August MCC Round 2 - Start your engines

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bravelion83
MKM MCC going on now
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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 2

Start your engines


"Ladies and gentleman, welcome to the Ovalchase Racetrack for a very special event! Tonight the best pilots from all over Kaladesh will compete in this year's annual racing championships! Fast cars! Spectacular maneuvers! Danger on the track! We've got it all! But while you wait for that to begin, why don't you pay a visit to our bettors' booth? Support your favorite racetrack by placing bets on your favorite pilots! Don't know who to bet on? Don't have any favorites yet? Well, let's hear the advice of Meyked, our resident expert! Take it away!"
"Thank you! I think the Derby Crows are the favorites for this year's annual racing championships, but the Burnouts also look on fire! Quite literally!"
"Oh yeah! Huge fires! Exciting crashes! Extreme action! All of that and even more in just a few minutes! People, warm up and start your engines! Get ready to press! That! Gas! Pedal!"


Main Challenge - Design a Vehicle. Please see clarifications.

Subchallenge 1 - Your Vehicle's power is different from its toughness.

Subchallenge 2 - Your card's converted mana cost is 3 or less.

Clarifications
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Main Challenge
• Your card must be an artifact and must have the subtype Vehicle. It also must have the keyword "crew", because all Vehicles have it. You can create custom variations on "crew" though. It also needs a power and toughness.
• Your card can be colored or colorless, the challenge doesn't require either option specifically.
• From the discussion thread:
bravelion83 wrote:
4 years ago
slimytrout wrote:
4 years ago
Just wanted to make sure that a card that transforms into a vehicle satisfies the main challenge -- obviously pushing the envelope a bit, but it seemed like it met the challenge as worded since it is an artifact with the subtype vehicle, at least on one side (and also it's just a fun design!).
Let's say it's a bend but acceptable. The Main Challenge just asks: "is this a card with the subtype Vehicle?", and I can't say that a DFC with a Vehicle on the back side doesn't have the subtype. It's definitely not what I was thinking about when writing the challenge, but it meets the letter of the law, so it's technically allowable. Be aware that I'm not guaranteeing your judge (whoever it will be) will give you 2/2 in Main Challenge, they might say "it's a bend" and make a little deduction there. What I am saying is just that a DFC card with a non-Vehicle on the front side and a Vehicle on the back side technically passes the Main Challenge and can't be DQ'ed for not meeting it. Hope this helps.
Subchallenge 1
• In other words, no square stats.
• For example, a 3/3 Vehicle fails this challenge. A 3/2 or 2/3 Vehicle passes it.
All that matters are the printed power and toughness values in the power and toughness box (bottom left on a real card). The rules text can give the Vehicle a bonus that makes its power equal to its toughness if certain conditions are met, and that's fine. It can also set the power and/or toughness to specific values if certain conditions are met, so that power and toughness are equal but only under those conditions, and that's fine too.
A */* card automatically fails this challenge, even if power and toughness are defined to be different in the rules text. I've said that we only look at printed values ignoring rules text, and * is not a number, so you can't compare * with *. If you wrote a script to do that, you'd get a "not a number" error.

Subchallenge 2
Should be self-explanatory.


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

DEADLINES

Design deadline: Saturday, August 17th 23:59 EDT

Judging deadline: Tuesday, August 20th 23:59 EDT



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
mellifluoresce (see discussion thread)


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

Algernone25
barbecube
Dragonlover
Flatline
Freyleyes (did not submit a card within the design deadline)
Henlock
Icarii
Jimmy Groove
netn10
Raptorchan
Sagharri
SecretInfiltrator
slimytrout
Sojourner Dusk
StonerOfKruphix
Superbajt


BRACKETS

Judge: Rithaniel
Algernone25
barbecube
Icarii
Jimmy Groove
Raptorchan

Judge: bravelion83
Dragonlover
Henlock
SecretInfiltrator
slimytrout
Superbajt

Judge: void_nothing
Flatline
netn10
Sagharri
Sojourner Dusk
StonerOfKruphix

Judge: mellifluoresce (see discussion thread)

Top 2 from each bracket advance to Round 3.

