September MCC, Finals: Hunger of Stone and Steel

[void_nothing]

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September MCC, Round 4 - Hunger of Stone and Steel

Welcome to the September MCC! It's Counter Mechanics Month here at the MCC. Each round will feature a different keyword.

Main Challenge: Design a noncreature card with bloodthirst or devour.
Subchallenge 1: Your card has converted mana cost 5 or greater.
Subchallenge 2: Your card has or references another non-evergreen mechanic besides bloodthirst or devour.

DEADLINES

Design deadline: Saturday, October 10th 23:59 EDT

Judging deadline: Tuesday, October 13th 23:59 EDT

Clarifications

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Main Challenge: The card itself must have bloodthirst or devour, not just grant it or reference it.

Sunburst (for example) uses charge counters on noncreatures and +1/+1 counters on creatures. You may interpret either bloodthirst or devour the same way by putting a different counter type in the reminder text, but you don't have to.

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:
void_nothing
Dragoon26
Subject16

Players:
@slimytrout
@StonerOfKruphix
@RaikouRider

[RaikouRider]

Mount Worldheart
Legendary Land {R}
Devour 2 (As this enters the battlefield, you may sacrifice any number of creatures. This land enters the battlefield with twice that many +1/+1 counters on it.)
Mount Worldheart enters the battlefield tapped.
T: Add B, R, or G.
1BRG: Mount Worldheart becomes a 1/1 black, red, and green Elemental creature token with trample until end of turn. It's still a land.

[slimytrout]

Voldaren Carriage 3BR
Artifact — Vehicle (R)
Bloodthirst 2 (If an opponent was dealt damage this turn, this artifact enters the battlefield with two +1/+1 counters on it.)
Flying, menace
Whenever Voldaren Carriage deals combat damage to a player, gain control of target creature that player controls with power less than Voldaren Carriage's power.
Crew 2
4/4

[void_nothing]

Giving this a bump for about 30 hours left.

[StonerOfKruphix]

Temur Battle Fury 2GUR
Enchantment (MR)
Bloodthirst 10 (If an opponent was dealt damage this turn, this enchantment enters the battlefield with ten +1/+1 counters on it.)
At the beginning of each combat, you may move a +1/+1 counter from a permanent you control onto another permanent you control.
Each creature you control with a +1/+1 counter on it has provoke. (Whenever that creature attacks, you may have target creature defending player controls untap and block it if able.)
Power, wisdom, and rage are often passed on.

[void_nothing]

And now the round is closed - judges you know what to do!

[Dragoon26]

Done.

RaikouRider

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Design
(2/3) Appeal - Timmy is generally not a fan of sacrificing their creatures, but they would find the appeal in turning this guy into a huge monster. Johnny would appreciate this as a free mass-sacrifice outlet. I don't think Spike would find this appealing, as they typically aren't fans of "all your eggs in one basket" mechanics.
(3/3) Elegance - Super elegant, the mechanics and flavor fit together nicely.

Development
(3/3) Viability - I have no problems upgrading Savage Lands. Appropriately rare and fits very much into the Jund wheelhouse.
(2.5/3) Balance - I don't see any major balance issue, but the card does need a fair amount of support to really make it viable. I would be wary playing this card in any format where Field of Ruin or similar cards exist due to it's all-in nature.

Creativity
(2/3) Uniqueness - Not super groundbreaking, but putting Devour on a manland is new.
(2.5/3) Flavor - Very evocative of Jund and something I would imagine a manland from Jund would look like.

Polish
(3/3) Quality - No issues.
(2/2) Main Challenge - It has devour.
(0/2) Subchallenges - CMC = 0. Unfortunately, Trample is not a non-evergreen mechanic.

