June CCL, Top 4: The Summoning Ritual

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void_nothing
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Post by void_nothing » 3 years ago

CCL June Top 4/Round 4

"The Summoning Ritual"


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Sift Through Sands, taken from EchoMTG, by Anthony S. Waters 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 Kamigawa Month here in the CCL! The Champions of Kamigawa block performed poorly in mechanical terms, but it's considered to have one of the best Magic storylines ever. So for that reason, this month will focus more on Kamigawa's legendaries and its story elements than mechanics.

Challenge
Design a vertical cycle of Arcane instants and/or sorceries (one common, one uncommon, and one rare or mythic).
Clarifications
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  • The cards just have to have the subtype Arcane - they don't need to include splice or any other specific mechanic.
  • Vertical cycles are typically all one color, but they don't have to be.
  • Make sure to include a rarity.
Your submissions are due Saturday, June 27th, 23:59 EST.

Contestants:
@slimytrout
@RaikouRider
@MonoRedMage
@Jimmy Groove

Schedule
  • Round 1 — Open to Everyone (June 1st–7th)
  • Round 2 — Open to Everyone (June 8th–14th)
  • Rounds 1 and 2 Critiques (Due June 17th)
  • Top 8 — Open to top 8 finishers (June 18th–21st)
  • Top 8 Critiques (Due June 23rd)
  • Top 4 — Open to top 4 finishers (June 24th–27th)
  • Top 4 Critiques (Due June 29th)
  • Final (July, 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.

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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MonoRedMage
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Post by MonoRedMage » 3 years ago

Shake Steel or Stone R
Instant - Arcane {C}
Choose target artifact an opponent controls. Its controller sacrifices it unless they sacrifice a land.

Burn Will or Body 1R
Instant - Arcane {U}
This spell can't be countered.
Choose target spell with a single target an opponent controls. Its controller may have you change the target. If they don't, Burn Will or Body deals damage equal to that spell's converted mana cost to any target.

Seize Past or Present 3R
Sorcery - Arcane {R}
Choose target nonland card in an opponent's graveyard. Its owner may have you untap all creatures they control and gain control of them until end of turn. If they do, those creatures gain haste until end of turn. If they don't, cast the card from their graveyard without paying its mana cost.
Last edited by MonoRedMage 3 years ago, edited 1 time in total.

slimytrout
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Post by slimytrout » 3 years ago

Untamed Strength G
Instant - Arcane (C)
Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature you control. That creature gains trample until end of turn.
Splice onto Arcane G (As you cast an Arcane 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.)

Untamed Wisdom 1G
Sorcery - Arcane (U)
Until end of turn, creatures you control gain "Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, draw a card."
Rebound (If you cast this spell from your hand, exile it as it resolves. At the beginning of your next upkeep, you may cast this card from exile without paying its mana cost.)

Untamed Ferocity 1GG
Sorcery - Arcane (R)
Until end of turn, target creature you control gains vigilance and "T: This creature deals damage equal to its power to target creature or planeswalker."
Retrace (You may cast this card from your graveyard by discarding a land card in addition to paying its other costs.)
Last edited by slimytrout 3 years ago, edited 1 time in total.

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RaikouRider
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Post by RaikouRider » 3 years ago

Morning's Presence 1W
Sorcery - Arcane {C}
Choose one -
  • Create two colorless 1/1 Spirit creature tokens.
  • Tap up to two target non-Spirit creatures.
All bow in the Morning Star's presence, whether by choice or by force.

Awe of the Intangible 2WW
Sorcery - Arcane {U}
Choose one -
  • Put two +1/+1 counters on each Spirit creature you control.
  • Until your next turn, non-Spirit creatures you don't control lose all abilities and have base power and toughness 0/1.
Breath of the Kami 3WWW
Sorcery - Arcane {R}
Choose one -
  • Return target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield. If it's a Spirit, put an indestructible counter on it.
  • Destroy all non-Spirit creatures.
Last edited by RaikouRider 3 years ago, edited 6 times in total.

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Jimmy Groove
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Post by Jimmy Groove » 3 years ago

Rush of Spirit G
Instant - Arcane (C)
Target creature gets +2/+2 until end of turn. If that creature is a spirit with no counters on it, put two +1/+1 counters on it instead.
A strong will to live can empower bodies of flesh for moments of greatness, but can empower a spirit for ages.

Girded in Spirit 2G
Instant - Arcane (U)
Target creature gets +3/+3 and gains hexproof until end of turn. If that creatures is a spirit with no counters on it, put three +1/+1 counters and a hexproof counter on it instead.
A cunning foe strikes hard and in the dark. A cunning spirit foe does this and never stops.