Judges, good work. Please let me know asap if you have any problem making it within the deadline. Thanks.
Last edited by bravelion83 4 years ago, edited 6 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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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
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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Flatline
The Heartbeat of America
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Post by Flatline » 4 years ago

Bandwagon 2
Artifact — Vehicle (U)
Whenever a creature enters the battlefield under your control, put a +1/+1 counter on Bandwagon and you gain 1 life.
Crew 2 (Tap any number of creatures you control with total power 2 or more: This Vehicle becomes an artifact creature until end of turn.)
"Welcome aboard!"
0/0
Card Contest Victories
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DCC
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(25 Total) - October 2014; December 2014; January 2015; April 2015; June 2015; August 2015; September 2015; November 2015; December 2015(T); January 2016; March 2016(T); April 2016; June 2016; October 2016; December 2016(T); February 2017; April 2017; December 2017; November 2018(T); January 2019; April 2019; June 2019; August 2019; October 2019; March 2020
MCC
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(8 Total) - May 2015; May 2016; June 2016; August 2016; October 2016; December 2016; October 2017; May 2019
CCL
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(7 Total) - September 2015; October 2015; January 2016; March 2016; April 2016; July 2016(T); March 2019(T)

slimytrout
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Post by slimytrout » 4 years ago

Ultan, Greybark Explorer 1G
Legendary Creature - Treefolk Scout (R)
Whenever a nonbasic land enters the battlefield under your control, put a +1/+1 counter on Ultan, Greybark Explorer. Then if Ultan's power is 5 or greater, you may transform him.
Having seen fiery groves, strange arbors, and immense canopies, Ultan grieved that he had visited all the lands there were to explore...
0/2
//
Greyhull, Explorer's Bark
Legendary Artifact - Vehicle
Whenever Greyhull, Explorer's Bark attacks, you may search your library for a land card, put it onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle your library.
Crew 2 (Tap any number of creatures you control with total power 2 or more: This Vehicle becomes an artifact creature until end of turn.)
...until a young man offered to show him the sea.
2/0
Last edited by slimytrout 4 years ago, edited 7 times in total.

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Sojourner Dusk
Dominarian Hitchhiker
Posts: 189
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Location: Blind Eternities

Post by Sojourner Dusk » 4 years ago

Deathwagon
Artifact — Vehicle (R)
Trample, wither
Whenever a creature crews Deathwagon, it gets +X/+X until end of turn, where X is that creature's power. At end of combat, sacrifice all creatures that crewed Deathwagon this turn.
Crew 0
2/0
Last edited by Sojourner Dusk 4 years ago, edited 3 times in total.
May your games be chaotic and your decks be rogue.



UBR Nekusar (EDH)
RGW Mayael, Naturally (EDH)

Superbajt
Posts: 7
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Post by Superbajt » 4 years ago

Murderous Motor 2B
Artifact — Vehicle (R)
Deathtouch
Murderous Motor can't block.
B, Sacrifice a creature: Murderous Motor gains indestructible until end of turn.
Crew 1 (Tap any number of creatures you control with total power 1 or more: This Vehicle becomes an artifact creature until end of turn.)
4/1

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Icarii
Posts: 84
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Post by Icarii » 4 years ago

Arduul, Miasmic Sky-Wing 1BB
Legendary Artifact - Vehicle (R)
Flying
Whenever Arduul, Miasmic Sky-Wing deals combat damage to a player, that player discards a card for each creature crewing it.
Crew 2 (Tap any number of creatures you control with total power 2 or more: This Vehicle becomes an artifact creature until end of turn.)
3/4

Dragonlover
Posts: 546
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Post by Dragonlover » 4 years ago

Goblin Boomwagon 3
Artifact - Vehicle (U)
Goblin Boomwagon gets +1/+0 until end of turn for each Goblin crewing it.
Crew 1 (Tap any number of creatures you control with total power 1 or more: This Vehicle becomes an artifact creature until end of turn.)
2/1
All my decks are here

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Jimmy Groove
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Post by Jimmy Groove » 4 years ago

Troop Carrier 2
Artifact - Vehicle (U)
Kicker WW (You may pay an additional WW as you cast this spell.)
When Troop Carrier enters the battlefield, if it was kicked, create two 1/1 white Soldier creature tokens.
Crew 2 (Tap any number of creatures you control with total power 2 or more: This Vehicle becomes an artifact creature until end of turn.)
3/4

netn10
Posts: 3933
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Post by netn10 » 4 years ago