Total: 20/25

slimytrout

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Design
(2/3) Appeal - Timmy wants this for his Vampire tribal deck. Johnny isn't interested. I'm honestly not sure how appealing this would be to Spike; Five mana is an awful lot, but the crew cost is reasonable and it can generate very swingy effect. After some more consideration, yeah I think Spike would play this to some extent.
(3/3) Elegance - There's definitely a connection between the vampire flavor of the card and the card's mechanics.

Development
(2.5/3) Viability - Nothing majorly game breaking, though it may need to be a mythic depending on how warping it is to limited. Repeatable Control Magic effects are incredibly powerful and difficult to combat.
(1.5/3) Balance - So fun fact, there are only two creatures in Magic that natively have flying and menace. It's a very odd combination of abilities, since they grant different kinds of evasion; it might as well just read as unblockable, which on this card is kinda scary. In a format where midrange matchups are common, this card will be incredibly powerful. This feels like it would be the Glorybringer of its limited format and make a lot of opponents groan when it hits the table.

Creativity
(2.5/3) Uniqueness - Again, nothing super new, but all the abilities are in a new package.
(2.5/3) Flavor - The flavor is pretty good, though I'm having difficulty wrapping my head around a carriage being bloodlusted and mind controlling creatures. For some reason, I keep picturing the Futurama episode where Bender gets turned into a werecar. But I digress.

Polish
(3/3) Quality - No issues.
(2/2) Main Challenge - It has Bloodthirst, check.
(2/2) Subchallenges - CMC 5+, check. Since there is a little bit of contention whether or not Crew is an evergreen mechanic, I'll say it's deciduous because Vehicles haven't appeared at common outside of Kaladesh.

Total: 21/25

StonerOfKruphix

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Design
(2/3) Appeal - Timmy likes Bloodthirst 10; Johnny likes manipulating +1/+1 counters. Unfortunately, Spike is not a fan of a 5 mana enchantment that doesn't impact the board when it comes into play.
(3/3) Elegance - This is very easy to grok.

Development
(3/3) Viability - Although there's nothing really "blue" about the card, though it does have a very "Temur" feel to it, which qualifies it for the Temur cost. Definitely a mythic.
(2/3) Balance - I feel like this would be a mega bomb in limited, but justifiable for its rarity. Granting Provoke to virtually your entire team is incredibly powerful.

Creativity
(2.5/3) Uniqueness - This has a very The Ozolith-like quality to it, and we've seen similar effects that move counters around, but takes on a different flavor.
(2/3) Flavor - Everything is great except the name. It feels a little generic and too similar to Temur Battle Rage

Polish
(3/3) Quality - No issues.
(2/2) Main Challenge - It has Bloodthrist, check.
(2/2) Subchallenges - CMC 5+, check. References Provoke, double check.

Total: 21.5/25

Results

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StonerOfKruphix - 21.5
slimytrout - 21
RaikouRider - 20

[Subject16]

Judgments complete.

RaikouRider

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Design
(3/3) Appeal – Timmy likes devouring into a huge beater. Johnny likes landfolk and creature mechanics on noncreatures. Spike sees an uncounterable sac outlet and a hard to remove finisher.
(2/3) Elegance – Reads fine, although the fact that this devours without passing through the stack at all will be confusing to players trying to remove any creatures of yours as you play this. I'm going to assume this card's transformation into a token was a typo, because that would confuse a lot of people.

Development
(1.5/3) Viability – Jund is devour's native colors so that works fine. We've seen lands enter the battlefield with +1/+1 counters before so that's okay, but the fact that you can play this and devour creatures/trigger dying effects without your opponent being able to respond to me seems troublesome. Again, a card that turns into a token changes everything we know about card characteristics and that feels out of place. This is at least a rare.
(2/3) Balance – I don't think this card is in any way overpowered. It's slow, requires a board to be enabled and needs a deck built around it to truly thrive. But the card's ability to sacrifice creatures without going through the stack at any point concerns me. Sure, it's a one-time effect, but the fact that it can't be interacted with in any way leads me to think this can be used to break a deck.

