August MCC Round 4 (finals) - Preemptive planning

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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 art of the card Ferocious Pup by Rudy Siswanto.)

August MCC Round 4 (finals)

Preemptive planning



"A battle doesn't start when the two enemy armies face each other, but well before, when the commander's advisors and tacticians first meet to decide what strategy to employ. It's there and then, when the attack is first planned out, that the fight really begins. Not on the battlefield, but on the tablecloth."
—Taar Noriken, strategy expert


Main Challenge - Design a card with an ability that works from your opening hand before the game even begins. See clarifications for examples.

Subchallenge 1 - Your card is multicolored.

Subchallenge 2 - Your card is not an enchantment and not a creature.

Clarifications
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Main Challenge
• All the currently existing cards that do this are: the three cycles of Leylines (from Guildpact, M11, and M20), the cycle of Chancellors from New Phyrexia, Gemstone Caverns, Providence, and Sphinx of Foresight.

Subchallenge 1
• This challenge only cares about the actual colors of the card, not about color identity. In other words, mana symbols in rules text do NOT count.
• Both traditional multicolored (gold) and hybrid count.

Subchallenge 2
• Your card can have any combination of any number of card types in its type line as long as the types "enchantment" and "creatures" aren't there.
• The spirit of the challenge is excluding card types that already have this kind of cards.

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask in the discussion thread.

DEADLINES

Design deadline: Sunday, September 1st 23:59 EDT

Judging deadline: Wednesday, September 4th 23:59 EDT Thursday, September 5th 23:59 EDT
. A 24-hour time extension has been asked and granted.


RUBRIC

The rubric has undergone no changes in the transition from MTGSalvation to MTGNexus. As a reminder for everyone, here it is. As usual, it will be there in all round threads. If you want a more detailed explanation of the rubric, you can find it in the brand new MTGNexus MCC Guidelines and FAQ, written by me and approved by void_nothing (Custom Card moderator). The detailed explanation of the rubric is in section 6.2. If you have time and will to read that (admittedly long) document in its entirety, I invite you to do so.
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.

JUDGES

bravelion83
void_nothing
Rithaniel


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.
Also, you should format your text cards accordingly to the brand new MTGNexus MCC Guidelines and FAQ. Again, expect deductions in Quality otherwise. The recommended card formatting is in section 4. As I've said before, if you have time and will to read that document in its entirety, I invite you to do so. It should be useful to everybody, hosts, judges, and players. And speaking of players...


PLAYERS

barbecube
Jimmy Groove
SecretInfiltrator

All judges will judge all cards. The player will the highest combined score will be the winner.
Last edited by bravelion83 4 years ago, edited 3 times in total.
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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Jimmy Groove
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Post by Jimmy Groove » 4 years ago

Ashiok's Whispers UB
Sorcery (U)
You may reveal Ashiok's Whispers from your opening hand. If you do, whenever you cast a spell named Ashiok's Whisper this game, draw a card.
Tap up to one target creature. It's controller discards a card.
"I keep having these horrible nightmares about drowning in an endless, dark sea. I'll be glad when they pass."
- Chandra, Nalaar, Planeswalker
Last edited by Jimmy Groove 4 years ago, edited 1 time in total.

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barbecube
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Post by barbecube » 4 years ago

Thunder on the Horizon 3RR
Sorcery (U)
You may reveal this card from your opening hand. When you do, target opponent gets a conduction counter.
Thunder on the Horizon deals 5 damage to target player. If that player has a conduction counter, it deals 2 damage to each creature and planeswalker that player controls.
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Post by SecretInfiltrator » 4 years ago

Ludevic's Brainstorm {U}{R}
Instant (R)
You may reveal this card from your opening hand. If you do, at the beginning of the first upkeep, exile the top two cards of your library.
Exile target instant or sorcery card from your graveyard. Copy each instant or sorcery card you own that has been exiled with a card or spell named Ludevic's Brainstorm. You may cast the copies.
Use fresh brains for fresher ideas.

SPOILER
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Ludevic's Brainstorm {U}{R}
Sorcery (R)
You may reveal this card from your opening hand. If you do, at the beginning of the first upkeep, exile the top two cards of your library.
Exile target instant or sorcery card from your graveyard. Copy each instant or sorcery card you own that has been exiled with a card or spell named ~. You may cast the copies.
Use fresh brains for fresher ideas.

