May CCL Round 2 - Delicate Stalks

[Lorn Asbord Schutta]

May CCL Signups/Round 2
"Delicate Stalks"

Banner made from Utopia Tree, Wall of Blossoms and Sprouting Phytohydra, by Wizards of the Coast and Gary Ruddell, Heather Hudson, respectively

Welcome to the Card Creation League! Everyone is free to participate in either or both of the first two rounds. Come join us!

Theme
To balance the dryness of April, it is a Flowers month here at CCL. While the combative nature of Magic gives little room to appreciate delicate beauty of petals, this month's challanges will be inspired by them, sometimes straightforward, sometimes less.

Challenge

Design a Plant creature card with power 1 or less.

Clarifications

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• It can have other permanent types and creature types.
• Only printed power matters.
• Make sure to include a rarity.

Anyone can enter this first round! Your submissions are due Tuesday, May 14th, 12:00 EST.

Schedule

• Round 1 — Open to Everyone (May 1st-8th)
• Round 2 — Open to Everyone (May 8th-14th)
• Rounds 1 and 2 Critiques (Due May 17th)
• Top 6 — Open to top 6 finishers (May 17th-22nd)
• Top 6 Critiques (May April 25th)
• Top 4 — Open to top 4 finishers (May 25th - 29th)
• Top 4 Critiques (Due June 1st)
• Final (June, winner determined by public poll)

For this month we will continue asking first and second round contestants to evaluate six other contestants during the critique and top 3 period, in order to increase the total number of evaluations each contestant gets.

[KB52665]

Knight of Brambles g
Creature — Plant Knight (U)
Propagate 1 (This creature enters with a pollen counter on it. It's in bloom as long as there are 10 or more pollen counters among creatures you control.)
Afflict 2
Knight of Brambles gets +1/+1 for each pollen counter on it. If it's in bloom, it gets +2/+2 for each pollen counter on it instead.
0/0

[netn10]

Root of all Evil B
Creature - Plant Demon (Mythic)
At the beginning of your upkeep, sacrifice a permenant. If you do, put a +1/+1 counter on Root of all Evil.
2B, Remove X +1/+1 counters from Root of all Evil: Return target permenant card with mana value X or less from your graveyard to the battlefield tapped.
1/1

[marioguy3]

Garbage-Fueled Tangler
Creature - Plant (Mythic Rare)
Delve
Ward - Exile the top four cards of your library.
Whenever Garbage-Fueled Tangler attacks, it gets +X/+X, until end of turn, where X is the number of cards exiled by creatures named Garbage-Fueled Tangler.
At the beginning of your end step, if there are no cards in your graveyard, you may sacrifice Garbage-Fueled Tangler. If you do, return each creature card you own in exile from your graveyard to your hand.
1/1

[Komandon]

Vitamium Tree 6
Artifact Creature — Plant (Mythic)
Defender, indestructible.
Whenever Vitamium Tree is dealt excess damage, gain that much life.
"Vitamium Tree. Vitamin C. Get it." — recently unemployed flavor text writer.
0/2

[AnotherAlias]

Punish Mint
Creature — Plant Horror (Uncommon)
Punish Mint gets +1/+0 for each other creature named Punish Mint you control.
Whenever an opponent discards a card, create a token that's a copy of Punish Mint.
1/1

[void_nothing]

Radiant Corpseflower 5B
Creature - Plant (U)
Delve
T, Pay 2 life: Add two mana in any combination of G, W, and/or U.
Whenever a creature deals damage to Radiant Corpseflower, destroy that creature.
0/5

[kwanyeegor-ii]

Poisonspore Fernling 1G
Creature - Elemental Plant (Uncommon)
Whenever a source deals damage to Poisonspore Fernling, put a +1/+1, deathtouch, or spore counter on another permanent you control.
6{B/G}: Poisonspore Fernling gains indestructible until end of turn.
1/3

[Lorn Asbord Schutta]

There will be one day extension, until Tuesday, May 14th, 12:00 EST.

[Lorn Asbord Schutta]

The round is closed. Please critique each other contestant (as there are six of them) and provide a top 3 from them. The critique period for this and the first round is until Friday, May 17th, 12:00 EST.

@KB52665
@netn10
@marioguy3
@Komandon
@AnotherAlias
@void_nothing
@kwanyeegor-ii

[Lorn Asbord Schutta]

Around 24 hours left. If you can't make critiques, please make at least a top 3.
@KB52665
@netn10
@marioguy3
@Komandon
@AnotherAlias
@void_nothing
@kwanyeegor-ii

[Komandon]

Critiques

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Knight of Brambles g
Creature — Plant Knight (U)
Propagate 1 (This creature enters with a pollen counter on it. It's in bloom as long as there are 10 or more pollen counters among creatures you control.)
Afflict 2
Knight of Brambles gets +1/+1 for each pollen counter on it. If it's in bloom, it gets +2/+2 for each pollen counter on it instead.
0/0

The propagate is a nice ability but don't thing it needs to be a keyword. More of an ability similar to the text in some universes beyond and D&D sets. Since it only would make sense on plants (maybe treefolk). Unless it was worded differently to accommodate other creature types. Such as how Day/Night and ascend.