Creativity
(2.5/3) Uniqueness – A land with devour is a cool concept. Everything else we've seen before.
(2.5/3) Flavor – I believe (from Worldheart Phoenix that this card is set on Alara, and creature lands feel like an odd concept to introduce to a plane that already has so much going on. I do like that on Jund, everything, including the ground, is a part of the food chain.

Polish
(3/3) Quality – Unless you genuinely intended for Mount Worldheart to turn into a token, that's a problem. But the way it's worded there aren't any errors.
(2/2) Main Challenge – It's a land with Devour.
(1/2) Subchallenges – I'm hesitant to allow landfolk as a mechanic.

Total: 19.5/25

slimytrout

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Design
(3/3) Appeal – Timmy likes making things big, and vehicles are a fun way to make small creatures bigger. Johnny likes vehicles but doesn't see anything particularly stupid he can do aside from steal creatures. Spike sees a very potent threat that can make good boardstate swings.
(2.5/3) Elegance – Reads fine. Although it's a little odd seeing the reminder text for bloodthirst and not for Crew (a more complicated mechanic imo).

Development
(2.5/3) Viability – Bloodthirst finds itself at home in Rakdos. Vehicles aren't color restricted so that's fine too. Perma-stealing creatures is more Dimir than Rakdos. The latter is much more comfortable with stealing "for as long as CARD remains on the battlefield". This is a rare on power level alone, it could even be mythic.
(1/3) Balance – I think this card is very pushed and not balanced at all. Flying and menace are two very potent evasive abilities that make blocking even more awkward when put together. And block this you must, or else you start losing your creatures until you have nothing to block with at all. Even without bloodthirst, being able to steal (permanently) a 3-powered creature almost every combat is ridiculously good (and then of course, the creature you just stole can then crew it for next round). This is one of those cards that has a "must kill immediately" target on it, and the fact that it's a vehicle makes doing so very difficult.

Creativity
(3/3) Uniqueness – Artifacts with bloodthirst haven't been done before, and stealing creatures on combat damage is also a new wording.
(2/3) Flavor – The flavour all synches together for that nice Vampire feel, so I find myself disappointed to not see a single thing on the card that works with Vampires.

Polish
(3/3) Quality – I don't see any problems.
(2/2) Main Challenge – It's an artifact with bloodthirst.
(2/2) Subchallenges – Crew fits.

Total: 21/25

StonerofKruphix

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Design
(2.5/3) Appeal – Timmy and Johnny are both squealing at Bloodthirst 10. Spike likes the flexibility of combat manipulation available to him, but feels a bit annoyed that the payoff isn't immediate without extra work.
(2/3) Elegance – Reads fine, although it definitely seems wordy. I'm not sure on a card if there would be room for flavour text.

Development
(2/3) Viability – Bloodthirst definitely belongs in gruul colors, and provoke is historically Naya but the "goad into blocking"/combat manipulation could arguably be blue, but really this is a Gruul card made blue for flavor. +1/+1 counters on enchantments haven't been seen before, but Heliod, Sun-Crowned has shown us it's possible. This is could be a mythic, but I don't think this isn't beyond what a rare could be either.
(3/3) Balance – Provoke is definitely one of those mechanics that can be an issue for limited where games are so often decided on boardstates and combat phases, and granting it to a bunch of your creatures means you can probably easily control the blockers, but the mythic rarity offsets this. It's currently a 9 on the storm scale, but that's because of its similarity to fight, not because it's a problem mechanic per se. Aside from that, I think it's a pretty neat card that could be fun for grindier midrange decks and decks working around +1/+1 counters.

Creativity
(3/3) Uniqueness – Enchantments that come in with +1/+1 counters has never happened before.
(2/3) Flavor – The name sounds way too similar to Temur Battle Rage, and "Fury" isn't really the word I would have paired with granting Provoke, a mechanic that's very strategic, and the flavor text feels like it's missing some detail. But it's a very Temur card.