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bravelion83
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Post by bravelion83 » 4 years ago

The round is closed. Judging may begin.



Judgments complete.
barbecube
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barbecube wrote:
4 years ago
Thunder on the Horizon 3RR
Sorcery (U)
You may reveal this card from your opening hand. When you do, target opponent gets a conduction counter.
Thunder on the Horizon deals 5 damage to target player. If that player has a conduction counter, it deals 2 damage to each creature and planeswalker that player controls.
Design
(2/3) Appeal - Timmy definitely likes this card. There might be something for Johnny to do, but this doesn't strike me as a card he can do a lot with. Spike also likes this.
(2.5/3) Elegance - Not the shortest text but also not too long and still very easy to understand. This card also totally makes sense as a whole from a holistic point of view. The only problem I have is that I personally read this card at first as if it had an "instead" at the end, only realizing while I had almost completely finished my judgment that the "instead" wasn't actually there and the one-sided Pyroclasm if this has the counter is in addition to the Lava Axe effect, not in its place. I had to rewrite several sections of my judgment, but no problem. That was my fault, not yours, but I think that other players could make the same mistake I did at first.

Development
(2.5/3) Viability - A Lava Axe that comes with an additional one-sided Pyroclasm if you happen to have it in your opening hand. That's certainly a monored card. My first instinct said this should be a rare, but after additional thought I'm not so sure anymore. After all, the two cards that I just mentioned are a common and an uncommon. It might actually just be fine at uncommon. I don't feel completely certain of that though.
(3/3) Balance - The mana cost for a Lava Axe with upside is very reasonable. This is direct damage to the head, that can also turn into removal for small creatures and planeswalkers with low loyalty in addition to that. You will certainly play this in limited. In competitive constructed, the bar is just so much higher, and the bigger the format the higher it gets. I could see this seeing some Standard play, but in bigger formats I think there are just better existing options at the same CMC. But not every card is made to be an Eternal all-star, so there's no real problem with that. I also see no problems in casual or multiplayer. The choice of which opponent to target might actually be quite interesting in multiplayer.

Creativity
(3/3) Uniqueness - The round challenges already intentionally pushed you towards new design space. This card is really just a Lava Axe variant at its core, but its use of conduction counters does feel very original, and using counters on players in an "opening hand" ability has never been done before. The closest thing is Gemstone Caverns using luck counters on itself and then referencing them later in another ability, but this is just a different thing. The only real similarity is that they both use some kind of counters.
(2/3) Flavor - I really like the name and how well it reflects the card's mechanics. No flavor text, even though MSE shows me that a short one (one line for sure, maybe two) could have fit.

Polish
(2/3) Quality - A few things to mention, but only one functional one (the first one):
• Functional mistake: a static ability like the "opening hand" one can't target. It's not a triggered or activated ability. It doesn't use the stack, so the whole process of putting a trigger on the stack or activate an ability, the analogue process of casting a spell that choosing targets is a part of, doesn't take place at all. You have no chance of choosing targets, so you just can't and as a result, as written, that ability doesn't work. Again, this in functional so -1. That's very easy to fix by the way: just reword the ability to not use the word "target". I think the easiest and best way would be to just say "...choose an opponent. That player gets a conduction counter."
• No precedent for a reflexive trigger being there in the "opening hand" ability, but I see no problems with it. It's an unprecedented triggered ability that triggers before the game even begins instead of a static ability like all existing examples are (see Clarifications spoiler), but I can see this. It looks exactly like the sort of abilities reflexive triggers have been introduced for in Amonkhet block. Just pointing this out, no points deduction.
• The potential ambiguity about what's the source of the 2 damage ("...it deals 2 damage..." could refer to whether "Thunder on the Horizon" at the beginning of the line or "that player" later) is luckily just not there thanks to English grammar (the pronoun "it" can't refer to a person), so no points deduction for that either. If this card were to be printed for real though, I do think that it would just say "Thunder on the Horizon deals 2 damage..." to avoid any potential doubt, mainly for the sake of non-native or non-fluent English speakers.
(2/2) Main Challenge - Good.
(1/2) Subchallenges - Not an enchantment or creature, but not multicolored.

