month here in the CCL! The five colors, their corresponding mana, and the mechanical color pie are the very foundation of Magic. This month we'll see how the colors themselves can matter mechanically.

Challenge
Design an "enhanced" card - one that cares about the types of mana spent to cast it.
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Contestants:
@slimytrout
@Ink-Treader
@Phyrexian Editor
@Henlock
@haywire
@Subject16
@RaikouRider
@netn10
Your submissions are due Friday, May 22nd, 23:59 EST.
Schedule
  • Round 1 — Open to Everyone (May 1st–7th)
  • Round 2 — Open to Everyone (May 8th–14th)
  • Rounds 1 and 2 Critiques (Due May 17th)
  • Top 8 — Open to top 8 finishers (May 19th–22nd)
  • Top 8 Critiques (Due May 24th)
  • Top 4 — Open to top 4 finishers (May 25th–28th)
  • Top 4 Critiques (Due May 30th)
  • Final (June, winner determined by public poll)
Psst, check the second page of Custom Card Contests & Games! Because of the daily contests, a lot of games fall down to there.

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Ink-Treader
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Post by Ink-Treader » 3 years ago

Firemanes' Zeal {R/W}{R/W}{R/W}{R/W}
Instant (R)
Firemanes' Zeal deals 4 damage to target attacking or blocking creature. If RRRR was spent to cast Firemanes' Zeal, it deals 2 damage to any number of other target attacking or blocking creatures. If WWWW was spent to cast Firemanes' Zeal, you gain 4 life and creatures you control gain lifelink until end of turn.
Last edited by Ink-Treader 3 years ago, edited 1 time in total.

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RaikouRider
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Post by RaikouRider » 3 years ago

Thoughtnapping 2BB
Sorcery {R}
This spell can't be countered.
Target opponent reveals their hand. You choose a permanent card from it. Exile that card. If UR was spent to cast this spell, create a token that's a copy of that card.

haywire
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Post by haywire » 3 years ago

Otherside Amulet
Artifact
When Otherside Amulet enters the battlefield, if was spent to cast it, create a 1/1 white Spirit creature token with flying.
When Otherside Amulet enters the battlefield, if was spent to cast it, create a 1/1 black Shade creature token with menace.
Sacrifice Otherside Amulet: Target token creature you control gets +2/+1 until end of turn. Regenerate it.
Whenever a nontoken creature you control dies, you may exile it from your graveyard. If you do, return Otherside Amulet from your graveyard to your hand.

slimytrout
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Post by slimytrout » 3 years ago

Blazing Fists 2R
Instant (U)
Target creature you control deals damage equal to its power to any target.
Adamant — If at least three red mana was spent to cast this spell, it has rebound.
"I think it's time to introduce these thugs to my two friends: fire and brimstone."
—Varija Janak, Firefist sergeant

netn10
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Post by netn10 » 3 years ago

Alchemist's Bolt 2R
Instant (Uncommon)
Alchemist's Bolt deals 3 damage to any target.
If W was spent to cast Alchemist's Bolt, it has lifelink.
If B was spent to cast Alchemist's Bolt, it has deathtouch.

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Subject16
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Post by Subject16 » 3 years ago

Zeal Dancer 1G
Creature — Elemental (Uncommon)
When Zeal Dancer enters the battlefield, if R was spent to cast it, create a 1/1 red Elemental creature token with haste. If W was spent to cast it, put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control. (Do both if RW was spent.)
Evoke 1RW (You may cast this spell for its evoke cost. If you do, it's sacrificed when it enters the battlefield.)
March to the beat of your own drum.
2/1

Phyrexian Editor
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Post by Phyrexian Editor » 3 years ago

Radiation Burst
Instant - Arcane {U}
When you cast Radiation Burst, copy it for each R spent to cast it.
Radiation Burst deals 1 damage to any target.
"It seems the more energy injected into the material at the start, the more effective the end result." -Notes from Autopsy #271

It's a Forked Bolt! It's a Flame Javelin! It's all this and more, just $19.99 if you call now

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Post by void_nothing » 3 years ago

About 24 hours remain in the round.
Psst, check the second page of Custom Card Contests & Games! Because of the daily contests, a lot of games fall down to there.