Polish
(3/3) Quality – I don't see any problems here.
(2/2) Main Challenge – It's an enchantment with bloodthirst.
(2/2) Subchallenges – Provoke fits.

Total: 21.5/25

Results

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RaikouRider: 19.5/25
slimytrout: 21/25
StonerofKruphix: 21.5/25

[void_nothing]

RaikouRider

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Design
(2/3) Appeal - Full Txmmy points obviously. Half points from Jxnny and Spike - it's a bit of a blunt instrument but this card has lots of interactions, and Spike loves both utility lands and trilands but the drawbacks on this are tough.
(2.5/3) Elegance - Four abilities, even though they're mostly concise and all function together, make this card somewhat wordy.

Development
(3/3) Viability - Feels Jund and rare.
(2.5/3) Balance - A triland that can also be a creature is strong stuff - but legendary is a limiting drawback for a land, ETBTapped is harsh, and you'll need to sacrifice at least two creatures to this devour ability before you have a really worthwhile beater for the animation cost.

Creativity
(1.5/3) Uniqueness - Animating trilands and devour on a land are both new (although one of them is challenge-mandated) but there have been growing personlands before and ultimately this is just a variation on something that has been done before.
(3/3) Flavor - Works well enough for me.

Polish
(3/3) Quality - Looks good.
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - Done.
(0/2) Subchallenges - Lands have 0CMC and no extra nonevergreens here.

Total: 19.5/25

slimytrout

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Design
(2/3) Appeal - Mostly a Txmmy/Spike thing - it's kind of straightforward for Jxnny.
(2/3) Elegance - I'm not gonna lie, that's a lot of lines of text. If you used the crew reminder text, it would be an absolutely packed text box.

Development
(1.5/3) Viability - This might have to be mythic for Limited reasons if nothing else, and neither black nor red really gets creature theft in this exact format - yes, black steals creatures in a specifically Vampire-related context, but it usually has to go after them and not their controllers, and turn them into Vampires in the process somehow (see this card's inspiration Olivia Voldaren and New Blood and Captivating Vampire).
(1/3) Balance - Flying and menace together effectively make unblockable. Plus, the form that the creature theft ability of this card takes is definitely too strong. It will probably take over games if the bloodthirst ability was not used, and will DEFINITELY do so if it was and you can get anything with less than 6 power (which is almost every creature you're likely to see). And being a Vehicle has the advantage of keeping it away from creature removal when not in use.

Creativity
(1.5/3) Uniqueness - Although there have been big honkin' flyer Vehicles before this somewhat stands out from the rest for multiple reasons.
(3/3) Flavor - Olivia kidnaps you in your carriage and, uh, "persuades" you to serve her - works for me. Also the Vampire/bloodthirst connection is there.

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

Total: 18/25

StonerOfKruphix

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Design
(2.5/3) Appeal - Txmmy and Jxnny have the strongest attraction here. Spike is also interested but it may be too unreliable for them unless the deck is all in for +1/+1 counters.
(2/3) Elegance - Obviously pretty wordy altogether, and provoke is a complicated ability especially when it's on EVERYTHING.

Development
(3/3) Viability - Colors all fit and rarity looks right.
(2.5/3) Balance - Kind of hard to evaluate and provoke for all of your (+1/+1'd, which in the right deck is definitely everything) creatures means that you basically run combat all the time.

Creativity
(2.5/3) Uniqueness - Bloodthirst 10? The return of provoke? That wacky graft variant ability? Tons of wackiness here.
(3/3) Flavor - I really like this. It feels absolutely Temur.

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

Total: 22.5/25

[void_nothing]

StonerOfKruphix 21.5 + 21.5 + 22.5 = 65.5
slimytrout 21 + 21 + 18 = 60
RaikouRider 20 + 19.5 + 19.5 = 59

Congratulations to @StonerOfKruphix!