Total: 20/25
Jimmy Groove
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Jimmy Groove wrote:
4 years ago
Ashiok's Whispers UB
Sorcery (U)
You may reveal Ashiok's Whispers from your opening hand. If you do, whenever you cast a spell named Ashiok's Whisper this game, draw a card.
Tap up to one target creature. It's controller discards a card.
"I keep having these horrible nightmares about drowning in an endless, dark sea. I'll be glad when they pass."
- Chandra, Nalaar, Planeswalker
Design
(2/3) Appeal - Timmy doesn't care too much, and he probably hates just the thought of playing against this card. Johnny could definitely use at the very least the tap effect in several ways, even on his own creatures. Spike really likes everything about this card: the card advantage, both by drawing and making her opponent discard, the potential for tempo plays, the low mana cost. Everything.
(2.5/3) Elegance - There are potential memory issues with the "opening hand" ability creating a triggered ability that's ready to be triggered for the whole rest of the game with no marker of any kind as a reminder. Will you and your opponents always remember whether you revealed a card named like this (potentially even a different copy) at the beginning of the game if you cast it at the end of a long game? Being able to be cast as early as turn two helps, but really long games aren't unheard of, especially today that Commander is maybe the most popular casual format. By the way, Commander games being so long is one of the reasons why I strongly dislike that format, but that doesn't matter here. As Maro would say, that just means that Commander is not for me. I'm not saying it shouldn't exist. I just don't play it and rejoice of the fact that there are many other players that do like it.

Development
(3/3) Viability - I have no problems with this card's colors or rarity.
(2.5/3) Balance - I think you'd almost always play this in limited. It's temporary removal and card advantage for as low of a mana cost as rationally possible. I could also see this card in Standard control decks. It essentially does everything that a control deck wants to do, and it's also in the right colors for a control deck. The only remark that I have that's relevant in casual is that this doesn't look like the most fun card to play against. I don't see any problem in multiplayer.

Creativity
(3/3) Uniqueness - The round challenges already intentionally pushed you towards new design space, and this card is very original indeed. Having the "opening hand" ability care about other cards with the same name is new.
(2/3) Flavor - No problems with this card being associated with Ashiok and being flavored as Ashiok whispering nightmares in somebody's mind. (As a note, I personally find it rather hard not to use any pronoun for Ashiok, not even the singular they as a genderless pronoun, but that's who Ashiok is, so I'll do it anyway, just as I would if Ashiok were a real person that doesn't recognize in any pronoun, not even genderless ones.) What I honestly can't see is this flavor text being attributed to Chandra. Yes, she could say that if Ashiok attacked her with nightmare magic, but I can't remember Chandra and Ashiok ever meeting in lore. I might be wrong though, it's not like I've read every piece of Magic story throughout all the different media (I have read all free webstories from Theros up to War of the Spark though; now that Magic story is back to novels I will be back to knowing the story only from the cards and the occasional spoilers... yes, I have strong thoughts about this, but no, this is not the right place for them). Chandra feeling bad (just like me by the way) for the loss of Gideon certainly increases the chance of her having nightmares of her own and Ashiok showing up to take advantage of that, but I think that any person attacked by Ashiok's magic could say that. Why specifically Chandra? I also don't recognize her style in the quoted sentence. I would have probably attributed the flavor text to a generic character. The cause of their nightmares being Ashiok's magic would still be evident from the card name anyway.

Polish
(0/3) Quality - The name of the card loses the final "s" in its second instance in the rules text, unless you actually wanted this card to care about whether you have cast a different card... Just joking, it's evident that this is just a typo (-0.5). I hoped I could go more than just a month on Nexus without having to point out the eternal struggle of the contracted verb "it's" versus the possessive adjective and pronoun "its". Please mind the position of your apostrophes. Here you chose the wrong one. This is a serious grammar mistake because it makes the sentence completely change meaning at best and just have no sense (like here) at worst. It's also a very easy mistake to avoid. For all these reasons, -1. In the flavor text, there are several mistakes all in the last line. The attribution is rightly on a separate line, but there should be no space between the dash and the proper name (-0.5). There should be no comma between Chandra's first name and last name (-0.5). None of the 21 existing cards with flavor text attributed to Chandra, from Alchemist's Greeting to Wildfire Elemental uses "Planeswalker" as her title (-0.5).
(2/2) Main Challenge - Good.
(2/2) Subchallenges - Both met.