Modular Cruiser 3
Artifact - Vehicle Equipment (Uncommon)
Flying
Equipped creature gets +3/+1.
Equip 1 (Equipment that's a creature can't equip a creature.)
Crew 1
3/1

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SecretInfiltrator
Posts: 5701
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Location: The Shattered Realm

Post by SecretInfiltrator » 4 years ago

Dwarven Tank 3
Artifact — Vehicle (U)
Indestructible
Crew 4 (Tap any number of creatures you control with total power 4 or more: This Vehicle becomes an artifact creature until end of turn.)
Only creatures with power 2 or less can crew Dwarven Tank.
Horse power? Well, not exactly...
6/4
SPOILER
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Dwarven Tank 3
Artifact — Vehicle (U)
Indestructible
Crew 4 (Tap any number of creatures you control with total power 4 or more: This Vehicle becomes an artifact creature until end of turn.)
Only creatures with power 2 or less can crew ~.
Horse power? Well, not exactly...
6/4

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Raptorchan
Beautiful Liar
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Post by Raptorchan » 4 years ago

Prakhata Express 3
Artifact Creature - Vehicle (U)
Whenever Prakhata Express attacks, you may pay g. If you do, search your library for a land card that doesn't share a name with a land you control and put it onto the battlefield tapped. If you search your library this way, shuffle it.
Crew 2
"Explore all tiles of Ghirapur puzzle!"
—Prakhata Express commercial

3/4

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barbecube
Posts: 141
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Location: London

Post by barbecube » 4 years ago

Configurable Exoskeleton 2W
Artifact — Vehicle (R)
Whenever Configurable Exoskeleton is crewed by a creature with flying, it gains that ability. The same is true for vigilance, first strike, double strike, hexproof, indestructible, lifelink, and vigilance.
Crew 3
5/4
formerly willows

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Sagharri
Posts: 282
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Post by Sagharri » 4 years ago

Batterspine 3
Artifact - Vehicle (R)
Trample
If Batterspine would deals combat damage to a player, that player loses life equal to total power of creatures crewing it instead.
Crew 0 (Tap any number of creatures you control with total power 0 or more: This Vehicle becomes an artifact creature until end of turn.)
What you really should afraid is it's content.
5/4
Last edited by Sagharri 4 years ago, edited 3 times in total.

StonerOfKruphix
Posts: 67
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Post by StonerOfKruphix » 4 years ago

Conclave Chariot GW
Artifact — Vehicle (R)
Conclave Chariot can be crewed only by creature tokens.
Crew 1 (Tap any number of creatures you control with total power 1 or more: This Vehicle becomes an artifact creature until end of turn.)
Mat'Selesnya's message doesn't travel only through prayers and hymns.
6/7

Henlock
Posts: 1510
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Post by Henlock » 4 years ago

Reconnaissance Speedcycle
Artifact - Vehicle (u)
Reconnaissance Speedcycle cannot be crewed by creatures with power 4 or greater.
Reconnaissance Speedcycle cannot be blocked as long as the defending player controls more lands than you.
Crew 1 (Tap any number of creatures you control with total power 0 or more: This Vehicle becomes an artifact creature until end of turn.)
2/1

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Algernone25
Salvation Migrant
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Post by Algernone25 » 4 years ago

Last minute entries are the best entries. Sorry, I guess having such a wide-open prompt has left me without good inspiration. Let's see...
Predator, Phyrexian Mothership
4BR
Legendary Artifact Creature — Vehicle
Flying
When Predator, Phyrexian Mothership attacks, defending player sacrifices a nontoken creature or artifact.
Crew 5 Tap any number of creatures you control with total power 5 or less: This Vehicle becomes an artifact creature until end of turn.)

A single broadside causes all of Dominaria to tremble.

7/5
Top 16 - 2012 Indiana State Championships
Currently Playing:
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bravelion83
MKM MCC going on now
Posts: 4038
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Post by bravelion83 » 4 years ago

The round is officially closed. Freyleyes didn't submit a card. Brackets as follows.