Afflict seems odd. Would think flanking or even wither would make more sense. Flanking definitely since it's not only a knight but a spiky one.

Root of all Evil B
Creature - Plant Demon (Mythic)
At the beginning of your upkeep, sacrifice a permenant. If you do, put a +1/+1 counter on Root of all Evil.
2B, Remove X +1/+1 counters from Root of all Evil: Return target permenant card with mana value X or less from your graveyard to the battlefield tapped.
1/1

I'm a sucker for puns. Should be "you may sacrifice a permanent". I don't count grammar or syntax in my ranking decisions. Just an FYI. I like the counters being a resource especially on a nonartifact.

Garbage-Fueled Tangler
Creature - Plant (Mythic Rare)
Delve
Ward - Exile the top four cards of your library.
Whenever Garbage-Fueled Tangler attacks, it gets +X/+X, until end of turn, where X is the number of cards exiled by creatures named Garbage-Fueled Tangler.
At the beginning of your end step, if there are no cards in your graveyard, you may sacrifice Garbage-Fueled Tangler. If you do, return each creature card you own in exile from your graveyard to your hand.
1/1

Nice alternative ward cost. Not sure how the wording of the second ability should look. But it's nice to tie in the Ward cost with an ability. The third part only would work if you had the cards exiles from your library with s counters added.

Punish Mint
Creature — Plant Horror (Uncommon)
Punish Mint gets +1/+0 for each other creature named Punish Mint you control.
Whenever an opponent discards a card, create a token that's a copy of Punish Mint.
1/1

Another pun. 👍. I like this. Like a better Sorcerer's Broom that can be built around.

Radiant Corpseflower 5B
Creature - Plant (U)
Delve
T, Pay 2 life: Add two mana in any combination of G, W, and/or U.
Whenever a creature deals damage to Radiant Corpseflower, destroy that creature.
0/5

For a corpse flower the paying life makes sense. A reverse deathtouch too. Only issue I see is having 4 color identity.

Poisonspore Fernling 1G
Creature - Elemental Plant (Uncommon)
Whenever a source deals damage to Poisonspore Fernling, put a +1/+1, deathtouch, or spore counter on another permanent you control.
6{B/G}: Poisonspore Fernling gains indestructible until end of turn.
1/3

Top 3

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1st: AnotherAlias
2nd: Net10
3rd: KB52665

[kwanyeegor-ii]

Just a top 3

t3

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1 marioguy3
2 netn10
3 voidnothing

[marioguy3]

KB52665: This card will bloom into a success today.

netn10: The root of all evils in real life is not this card, but I like this card. I would think that "X can't be zero" could probably be printed on this card, meaning you can't remove nothing to eventually bring back all lands, not in mono-black at least.

Komandon: This does some things, but I'm not sure if the six mana 0/2 will be a popular play, even with indestructible. It is "vital"min to give this more protection, like hexproof or ward to gain the boosts of the vitamin tree. This could possibly be an uncommon or rare.

AnotherAlias: This could easily be minted into a real MTG card, just make the second ability "This ability triggers only once each turn" and everything is cool.

void_nothing: Lots of magical creature corpses to be found in this card. I like delve on this one as it's fair to have reactive protection on it.

kwanyeegor-ii: This is the cousin of the poisonous dart frog. As in, I'd dart out of the way quickly of this beast if I ever saw one. Enrage, but without the keyword, is awesome in this context. The high indestructible cost is a risk for sure. I'd think a five mana cost would be good.

Top 3:

3rd place: AnotherAlias
2nd place: kwanyeegor-ii
1st place: KB52665

[netn10]

marioguy3

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Garbage-Fueled Tangler
Creature - Plant (Mythic Rare)
Delve
Ward - Exile the top four cards of your library.
Whenever Garbage-Fueled Tangler attacks, it gets +X/+X, until end of turn, where X is the number of cards exiled by creatures named Garbage-Fueled Tangler.
At the beginning of your end step, if there are no cards in your graveyard, you may sacrifice Garbage-Fueled Tangler. If you do, return each creature card you own in exile from your graveyard to your hand.
1/1

Delve is always scary, but double green might be fine. The ward is interesting, I had to read it twice to get that it pumps all creatures named Garbage-Fueled Tangler - others that you play, played before and your opponents'... so that's something unique. The last ability is also very unique, there is only a single card in Magic that cares about an empty graveyard. All in all, a strong fat creature with three very interesting abilities. The name is fun with delve.