Total: 19/25
SecretInfiltrator
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SecretInfiltrator wrote:
4 years ago
Ludevic's Brainstorm {U}{R}
Instant (R)
You may reveal this card from your opening hand. If you do, at the beginning of the first upkeep, exile the top two cards of your library.
Exile target instant or sorcery card from your graveyard. Copy each instant or sorcery card you own that has been exiled with a card or spell named Ludevic's Brainstorm. You may cast the copies.
Use fresh brains for fresher ideas.
Design
(2/3) Appeal - I can't see Timmy caring too much. Johnny and Spike both really like this card: a strange and very open-ended card for Johnny, and a cheap source of potential card advantage for Spike.
(2/3) Elegance - The text is quite long and intricate. As an experienced player, I've personally understood what this card does with a single reading, but I can see quite some less experienced players needing to read this card multiple times.

Development
(3/3) Viability - A clever mix of red's impulsive draw and blue's ability to regrow instants and sorceries from your graveyard. It does feel like a very Izzet card. I agree that this card should be rare.
(2/3) Balance - Honestly, this strikes me as a purely constructed card. It might be used theoretically to get a second use of removal spells in limited, but you have to be in a specific color combination, and you have to dedicate a slot to a card that needs other cards to function. I think that in limited the opportunity cost is just too high. That said, I can easily imagine a constructed deck specifically built to take advantage of this card. Also, you just won't open four copies of the same rare in limited, it's literally impossible in ordinary draft (excluding things like double rare boosters that are technically possible in sets with DFCs) and very very unlikely in sealed, so unlikely that I have never seen that happen to either me or any other player in 14 years that I'm playing Magic. When you do play the full playset in constructed, the likelihood of having one of those in your opening hand is much better, and this card itself gets so much better if you're able to use the "opening hand" ability. Being able to essentially give flashback to three spells for just two mana is a big deal. Snapcaster Mage does so to only one card for the same CMC. It's kinda comparable to the base case of this card, which is saying a lot seeing how powerful the Mage is. This doesn't have a body and has a more restrictive mana cost but can give you back three cards in the best case scenario. It's true that often it's more useful to think of the worst case scenario to evaluate a card, but such a potential feels like it's worth of being mentioned and considered to me. Luckily, the hoop you have to jump through looks high enough. Yes, the London mulligan does help you get this into your opening hand, but it's still far from a given. As a final note, I feel like this card could be a little too complicated for some casual players, but except for that I don't see any serious problems in casual or multiplayer.

Creativity
(3/3) Uniqueness - The round challenges already intentionally pushed you towards new design space, and the way this card works feels very original.
(1.5/3) Flavor - I would have really avoided to use the word "Brainstorm" in a card that has nothing in common with Brainstorm. It's just too iconic as a Magic card. No problems with the flavor text.

Polish
(3/3) Quality - There are several details here that tell me you've paid a lot of attention to the wording of this card, and in fact it's all correct. I like that, and I make you my congratulations! Mel approves! I'm talking about things such as:

"the first upkeep" (not necessarily yours)
"each ... card you own that has been exiled..." (indeed, in exile there are "cards" with an "owner" and no "controller")
"...exiled with a card..." (correct, if you use the "opening hand" ability the card is still in your hand, just revealed, so it is indeed a "card" and not a "spell")
"...or spell named..." (also correct, if you exile a card using the spell ability as it's resolving this card will be on the stack, so it will be indeed a "spell" and not a "card")

Excellent work. The only remark I have is that I would have included some reminder text at the end to specify that you still have to pay the costs of the copies as you cast them, including the mana cost, but I don't feel like I can deduct points for that. The card would still be printable as is without any problem. The only precedent I've been able to find is Chandra, Pyromaster's ultimate, but she has you cast the copies without paying their mana cost, which this card doesn't specify, so you still have to pay the copies' costs, and some players might not realize that as they read this card, playing it exactly as if it was worded like Chandra.
(2/2) Main Challenge - Good.
(2/2) Subchallenges - Both met.

Total: 20.5/25
Results
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SecretInfiltrator: 20.5
barbecube: 20
Jimmy Groove: 19
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
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Rithaniel
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Post by Rithaniel » 4 years ago

J.U.D.G.E.
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barbecube
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barbecube wrote:
4 years ago
Thunder on the Horizon 3RR
Sorcery (U)
You may reveal this card from your opening hand. When you do, target opponent gets a conduction counter.
Thunder on the Horizon deals 5 damage to target player. If that player has a conduction counter, it deals 2 damage to each creature and planeswalker that player controls.