BRACKETS

Judge: Rithaniel
Algernone25
barbecube
Icarii
Jimmy Groove
Raptorchan

Judge: bravelion83
Dragonlover
Henlock
SecretInfiltrator
slimytrout
Superbajt

Judge: void_nothing
Flatline
netn10
Sagharri
Sojourner Dusk
StonerOfKruphix

Judge: mellifluoresce (see discussion thread)

Top 2 from each bracket advance to Round 3.

Judges, good work. Please let me know asap if you have any problem making it within the deadline. Thanks.




Judgments complete. Rather high scores this round from me. Good job everyone! I feel slightly bad for cards scoring 21.5 and 22 points not advancing, but that's the way it is. I'm sorry to those players, just know that in most other brackets your cards would have probably advanced. I really hope to see you again next month. I hope to see everybody back next month.
Dragonlover
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Dragonlover wrote:
4 years ago
Goblin Boomwagon 3
Artifact - Vehicle (U)
Goblin Boomwagon gets +1/+0 until end of turn for each Goblin crewing it.
Crew 1 (Tap any number of creatures you control with total power 1 or more: This Vehicle becomes an artifact creature until end of turn.)
2/1
Design
(1.5/3) Appeal - Timmy likes the moment when you have a bunch of goblins, have them all jump on the BOOMwagon and attack with a high power / low toughness Vehicle. The high power can get a lot of damage through, and the low toughness will make it BOOM! But the little goblins will still be safe and living, ready for some new potentially explosive adventures! I'm not sure how Johnny could use this, but he could probably come up with something. Spike doesn't really like how this card pushes you to overcrew it, for an effect that most of the time won't even be greater than the power of the creatures overcrewing it. She would like this more if overcrewing with a 1-power creature gave this Vehicle an extra point of power than the creature you're giving up, aka if the bonus were at least +2/+0 so that overcrewing it actually gave her some kind of tangible advantage.
(3/3) Elegance - No problems here.

Development
(3/3) Viability - I feel like today this would probably be a monored colored artifact, but I also feel like this ability in colorless is not a problem. You will only really play this in Goblin decks, and those are heavily red anyway (either monored or black-red but primary red like Boggarts from Lorwyn). It's also a rather narrow ability, so it should be no problem. It's open-ended abilities that might cause problems on colorless artifacts. I think rarity is correct.
(3/3) Balance - I feel like, for once, this is a rather straightforward card to judge in this area. It all essentially reduces to how good the first ability is, which depends on how many Goblins are in your deck. If you manage to pick up enough in your limited deck, you might play this there. In constructed I can easily see this in Goblin tribal decks, that are actually there in both competitive and casual. I see no problems in multiplayer.

Creativity
(3/3) Uniqueness - This round we saw a quite thorough exploration of Vehicle design space. This card is no exception. No Vehicles that get bonuses based on the number and type of creatures crewing it currently exist.
(2/3) Flavor - BOOM!!! The flavor here is definitely explosive! I love this flavor! It feels very appropriate for a goblin-themed card. I wish there was some kind of ability (probably direct damage related) and some flavor text that reflected the explosion of this wagon. Without those elements, you definitely did the best you could. A goblin jumping in this to drive it furiously up to the point of overheating it and making it explode is a very funny scene to picture in my mind.

Polish
(2/3) Quality - The reminder text for crew should be in italics. Serious mistake, so -1.
(2/2) Main Challenge - It's a Vehicle... (Good. I'm just playing with this field.)
(2/2) Subchallenges - Both met.

Total: 21.5/25
Henlock
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Henlock wrote:
4 years ago
Reconnaissance Speedcycle
Artifact - Vehicle (u)
Reconnaissance Speedcycle cannot be crewed by creatures with power 4 or greater.
Reconnaissance Speedcycle cannot be blocked as long as the defending player controls more lands than you.
Crew 1 (Tap any number of creatures you control with total power 0 or more: This Vehicle becomes an artifact creature until end of turn.)
2/1
Design
(1.5/3) Appeal - I can't see Timmy caring about this card too much. Johnny could come up with something, but I honestly can't see what. Maybe giving his opponent more lands so that this can't be blocked? I don't know... That feels like a stretch to me. Spike is the one this card has been designed for, and she definitely likes it.
(2.5/3) Elegance - The text is a bit long but definitely easy enough to understand.