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Henlock
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Post by Henlock » 3 years ago

Hipolitia, the Deemer 2w
Legendary Creature - Angel Advisor (m)
Flying
When Hipolitia, the Deemer enters the battlefield, destroy all other permanents with converted mana cost 3 or greater if wubrg was spent to cast it.
3/3

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Post by void_nothing » 3 years ago

The round is closed. Please critique and top 3 everyone else who entered. As the first post says, you have until midnight Eastern on the 24th.
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

Henlock
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Post by Henlock » 3 years ago

Phyrexian Editor- At rrr, this is a very good piece of burn. When I first looked at it, I saw that 1 damage would cost you 6 life, but then I wondered how many times I would have given 6 life for 1 extra damage, extra storm-count or extra card in my graveyard and I decided this is a good option to have. The fact that makes copies give good synergy with stuff like Blaze Commando, fire servant. Really solid ans flexible. EDIT: didn't get you can't choose new targrts, veey good anyways.

subject16: I like the evoke option here, but it looks like this will almost be cast everytime for Selesnya. I think that casting this for wg and getting a 3/2 plus counters on each creature is truly powerful even on curve,

netn10; Pretty solid in every mode. The option of a more expensive Terminate or lightning helix or kind of booth for mardu is excellent value.

slimytrout: I find this adamant bonus a bit too aggressive. considering it is an instant and that it can hit players. Played on an opponent's eot with a 3/1 would next 6 damage for little investment and the chance of removing two creatures feels a bit too powerful too. Adamant bonuses were quite tame because they bear little to no cost to.monocolored decks and such ammount of damage is difficult to balance for monored.

haywire: at wb you get two tokens whoxh is nice, the sac ability is very good and the recurring clause is also very nice. The problem is that having the three effects together is a bit too much. Ithink that "If you spent bb do this and if you spent ww do that" would go a good way into balancing, as the regeneation for tokens and the reusability are fine effects together. (I'd go as far as to lowering the plus to +1/+1)

RaikouRaider: While this will not make any waves in standard or modern, I feel this can actually be a very powerful spell in commander, where you always have players with juicy handsizes and dramatically big permanents awaiting to be cast. To cite some examples, taking a Pathbreaker Ibex, a mirari's wake or even a good old Maze of Ith will feel very, very nice. If you play commander, you: can probably think up.of dozens of juicy target. Hands are not attacked much in commander and this is actually a great option to have.

Ink-Treader: Compared to other direct damage spells to attackers and blockers I think the flexibility is not really worth the extra cost. Both colors have very good options for this role.

1. RaikouRider
2. phyrexian Editor
3. netn10
Last edited by Henlock 3 years ago, edited 5 times in total.

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Post by Ink-Treader » 3 years ago

slimytrout
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Strictly better Soul's Fire, but probably still fine with that in mind.
Phyrexian Editor
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Quite flexible, though some of that flexibility is... painful. On one end it's a much worse Gut Shot. On the high end, it's Flame Javelin without the option to pay 6. It's definitely an interesting card, and probably not too dangerous to print. (I will note that it's notForked Bolt. You don't have the all important "you may choose new targets for the copies" text. If it DID have that, I'd actually feel it was overpowered in sheer flexibility.)
Henlock
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While I like the puzzle it presents (other than it being obviously good in Commander), it feels lame for a Mythic. It definitely can't be anything lower than rare though, which would just make it more likely to disappoint drafters.
haywire
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This seems really good. It's not even entirely awful without the bonuses, if limited in scope, but the bonuses push it very hard, perhaps even over the top.
Subject16
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Pretty aggressive rates on the base creature, but not insane. Interesting that it's hard to say how often the Evoke cost is worth it.
RaikouRider
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Feels rather dreadful without the bonus, but the bonus can be quite nice.
netn10
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The base rate is a bit poor, but not unreasonable. The bonuses are nice, without being overbearing.
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Post by slimytrout » 3 years ago