Design
(1.5/3) Appeal — Timmy sees a way to hit his opponent in the face with a lightning bolt, but maybe with some extra damage on top. Johnny is on the fence. He'd likely enjoy building a deck that cares about your opening hand, but he lacks methods of manipulating what is in his opening hand. He also lacks the ability to manipulate conduction counters. Spike, meanwhile, sees a functional reprint of Lava Axe which will, rarely, serve as a Pyroclasm that costs 3RR. Spike is not a fan.
(2.5/3) Elegance — The effect is nice and simple, but I'm dubious about the idea of giving a player a type of counter that will only have an effect with this particular card.

Development
(3/3) Viability — Uncommon feels right for this, even though we've never seen an opening hand mechanic at that rarity before. Red is appropriate, and sorcery also works.
(2/3) BalanceLava Axe isn't very good. It can finish a game, if the opponent has already been brought down to 5 life, but in any other situation, it's just a dead card. A one-sided Pyroclasm is a bit better, and I would probably be willing to pay five mana for that effect, but this isn't going to always be a one-sided Pyroclasm. If you have a standard 60 card deck and 4 Thunder on the Horizons, you have about a 39% of having one or more in your opening hand, which is a decent chance, but with 4 of these you have a relatively high curve dedicated to direct damage (and direct damage decks aren't the best when they have too high of a curve, so chances are your main strategy should be something different). All in all, I think the 61% chance that this is a slightly more color-intensive lava axe and the 39% chance that it's damage mixed with a one-sided board clear make the card a little underpowered. Perhaps not terrible, but not great either. The fact that only one opponent can get a conduction counter is also an issue.

Creativity
(3/3) Uniqueness — Opening hand effects are fairly under-explored, so you're pretty much golden on that front. The "damage to target player and each creature they control" is more common, but not so much that it's really an issue, in my opinion.
(2/3) Flavor — I like that the name plays on the ominous ideas in the mechanics. The only issue I have is: thunder doesn't make you conductive. If I were naming counters, I would have called it a "foreboding" counter. Or perhaps a "dark fate" counter. Conduction just doesn't work for me.

Polish
(2/3) Quality — Looking at the chancellor cycle, you'd probably see this written as "You may reveal this card from your opening hand. If you do, at the beginning of the first upkeep, target opponent gets a conduction counter."
(2/2) Main Challenge — Check.
(1/2) Subchallenges — First is not check, but the second one is.

Total: 19/25
Jimmy Groove
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Jimmy Groove wrote:
4 years ago
Ashiok's Whispers UB
Sorcery (U)
You may reveal Ashiok's Whispers from your opening hand. If you do, whenever you cast a spell named Ashiok's Whisper this game, draw a card.
Tap up to one target creature. It's controller discards a card.
"I keep having these horrible nightmares about drowning in an endless, dark sea. I'll be glad when they pass."
- Chandra, Nalaar, Planeswalker



Design
(1/3) Appeal — This isn't big enough to entice Timmy, so he's out. Johnny would love to try and figure out a way to get multiples of these in his opening hand to draw multiple cards each time he casts one of them (if that's the way it works), but lacks any ability to ensure they're in his opening hand. Spike, meanwhile, is very underwhelmed. He likes the idea of the ability to get card advantage cheap, but doesn't like the opening hand requirement.
(1/3) Elegance — One issue you have is that, if you have multiples of this card in your hand, then it's not clear if Ashiok's Whispers draws you a card for each instance in your opening hand or not. Beyond that, though, what are we even doing here? Is this meant to be a combat trick? Is it hand distruption? Why is there a conditional card draw? There doesn't seem to be a unifying idea here. Yeah, they are thematically connected by the flavor of the nightmare planeswalker messing with people, but that's more a flavor thing that it is a matter of mechanical elegance.