Development
(2/3) Viability - I have no problems with these abilities in colorless. With abilities that I have a hard time calling drawbacks even though they technically are, as they're very easy to play around (see Balance), I feel like this card as is would be more appropriate at rare.
(2/3) Balance - Zero mana is dangerous... I don't think the drawbacks are restrictive enough. Crewing this with creatures with power less than 4 should not be a problem. With the crew number being 1, you would want to crew this with a small creature anyway. That's just what you would do normally, even if the first ability weren't there. The second ability is also very easy to play around: if no land drops have been missed by either player, you can just attack with this and then play your land during your postcombat main phase. This is a little different from how you'd play normally, but it's also very easy to do. I really think this should cost at least one mana or have more restrictive drawbacks. As for playability, you'd certainly play this in limited and I can see it in competitive constructed rather easily because of my reasoning above, but again I'm not sure it would be too healthy in the metagame. Talking about casual formats instead of competitive doesn't really change that in my opinion. In multiplayer, the "defending player has to control more lands" drawback will be probably even easier to play around. If one of your opponents is mana screwed, there are still other ones that can have more lands than you.

Creativity
(3/3) Uniqueness - This round we saw a quite thorough exploration of Vehicle design space. This card is no exception. No Vehicles with similar restrictions or costing zero mana currently exist.
(1.5/3) Flavor - I don't have big problems with this card name for a Vehicle in a vacuum, but I feel some kind of disconnect between it and the abilities on this card. Why can't big creatures drive a vehicle used for reconnaissance? Are they too big to fit in? Nothing tells it to me flavorfully here. Art could probably help here, but it's a luxury we can't afford to have. Checking the number of lands your opponents control gives a better idea of reconnaissance, but then what's about speed? The fact that you can cast it for free? I'm honestly feeling like I'm just trying to find ways to justify it by rational thoughts, and that's a sign that the flavor here doesn't make intuitive sense from a holistic point of view here. But maybe it's just me and the way my brain does (not) work.

Polish
(1/3) Quality - You should use the short form "can't" and not "cannot" on Magic cards, even thought they're perfectly equivalent in ordinary English (-0.5 twice is -1). Also, you should write "defending player" without the article "the" ("...as long as defending player...", -0.5). Finally, the crew number is 1 in the rules text and 0 in the reminder text (-0.5).
(2/2) Main Challenge - ...so can I drive it? (...) (Good. I'm just playing with this field.)
(2/2) Subchallenges - Both met.

Total: 17.5/25
SecretInfiltrator
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SecretInfiltrator wrote:
4 years ago
Dwarven Tank 3
Artifact — Vehicle (U)
Indestructible
Crew 4 (Tap any number of creatures you control with total power 4 or more: This Vehicle becomes an artifact creature until end of turn.)
Only creatures with power 2 or less can crew Dwarven Tank.
Horse power? Well, not exactly...
6/4
Design
(2/3) Appeal - Timmy definitely likes getting to attack with a huge indestructible animated Vehicle. I don't see much for Johnny to do, but maybe it's just me (notoriously not a Johnny). Spike likes the rate of this card, but she's not the greatest fan of crew 4. She likes how this Vehicle can act as protection for her little creatures though: instead of attacking with two 2-power creatures, exposing them to the risk of being killed in combat, use them to crew this and attack with two more power and indestructible. That's a play she could like.
(3/3) Elegance - No problems here.

Development
(3/3) Viability - Everything here is something that I can picture a colorless artifact doing. I can see something like this at uncommon.
(3/3) Balance - A 6/4 for three mana is way above curve, but crew 4 is a steep cost that I think absolutely makes up for that, especially with the drawback of the restriction on crewing, even if I don't see the difference between a single 4-power creature crewing this and two 2-power ones as very relevant. You would want to attack with the 4-power creature and use the 2-powered ones for crewing anyway probably. The real cost here is the crew 4. I think you would almost always play this in limited, probably not multiples, but one for sure. Most creatures have power 2 or less anyway there, especially if you cast this on turn three. I also could see this in some kind of weenies constructed deck, not necessarily monowhite. I see no problems in casual or multiplayer.

