August CCL, Top 4 - Well-Armored Soul

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void_nothing
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Post by void_nothing » 4 years ago

CCL August Semifinals

"Well-Armored Soul"


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Beloved Chaplain, taken from EchoMTG, by Darrell Riche 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!

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So, here is the first CCL on MTGNexus - time to begin. What are the first creature abilities that new Magic players know about? That's right - it's Evergreen Abilities Month here in the CCL.

Challenge
Design a creature card with protection from something other than colors.
Clarifications
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  • The card must have protection at all times, not merely be able to gain protection.
  • The card may have protection from a color as well as long as it also has protection from a non-color quality.
  • Make sure to include a rarity.
Contestants:
barbecube
RaikouRider
spacemonaut
Henlock
Your submissions are due Thursday, August 29th, 23:59 EST.
Schedule
  • Round 1 — Open to Everyone (July 31st-August 6th)
  • Round 2 — Open to Everyone (August 7th–12th)
  • Rounds 1 and 2 Critiques (Due August 14th)
  • Top 8 — Open to top 8 finishers (August 18th–21st)
  • Top 8 Critiques (Due August 23rd)
  • Top 4 — Open to top 4 finishers (August 26th–29th)
  • Top 4 Critiques (Due August 31st)
  • Final (End of month, 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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Important Facts: Colorless is not a color, Wastes is not a land type, Changeling is not a creature type

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barbecube
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Post by barbecube » 4 years ago

Humble-Souled Knight WW
Creature — Human Knight (U)
First strike, protection from converted mana costs 3 or greater
The humble knight wears no coat of arms; his lance bears no pennant.
2/2
formerly willows

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spacemonaut
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Post by spacemonaut » 4 years ago

Briarwood Huntsman 1GG
Creature — Human Warrior (U)
Vigilance
Protection from Bears, from Beasts, and from Wolves
2G, T: Briarwood Huntsman fights target creature you don't control.
3/3

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RaikouRider
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Post by RaikouRider » 4 years ago

Eidren, Perfect of Lys Alana 2BG
Legendary Creature - Elf Warrior {M}
Reach, deathtouch
As Eidren, Perfect of Lys Alana enters the battlefield, choose a creature type other than Elf.
Eidren has protection from the chosen type.
Whenever another creature of the chosen type dies, you may draw a card.
3/3

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Post by Henlock » 4 years ago

Master of the Fiery Blows 2wr
Creature - Human Monk (r)
Haste, prowess, protection from instants and sorceries.
Whenever Master of the Fiery Blows attacks, creatures you cantrol gain prowess and protection from instant and sorceries until end of turn.
Every fist light and quick like the licks of a flame.
2/4

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Post by void_nothing » 4 years ago

And that will be all. Critique all others and arrange them 1-3 in order of preference please.
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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Important Facts: Colorless is not a color, Wastes is not a land type, Changeling is not a creature type

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Post by spacemonaut » 4 years ago

barbecube
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barbecube wrote:
4 years ago
Humble-Souled Knight WW
Creature — Human Knight (U)
First strike, protection from converted mana costs 3 or greater
The humble knight wears no coat of arms; his lance bears no pennant.
2/2
Simple, solid, and evocative flavor. I love it. Playtesting may flag it as a problem for drafting/sealed at uncommon and need it to be rare instead, but that's something for development to sort out. I think it's probably fine at uncommon.
RaikouRider
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RaikouRider wrote:
4 years ago
Eidren, Perfect of Lys Alana 2BG
Legendary Creature - Elf Warrior {M}
Reach, deathtouch
As Eidren, Perfect of Lys Alana enters the battlefield, choose a creature type other than Elf.
Eidren has protection from the chosen type.
Whenever another creature of the chosen type dies, you may draw a card.
3/3
Oh hey, it's Eidren! (Last seen on Eyeblight's Ending|LRW and Leaf Gilder|LRW. The Lorwyn elves have issues.) Nice usage of protection; it and the draw together evoke the Lorwyn elves' behaviour superbly.
Henlock
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Henlock wrote:
4 years ago
Master of the Fiery Blows 2wr
Creature - Human Monk (r)
Haste, prowess, protection from instants and sorceries.
Whenever Master of the Fiery Blows attacks, creatures you cantrol gain prowess and protection from instant and sorceries until end of turn.
Every fist light and quick like the licks of a flame.
2/4
Fun concept. The prowess and protection work badly with each other though because of how important mid-combat instant buffs are to a prowess attack plan.

Here's the strategy I'm thinking of: Attack with your Monastery Swiftspears and Seekers of the Way without casting any spells yet. Your opponent knows you've got spells to cast but doesn't know how many or what they'll be, so they're in the dark about your actual combat strength. Once blockers are assigned, cast out Artful Maneuver, Titan's Strength, Temur Battle Rage, possibly Center Soul, and other buffs like these so that you come out of combat unscathed but having removed half/all their creatures and life total. Use leftover mana after combat to cast a creature if you have any.

I could see Master of the Fiery Blows being played in a more burn-oriented deck, or a RW archetype with flash auras however.
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1. barbecube
2. RaikouRider
3. Henlock

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Post by RaikouRider » 4 years ago

barbecube: This is perfect for a Limited set with a high power level, such as any of the premium booster products like Modern Horizons. If there's a mono-white aggro deck out there, this will see play in it as it's extremely difficult for midrange decks to remove and can give the aggressive decks quite a bit of reach early. My only concern is in a normal booster set, I think this needs to cost one more mana or be at rare.

spacemonaut: Really digging the top-down design here. Very powerful both offensively and defensively and will see Constructed play for sure in most green midrange decks. It probably shouldn't have vigilance, or make the fight effect sorcery speed, as that ability can really mess with combat. Seems at its best in green midrange mirrors. My biggest issue with this is rarity. Repeatable removal must be at rare or higher, especially on a package this efficient. You're already getting a 3/3 for 3 with vigilance, which is on curve. The protections are trinket text and don't affect the power level much. Fighting for 2G puts it over the top though.

Henlock: Most prowess-based decks are combat trick oriented, and protection from instants and sorceries reads very counter to that at first. The combat trigger is deceptively strong, though, particularly against control decks. It forces them to commit their removal to the beginning of your combat - once that trigger resolves, it will be too late to respond with removal. If they do remove something, you can always respond to the combat trigger with spells that will resolve before the trigger does, while still getting your prowess triggers. If they don't respond, great - you can also build around this by playing combat tricks that don't target, especially if you're going wide. This is one of those cards that I feel plays a lot better than it reads, and people who experiment with it will be pleasantly surprised.

1) barbecube
2) Henlock
3) spacemonaut

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barbecube
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Post by barbecube » 4 years ago

spacemonaut
The flavor of this card comes across really well. The numbers seem ok.

RaikouRider
Mmm, I am not a huge fan of this. Reach is weird on an elf, and it seems to be legendary for no clear reason. The use of protection is creative though.

Henlock
I appreciate what you're doing here but I'd have preferred a non-prowess implementation of the on-attack trigger (somehow.) It is a cool way to represent a monk who's a leader of a group.

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1; spacemonaut
2. Henlock
3. RaikouRider
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Post by void_nothing » 4 years ago

And with that, our finalists are barbecube and spacemonaut - final 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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