Overflowing with Spirit 3GGG
Instant - Arcane (R)
Target creature you control gets +5/+5 and gains trample until end of turn and each other creature you control gets +2/+2 and gains trample until end of turn. If that creature is a spirit with no counters on it, instead put five +1/+1 counters and a trample counter on it and put two +1/+1 counters and a trample counter on each other creature you control.
Last edited by Jimmy Groove 3 years ago, edited 1 time in total.

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void_nothing
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Post by void_nothing » 3 years ago

A little under 24 hours remain to finalize submissions.
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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void_nothing
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Post by void_nothing » 3 years ago

Round is closed! Please critique everyone else and arrange them into a top 3.
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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MonoRedMage
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Post by MonoRedMage » 3 years ago

slimytrout - nice, I really like how each one has a different spell keyword. The rare seems disconnected since the others want you to damage players instead of permanents though.

RaikouRider - Strong theme here. I wish the rare would just have targeted only Spirits with the resurrection mode. It's really terrible to pay six mana to reanimate a creature with no bonuses anyhow, and that would make it less wordy. The mass removal mode looks really strong though. The other two I have no problems with at all.

Jimmy Groove - Nice, simple but effective way to do this. Staying Power inspired much lol? Just neat cards that I enjoy.

This top 3 is kinda arbitrary because every entry was great
1 RaikouRider
2 Jimmy Groove
3 slimytrout

slimytrout
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Post by slimytrout » 3 years ago

Even before I get started on critiques, I can see that these are quite strong entries all around -- honestly not sure how I'm going to separate these. Going to have to be more critical than usual just so that I can make my judgements, but please keep in mind as you read that they're all starting from a very high place.
MonoRedMage
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Cycle of punisher cards, eh? I really like the names of all of these, and the way they match with the mechanics. Going through the cards themselves, I think the common is actually fairly weak -- it's only a one mana discount off of Shatter, and any time in the late game they'll simply sacrifice a land instead of letting you blow up their sweet artifact. Maybe this would see some play in eternal formats, but I kind of doubt it since those decks have access to spells like Ancient Grudge that can hit multiple things. The uncommon seems fun, but I think practically it would be a real pain to make the timing work, because there's so many possible targets involved plus an opponent's choice in there. The rare, unsurprisingly, is the most interesting of the bunch -- either you get an extremely undercosted Insurrection or you get to cast the best card in their graveyard for 3R. Would likely be quite good in limited, and perhaps in commander as well, but in constructed it would be a big whiff in a lot of matchups -- the control decks don't have good creatures for you to take (at least until the game is pretty much wrapped up), while the aggro and midrange decks typically don't play many spells that cost much more than four mana.
RaikouRider
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Would have loved a little more of a naming convention, but the cycle is quite "strong" (i.e., similarity-wise, not power-wise) so it's not actually necessary. As for the cards themselves, I really like the common -- no notes. The non-Spirit mode on the uncommon is probably too splashy for an uncommon, as every previous version of this effect that I can find has been done at ]rare or mythic. With the rare, it feels like it would almost always be used for the sweeper effect if you're playing a spirits deck (it's pretty unusual for a one-sided wrath to be bad), though I guess the reanimation option is nice to have against control decks or in the mirror.
Jimmy Groove
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Very strong theme here, and some quite strong cards in the spirit deck -- the rare in particular would a real haymaker in limited (not that there's a problem with that). A bit weird, though, that the cards are deliberately anti-synergistic, since they all have the "no counters" clause -- kind of goes against the usual point of a cycle. Not a lot to comment on otherwise, except for a consistent formatting error (creature types are capitalized) and the fact that RaikouRider had already kind of used the Arcane+Spirits synergy (again, normally wouldn't care about these sorts of thing, but in a round where all the entries are quite strong I need to really nitpick).
T3
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Again, really hard round to judge. Had to really scrape the bottom of the barrel of criticisms to decide this one. Good job everyone, and I'm sad that one of you will have to be eliminated with me! (Jk, but not really.)
1. RaikouRider
2. MonoRedMage
3. JimmyGroove

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Jimmy Groove
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Post by Jimmy Groove » 3 years ago

Limited time, top three only.

1. RaikouRider
2. MonoRedMage
3. slimeytrout

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RaikouRider
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Post by RaikouRider » 3 years ago

1) slimytrout
2) Jimmy Groove
3) MonoRedMage

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void_nothing
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Post by void_nothing » 3 years ago

And there is a tie for second place! Three contestants will be going on to the finals:

RaikouRider
slimytrout
MonoRedMage

Round thread to come shortly.
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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