Creativity
(3/3) Uniqueness - This round we saw a quite thorough exploration of Vehicle design space. This card is no exception. No Vehicles with similar restrictions currently exist.
(3/3) Flavor - I don't see any problems here. The flavor has a connection to the mechanics on this card: "Dwarven" to the fact that only small creatures can crew this and "Tank" to its high power and toughness, with an effective humorous flavor text on top of that. This is a card that feels like a holistic union of flavor and mechanics to me.

Polish
(2.5/3) Quality - All precedents I've been able to find are for either flying ("...can block only creatures with flying") or shadow (but it's just reminder text), but based on those I think the last ability should be written as "Dwarven Tank can be crewed only by creatures with power 2 or less." (-0.5)
(2/2) Main Challenge - (...) Yes, I probably could... (Good. I'm just playing with this field.)
(2/2) Subchallenges - Both met.

Total: 23.5/25
slimytrout
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slimytrout wrote:
4 years ago
Ultan, Greybark Explorer 1G
Legendary Creature - Treefolk Scout (R)
Whenever a nonbasic land enters the battlefield under your control, put a +1/+1 counter on Ultan, Greybark Explorer. Then if Ultan's power is 5 or greater, you may transform him.
Having seen fiery groves, strange arbors, and immense canopies, Ultan grieved that he had visited all the lands there were to explore...
0/2
//
Greyhull, Explorer's Bark
Legendary Artifact - Vehicle
Whenever Greyhull, Explorer's Bark attacks, you may search your library for a land card, put it onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle your library.
Crew 2 (Tap any number of creatures you control with total power 2 or more: This Vehicle becomes an artifact creature until end of turn.)
...until a young man offered to show him the sea.
2/0
Design
(3/3) Appeal - Timmy likes creatures that can grow and then ramp his mana. Johnny can use the counters in unintended way, and the fact that transforming is a "may" only help him do that: choose to not transform Ultan (which is already a play that most people wouldn't do, one of those that Johnny loves) and keep accumulating counters that you can use for different purposes than this card normally wants you to. Spike would just normally want to play with a lot of nonbasic lands, and getting rewarded for doing so is like icing on the cake. She also likes transform being a may, so that if she needs a high-toughness big creature more than a Vehicle she can just keep Ultan around.
(1.5/3) Elegance - The text is very long but still not hard to understand. The zero toughness of the back side could confuse some players at first if they read this quickly and don't stop to think that the +1/+1 counters will be there to keep this alive if it's immediately crewed right after it transforms.

Development
(3/3) Viability - Even if the back side is colorless, there are no problems with it having a green ability, you will have to pay green mana anyway to cast the front side first and then get to it. I wouldn't want to see this card at any less than rare.
(2.5/3) Balance - This looks much more of a constructed card than a limited card. Most often in limited you just won't have five nonbasic lands in your whole deck, so you might even end up cutting this most of the time. I have no problems with this in constructed, and it actually seems quite good to me there. A relevant number of nonbasic lands are in almost every constructed deck, with monocolored ones being maybe the only exception, and the further back in time you go with the format you're playing, the more choice you will have. For example, in Modern it's rare to see non-monocolored decks with more than five basic lands. I feel like this could be quite strong in Modern, more than Standard, with all the fetchlands and shocklands going around. I don't see any problem in casual or multiplayer.