Ink-Treader
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Man, the base rate is really weak on this -- Arrows of Justice is an uncommon with the same effect for one mana cheaper and much less color-intensive. So you'd really only play this in a mono-R deck (the mono-W version is also not very strong), at which point you'd probably prefer to be playing burn that can go to the face.
RaikouRider
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Not a very impressive rare without the bonus - Memory Leak will get you an almost strictly better effect plus cycling for one mana less, and that's at common. With the bonus it becomes *much* stronger, so this is really only getting played in a UBR deck.
haywire
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Missing a rarity, so big ding for that. Also seems quite good in a WB deck, to the point of being too strong - as long as you can keep a token creature alive, you can just keep sacrificing the amulet and rebuying it whenever one of your other creatures dies, and you get quite a good rate each time.
netn10
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Fun idea, and I'm not entirely sure why R&D hasn't done a card like this yet. Lifelink and deathtouch are the two creature keywords that work on spells, so it has a nice completeness.
Subject16
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Lot of options here, so I can understand why you missed that this is too good if played for GW: Huatli's Raptor is already quite good, and this would very likely be a substantial upgrade, plus there are a bunch of other options for added flexibility. Also some formatting problems with missing italics on reminder text.
Phyrexian Editor
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A card that would test the classic trade-off between flexibility and power. Since the copies aren't allowed to have new targets (if they could, it would be almost certainly too good), it can easily be compared to each spot on the curve: Gut Shot, Shock, Lightning Strike, and Flame Javelin. It's quite weak at each of the early modes, since it has a big additional life cost, but the later modes are fairly close to the existing cards, so I suspect that this would be very strong in a standard burn deck. Fun idea though!
Henlock
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Obvious commander plant, since it's pretty hard to get going in a 1v1 format (Geist-Fueled Scarecrow plus Lodestone Golem in your 5-color deck?). Nothing wrong with that per se, but I'm not much of a commander player so it doesn't really get me going.
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Post by Phyrexian Editor » 3 years ago

Ink-Treader
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Firemanes' Zeal {R/W}{R/W}{R/W}{R/W}
Instant (R)
Firemanes' Zeal deals 4 damage to target attacking or blocking creature. If RRRR was spent to cast Firemanes' Zeal, it deals 2 damage to any number of other target attacking or blocking creatures. If WWWW was spent to cast Firemanes' Zeal, you gain 4 life and creatures you control gain lifelink until end of turn.
Fun! I dig the idea to reward mono decks and the fully hybrid effect. I'd add "to each of any number of other" for clarity.
RaikouRider
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Thoughtnapping 2BB
Sorcery {R}
This spell can't be countered.
Target opponent reveals their hand. You choose a permanent card from it. Exile that card. If UR was spent to cast this spell, create a token that's a copy of that card.
Oooh, I like this. All the previous R permanent clones have added haste, so that might've been a nice touch. Otherwise, UU seems a more natural choice for the extra cost, though of course that'd depend on the environment.
haywire
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Otherside Amulet
Artifact
When Otherside Amulet enters the battlefield, if was spent to cast it, create a 1/1 white Spirit creature token with flying.
When Otherside Amulet enters the battlefield, if was spent to cast it, create a 1/1 black Shade creature token with menace.
Sacrifice Otherside Amulet: Target token creature you control gets +2/+1 until end of turn. Regenerate it.
Whenever a nontoken creature you control dies, you may exile it from your graveyard. If you do, return Otherside Amulet from your graveyard to your hand.
I get what you're going for, but this is just too many abilities. It's also missing rarity, which would be a problem because it doesn't feel rare but would have to be for its level of complexity.
slimytrout
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Blazing Fists 2R
Instant (U)
Target creature you control deals damage equal to its power to any target.
Adamant — If at least three red mana was spent to cast this spell, it has rebound.
"I think it's time to introduce these thugs to my two friends: fire and brimstone."
—Varija Janak, Firefist sergeant
I like the design. Nice shields down moment to let the opponent eliminate the big guy so they don't get hit twice.
netn10
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Alchemist's Bolt 2R
Instant (Uncommon)
Alchemist's Bolt deals 3 damage to any target.
If W was spent to cast Alchemist's Bolt, it has lifelink.
If B was spent to cast Alchemist's Bolt, it has deathtouch.
Nice, simple, playful.
Subject16
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Zeal Dancer 1G
Creature — Elemental (Uncommon)
When Zeal Dancer enters the battlefield, if R was spent to cast it, create a 1/1 red Elemental creature token with haste. If W was spent to cast it, put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control. (Do both if RW was spent.)
Evoke 1RW (You may cast this spell for its evoke cost. If you do, it's sacrificed when it enters the battlefield.)
March to the beat of your own drum.
2/1
Heh, neato!
Henlock
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Hipolitia, the Deemer 2w
Legendary Creature - Angel Advisor (m)
Flying
When Hipolitia, the Deemer enters the battlefield, destroy all other permanents with converted mana cost 3 or greater if wubrg was spent to cast it.
3/3
There's no way on the card to cast this for wubrg, so this only works with Jodah, Archmage Eternal/other shenanigans. Maybe that was your intention.