Development
(2/3) Viability — Blue brings the tap and the card draw while black brings the discard. This is a simple enough effect that it could be a common, but the opening hand effect makes this more of a uncommon, so I think you're good on that front. Sorcery works for the discard, but the creature tapping doesn't quite work, in that case. The conflict between the tap effect and the sorcery speed is the only real issue with viability.
(2/3) Balance — So, with a 60 card deck and 4 Ashiok's Whispers, you have a 39% chance of having one or more in your opening hand. Let's just assume that you have only one in your opening hand, as having two or more is just 6%, and I'm not sure how this would necessarily operate when you have two or more. So, 61% of the time, this is a two mana dicard spell with an effect that ultimately amounts to "target creature can't block this turn." The other 39% of time, you get the same thing, but it also draws you a card, which is potentially much better for tempo. Overall, I think the 39% case is potentially a tempting one, but the fact that it's only a 39% chance makes it less-than-ideal. Overall, I think this design is underpowered.

Creativity
(2/3) Uniqueness — Opening hand effects are fairly under-explored, so you're pretty much golden on that front. However, the rest are fairly generic one-sentence effects, so I can't give full credit for that.
(1.5/3) Flavor — Why is Chandra being referred to as "Chandra, Nalaar" instead of "Chandra Nalaar?" How does the opening hand mechanic play into the flavor? What does this design have to do with drowning in a dark sea?

Polish
(2.5/3) Quality — You're missing an s at the end of the second instance of the name in the card text.
(2/2) Main Challenge — Check.
(2/2) Subchallenges — Double check.

Total: 16/25
SecretInfiltrator
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SecretInfiltrator wrote:
4 years ago
Ludevic's Brainstorm {U}{R}
Instant (R)
You may reveal this card from your opening hand. If you do, at the beginning of the first upkeep, exile the top two cards of your library.
Exile target instant or sorcery card from your graveyard. Copy each instant or sorcery card you own that has been exiled with a card or spell named Ludevic's Brainstorm. You may cast the copies.
Use fresh brains for fresher ideas.



Design
(2/3) Appeal — Timmy likes the idea of casting a whole bunch of spells off of this one. Johnny is in love, as the card has self interaction aside from the opening hand mechanic. Johnny would, provided he had the mana, cast this spell targeting another copy of Ludevic's Brainstorm in his graveyard, and just chain things together like crazy. Spike is disinterested as the design is too reliant on other cards to function well.
(1/3) Elegance — The effect is potentially difficult to wrap your head around, particularly when a Ludevic's Brainstorm is exiled with a Ludevic's Brainstorm. Also, a big issue is that it might not be apparent to people that you can cast the copies whenever, even after the end of the turn in which they were created. Even if they did realize that, they'd often forget to keep track of what spells they can or can't cast.

Development
(3/3) Viability — This feels very Izzet and very rare. Instant can work, as well. Nothing to say on viability.
(3/3) Balance — So, in a 60 card deck, assuming you have 4 Ludevic's Brainstorm, the opening hand ability has a 33% chance of exiling two additional cards at the beginning of the game (with an additional 6% chance of more than two). Let's assume you have 20 instant or sorcery cards in the remaining 53. Then you have a 62% chance of exiling at least one instant or sorcery (~86% chance in the "more than two" case). Altogether, we'll approximate this (adding the different cases together) and say that you have a roughly 30% chance of getting additional instant or sorceries exiled by Ludevics' Brainstorm. However, 20 instants or sorceries out of 53 cards is a considerable amount of instants or sorceries, seeing as ~20 of the remaining 33 spots should be lands. Yet we only came up to 30%. Because of that, I'm going to say that the opening hand ability has a minimal impact on the power of this card. However, the remaining ability of this card is interestingly powerful. A bit too much investment is required to call it overpowered, but I also hesitate to say that it's underpowered. It's going to have a lesser impact in limited, but it's also a rare, so it should be okay. All in all, I think the balance is fine, here.

Creativity
(3/3) Uniqueness — I've seen cards that return instant and sorceries from your graveyard to your hand, but never ones that allowed you to "return" a specific card multiple time, much less one that remembers which cards were returned by other spells with the same name. Originality is perfect, here.
(1.5/3) Flavor — A little iffy on the flavor. The combo of Ludevic and the word "brain" make me think that this spell should be dealing with necromancy and creatures, instead of instants and sorceries. Also, the flavor doesn't really play on the opening hand ability as well as it could.

Polish
(3/3) Quality — All good.
(2/2) Main Challenge — Check.
(2/2) Subchallenges — Double check.