Creativity
(3/3) Uniqueness - This round we saw a quite thorough exploration of Vehicle design space. This card is no exception. No DFCs with a Vehicle on the back side currently exist. There is only one DFC Vehicle (Conqueror's Galleon) in the whole history of Vehicles in Magic, and it's on the front face.
(3/3) Flavor - Ok, we got there. I feel like this is by far the strongest area for this card. This is how you can use a single card to tell a whole story, with all the flavor elements working together. It's also very visible that you thought about all the little details here. I always appreciate a detail-oriented eye. So, let's talk briefly (? I would be surprised at myself being actually brief for once... I probably won't.) about each one of those elements. First, the name. I see what you did there. Rearrange the same words to change the meaning while making the names feel connected. The first syllable of the name "Ultan" sounds very similar to "hull", and it changes from the Treefolk's proper name to the ship's name. The "bark" of the tree becomes the ship's wooden hull. "Grey" was the color of the bark and then it's the color of the hull. The "explorer" is first the treefolk himself because he's a scout and then it's the young sailor that has turned Ultan into a ship and that now takes him to explore new horizons. The flavor text is a whole story in three lines, justifying the names in a way that feels very natural. The mechanical flavor is also very good: the +1/+1 counters represent Ultan's experience from his explorations making him stronger, until he thinks he has explored everything, so he stops accumulating counters. It's at this point that he meets his new best friend and he transforms, both in a mechanical sense and in his story, changing from a tree to a ship. And it's in his new form that he keeps exploring, aka searching for lands. You couldn't do a better job here. If I could give you bonus points here, I definitely would. An absolutely breathtaking job. (Ok, this wasn't brief at all. Just as expected. I know myself.)

Polish
(2/3) Quality - Rarity is missing on the back side, but at least it's there on the front side so I'll only do -0.5 here (I normally do -1 for missing rarity). The pronouns "him" and "her" are only used for planeswalkers or legendary creatures that transform into planeswalkers, like those from Origins. Ultan is a legendary creature but it doesn't transform into a planeswalker, so it should say "transform it", not "transform him" (-0.5).
(2/2) Main Challenge - D'oh! I have to stop playing with this field of my database (yes, I've set up an Access database to write my judgments and I've been using that for years by now, in fact I'm writing in it right now) and be serious here for once in this area of this round's judgments. Ok, serious mode activated! (I wish I could turn it on or off at will...) So, in the end I did end up judging this card. As I've already said myself, it passes the challenge because the Vehicle subtype is there somewhere on the card. But as I've also already said, this wasn't what I had in mind while creating the challenge. I have to make a decision here. Do I want to prize an entry that passed the challenge in an unexpected way, or do I want to penalize it for being too out of the box and not what I was thinking about? I've been going back and forth on the answer multiple times since you've asked me that question in the discussion thread. In this moment, I'm thinking back to when the current rubric has been first adopted years ago (you can find a brief history in the guidelines document). One of the reasons we did it was to prize creative players coming up with unexpected ways to meet the challenges, in fact it's even been written in one of the questions of the rubric in this area. That pushes me more towards the former option. I'll go with that for now.
(2/2) Subchallenges - Both met. I'm counting the stats of the vehicle side and they're not square stats as printed. The new rule (as of SOI, so not really new...) is that a DFC's CMC is equal to the sum of that of the front side and that of the back side, so 2 + 0 = 2 < 3, so that's also good. Before SOI, it wasn't the sum, but it was both values at the same time. To me, it was more intuitive that way, but maybe it's just the way my brain works... (Does it?)

Total: 22/25
Superbajt
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Superbajt wrote:
4 years ago
Murderous Motor 2B
Artifact — Vehicle (R)
Deathtouch
Murderous Motor can't block.
B, Sacrifice a creature: Murderous Motor gains indestructible until end of turn.
Crew 1 (Tap any number of creatures you control with total power 1 or more: This Vehicle becomes an artifact creature until end of turn.)
4/1
Design
(2.5/3) Appeal - Timmy would just want to attack with this anyway, even though he usually prefers to avoid sacrificing his own creatures. The reward for doing so is very attractive to him though. Johnny can definitely use this as a sac outlet at the very least. Spike tends to really like cards like this, especially in Aristocrats-style decks. Both Johnny and Spike like that you can use a 1-power creature to crew this and then sacrifice the same creature you used to crew to give this indestructible.
(3/3) Elegance - No problems here.

Development
(3/3) Viability - No problems with the color pie or rarity.
(3/3) Balance - I feel like this is another easy card to judge in this area. Playable in limited most of the time. As I've mentioned before, I can easily see this in constructed, especially in Aristocrats-style decks. I don't see any problem in casual or multiplayer.

Creativity
(2/3) Uniqueness - This round we saw a quite thorough exploration of Vehicle design space, but this card is an exception. This falls into the category of "old pieces put together in a technically new way", which is good but not perfect in this area.
(2.5/3) Flavor - No problems with the name. The word "Murderous" makes a lot of sense with deathtouch and the sac ability. No flavor text. According to MSE, one line could technically fit but the card does look better without it, so not a big problem.