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Post by Henlock » 3 years ago

@Phyrexian Editor: It's a commander :)

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Post by Phyrexian Editor » 3 years ago

Henlock wrote:
3 years ago
Phyrexian Editor: It's a commander :)
Ahh, that flew right over my head. I haven't played Commander since... well, since the pandemic started! Sorry.

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Post by RaikouRider » 3 years ago

Ink-Treader: My favorite aspect of this card is how it barely manages to be hybrid. Seems particularly geared toward Constructed, though I feel this could be uncommon in a Ravnica-themed block (which it would be in). I could see mono-red playing this out of the board to deal with 6-toughness creatures.

haywire: I like the concept behind this. This reminds me a lot of Lingering Souls. Four mana for two bodies is a big upfront investment, but being indefinitely repeatable is really big against control. I like how the last ability is worded to prevent multiples of this card from getting out of control. I would vote for this, except you forgot a rarity! I'm guessing you intended for this to be uncommon.

slimytrout: This is Soul's Fire with Rebound. I think this is far too efficient for what it does, particularly with all the high-power X/1s in red. I would like this a lot more if it were a sorcery.

netn10: Mardu players love you - this is almost the Mardu version of Maelstrom Pulse and one of the most flexible non-green removal spells I've seen in a long time. This needs to be printed. No flavor text? There's room for a line or two.

Subject16: The evoke option is nice, but realistically this is going to be cast for GW.

Phyrexian Editor: This is really clever design, though I'm not sure you intended it this way. Because the copy effect does not specify you may choose new targets, all of the copies will need to target the same thing. Imagine playing this with Rage Extractor - this almost makes that a deck in big formats. Why is this an Arcane spell though? Flavorfully it has nothing to do with Spirits.

Henlock: Pandering to me again, I see. The rainbow "kicker" cost will only come up due to commander tax. I feel having a repeatable Wrath in the command zone without having to jump through hoops is a bit much, though - Child of Alara got the idea of a command zone Wrath right.

This was a tough round - y'all should be proud of your submissions.

1) netn10
2) Ink-Treader
3) Phyrexian Editor

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void_nothing
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Post by void_nothing » 3 years ago

And our top 4:

netn10
Phyrexian Editor
Subject16
Ink-Treader

Thanks to everyone for playing, and congrats to the semifinalists - round going up soon.
Psst, check the second page of Custom Card Contests & Games! Because of the daily contests, a lot of games fall down to there.

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

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

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