Total: 20.5/25
Scores
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  1. SecretInfiltrator: 20.5
  2. barbecube: 19
  3. Jimmy Groove: 16
And a Few Quotes
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"Why are numbers beautiful? It's like asking why is Beethoven's Ninth Symphony beautiful. If you don't see why, someone can't tell you. I know numbers are beautiful. If they aren't beautiful, nothing is."
― Paul Erdős

“I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.”
― Stephen Jay Gould

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void_nothing
Look On My Sash...
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Post by void_nothing » 4 years ago

Jimmy Groove
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Design
(1.5/3) Appeal - Mostly a Jxnny thing, the appeal being getting the dream opening hand that includes four copies and getting to draw four cards for UB four times over. Spike would like this in the optimized version but that's quite inconsistent to get and not worth mulliganing for, and it's below rate in the non-optimized version. Txmmy doesn't really care.
(2/3) Elegance - While it's easy enough to write down that you revealed a card named Ashiok's Whispers in your opening hand, the fact is there's no internal tracking for something with lots of memory issues.

Development
(3/3) Viability - Colors and rarity look right; for Limited I sort of wish this could be common but it clearly can't for various reasons.
(3/3) Balance - The base effect is not very good. Having revealed one of these makes it a good tempo card. Having revealed two or more makes it just a silly advantage, but that would be very difficult to do consistently.

Creativity
(2.5/3) Uniqueness - While draw, discard, and creature tapping are all very basic effects, this is a unique combination.
(3/3) Flavor - Great creative writing on this.

Polish
(2/3) Quality - It's "you may reveal this card from your opening hand" not "reveal CARDNAME" (Chancellor of the Dross), and also you seem to have put one comma too many in the flavor text.
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - Done.
(2/2) Subchallenges - And done.

Total: 21/25
SecretInfiltrator
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Design
(3/3) Appeal - An all-rounder, I think. Spike loves all the virtual card advantage and value, Jxnny wants to see what kind of spell mashups they can make and use this as an engine, Txmmy just wants to cast lots of spells over and over again.
(2/3) Elegance - Let's just say this forces a lot of careful tracking to happen.

Development
(3/3) Viability - Colors and rarity clearly right.
(2/3) Balance - Potentially extremely explosive but also mana-hungry (it doesn't say, after all, "cast them without paying their mana costs" thankfully). Storm and storm-adjacent decks would like something like this I think, but I don't think in a normal Standard it would be broken.

Creativity
(3/3) Uniqueness - One of the strangest versions of instant/sorcery graveyard recursion I've ever seen.
(3/3) Flavor - Pithy, to the point, cohesive.

Polish
(3/3) Quality - Fine.
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - Seems good.
(2/2) Subchallenges - And done.

Total: 23/25
barbecube
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Design
(2/3) Appeal - Basically a Txmmy/Spike thing - that is who likes big player damage and one-sided mass removal. A bit too blunt for Jxnny.
(3/3) Elegance - A counter on a player is an elegant and flavorful solution to a memory problem here.

Development
(2.5/3) Viability - While this card is clearly red it's at least right on the edge of uncommon and rare for me, if not outright "yes this is obviously rare".
(2.5/3) Balance - The fact that the additional effect once this card has been "supercharged" is asymmetrical mass removal, even something as innocuous as 2 damage, makes it quite swingy, but mostly fair.

Creativity
(2/3) Uniqueness - While ultimately a Lava Axe variant, the actual reveal ability is very interesting.
(3/3) Flavor - Name gets across both "burn spell" and "ominous" and the conduction counter makes the later lightning strike, of course, shock others as well. Very nice flavor even without flavor text (and the rules text is not exactly short).

Polish
(3/3) Quality - Fine.
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - Looks good.
(1/2) Subchallenges - Not multicolored.

Total: 21/25
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bravelion83
MKM MCC going on now
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Post by bravelion83 » 4 years ago

All judgments are in, so it's time to declare a winner.

SecretInfiltrator: 20.5 + 20.5 + 23 = 64
barbecube: 19 + 20 + 21 = 60
Jimmy Groove: 16 + 19 + 21 = 56

Congratulation to SecretInfiltrator for being the first MCC winner ever on MTGNexus! I'll see you as a judge in September and as host again someday in the future. In the meantime, thanks to everybody for playing or judging. See you all soon!
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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