Komandon

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Vitamium Tree 6
Artifact Creature — Plant (Mythic)
Defender, indestructible.
Whenever Vitamium Tree is dealt excess damage, gain that much life.
"Vitamium Tree. Vitamin C. Get it." — recently unemployed flavor text writer.
0/2

6 mana for a 0/2 defender, indestructible is not a good bargain. The second line makes it very, VERY annoying, in limited at least, but I'm not feeling any "mythicness" here. The flavor text it hella cute though lol.

AnotherAlias

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Punish Mint
Creature — Plant Horror (Uncommon)
Punish Mint gets +1/+0 for each other creature named Punish Mint you control.
Whenever an opponent discards a card, create a token that's a copy of Punish Mint.
1/1

This is a cool build around card, it can probably be mono black. As an uncommon, it could be either insane or medicore, depends on if its set has a strong discard theme. A GB discard deck in limited sounds interesting though.

void_nothing

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Radiant Corpseflower 5B
Creature - Plant (U)
Delve
T, Pay 2 life: Add two mana in any combination of G, W, and/or U.
Whenever a creature deals damage to Radiant Corpseflower, destroy that creature.
0/5

Another entry with delve, still scary. It's a repeatable black ramp that in the right deck can be played turn 2-3, and it even ramps for 2 mana. No adding red and a reverse deathtouch is interesting. This feels like it miss defender.

kwanyeegor-ii

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Poisonspore Fernling 1G
Creature - Elemental Plant (Uncommon)
Whenever a source deals damage to Poisonspore Fernling, put a +1/+1, deathtouch, or spore counter on another permanent you control.
6{B/G}: Poisonspore Fernling gains indestructible until end of turn.
1/3

The Thallids need to come back! The first ability would probably trigger in limited 1-2 times, and the 7 mana activated ability is very expansive but it makes sense. Still, I want to imagine a set where this card does some work. Putting the counter on a permenant instead of a creature is wierd.

KB52665

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Knight of Brambles g
Creature — Plant Knight (U)
Propagate 1 (This creature enters with a pollen counter on it. It's in bloom as long as there are 10 or more pollen counters among creatures you control.)
Afflict 2
Knight of Brambles gets +1/+1 for each pollen counter on it. If it's in bloom, it gets +2/+2 for each pollen counter on it instead.
0/0

Ok, I love the Propagate/Pollen mechanic! I wish it was spore counters though, so it would work with the Thallids. This mechanic works only with itself kind of like Arcanes and Lessons, but maybe prolifirate can make up for it. Afflict seems random here. Any removal can make your blooming creatures stop being bloomed mid combat and that's devestating. Maybe working like the City's Blessing might lessen the "feel bad" moments. All in all, I really like this mechanic, and it being a 1 drop uncommon showcase this mechanic perfectly.

Top 3

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1st: KB52665
2nd: marioguy3
3rd: kwanyeegor-ii

[AnotherAlias]

Top 3:
3rd: marioguy3
2nd: KB52665
1st: netn10

[KB52665]

Top 3:
1. AnotherAlias
2. Netn10
3. Kwanyeegor-ii

[void_nothing]

Critiques

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KB52665 - I really like propagate - it may be a parasitic mechanic but it reminds me of a more dynamic and lenticular ascend. I just think this should really have trample rather than afflict. Yes, that's less relevant on a 1/1, but it feels less out-of-place and both punish blocking.

netn10 - Nice idea for an engine, but this feels sort of like it demands too many resources for too little output? I dunno, it's still a one-mana reanimator engine. I must say the name and typeline are delightful.

marioguy3 - A really nice design that does clever stuff with two exile-based abilities and (maybe a bit confusingly) multiple copies of itself. I kind of get the flavor but I think this whole card could use a bit of cleaning up, ironically.

Komandon - Not sure why this counts only excess damage, in flavor terms? I guess it's a direct counter to trample, which is certainly an idea. Not a fan of the flavor text on this, not being an Un-card.

AnotherAlias - Very clever! Sort of a Pack Rat variant and I'm thankful that the ability doesn't increase toughness so a huge number of copies could theoretically be dealt with in combat.

kwanyeegor-ii - This poses intriguing worldbuilding questions it doesn't directly answer, but I can kind of see where it's going. I will say a set that has a spore counter/thallid theme and also uses keyword counters would cause plenty of tracking headaches.

Top 3

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1. AnotherAlias
2. KB52665
3. marioguy3

[Lorn Asbord Schutta]

The critique period is closed!
And the advancing players are:
marioguy3
KB52665
AnotherAlias
void_nothing
netn10
Komandon
Congratulations!