Polish
(3/3) Quality - All good.
(2/2) Main Challenge - ...even if I'm technically not allowed. (Good. I'm just playing with this field.)
(2/2) Subchallenges - Both met.

Total: 23/25
Results (bold advance)
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SecretInfiltrator: 23.5
Superbajt: 23
slimytrout: 22
Dragonlover: 21.5
Henlock: 17.5
Last edited by bravelion83 4 years ago, edited 2 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).
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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
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Rithaniel
Posts: 2695
Joined: 4 years ago
Pronoun: he / him

Post by Rithaniel » 4 years ago

All of the Judging
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Algernone25
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Algernone25 wrote:
4 years ago
Predator, Phyrexian Mothership
4BR
Legendary Artifact Creature — Vehicle
Flying
When Predator, Phyrexian Mothership attacks, defending player sacrifices a nontoken creature or artifact.
Crew 5 Tap any number of creatures you control with total power 5 or less: This Vehicle becomes an artifact creature until end of turn.)

A single broadside causes all of Dominaria to tremble.

7/5



Design
(1/3) Appeal — Timmy sees a big battleship, and he is even a fan of the idea of his creatures running around crewing it, so he gives it full credit. Johnny is not very interested, because there aren't many combos he can put together with this design. It might be a puzzle for Johnny to figure out how to control what the opponent sacrifices, but that's not something unique to this card. Spike, meanwhile, sees this as potential card advantage, but dislikes the cost of having to pay so much mana and keep 5 power worth of creatures tapped in order to utilize it. From Spike's perspective, this is a late-game, conditional investment that might earn him one or two cards.
(2/3) Elegance — Why does this specify nontoken artifacts and creatures? That seems strangely specific. Other than that, though, I see no issues with the design, here. Simple designs are often the most elegant.

Development
(3/3) Viability — Red brings artifact hate, black brings creature hate, both bring flying, and crew is colorless, and thus available to all colors. A giant, flying, Legendary warship that makes the opponent sacrifice things also feels mythic. Viability is good, through and through.
(2/3) Balance — It's difficult to judge the balance on a vehicle at a glance. Analysis makes me believe this is a somewhat underpowered card, though. Compare to Demolition Stomper, which has the same converted mana cost (but doesn't require colored mana, making it easier to cast), the same crew requirement, and an evasion ability which is arguably on par with flying, but it has +3/+2 and only lacks the removal ability. Now, that removal ability could potentially be a major thing, but so could +3/+2. I'm actually willing to put those two effects on par with each other specifically because the removal ability causes a sacrifice, meaning it's not really in your control what is removed. Being able to deal 3 more damage in combat can lead to your opponent "sacrificing" a creature to block it, which would remove smaller creatures, but it can also deal 3 additional damage to the opponent. Being able to also remove artifacts is good, but then there's the increased toughness to consider against that. So, the balance here would make Predator, Phyrexian Mothership roughly equivalent to a Legendary, more-difficult-to-cast version of an uncommon from Kaladesh. Not the best look for a mythic.

Creativity
(2.5/3) Uniqueness — So, the main ability is quite similar to the Eldrazi "annihilator" ability, as well as Thraximundar's main ability. Those abilities haven't specified nontoken creatures or artifacts and we've never seen this effect on vehicles either. So while, I can't give full credit, it does receive some partial credit for mechanical uniqueness.
(1.5/3) Flavor — This card very much lacks unique flavor. Predator has even had a card printed for it, already. Yes, MtG has printed multiple cards representing one place, item, or person before, but those cards might receive less-than-perfect flavor scores as well. Generally, the best practice (for flavor, at least) when making two cards for the same thing, is to make the two cards represent the thing at different points in time, or in different contexts. Just the same flavor a second time is not good.

Polish
(0/3) Quality — "When" in the triggered ability should be "Whenever," as we could expect this to happen multiple times. Also, in the reminder text of the Crew ability, it's "X power or more" and not "X power or less." Third, it should be "artifact or creature." Lastly, vehicles aren't creatures unless they're being crewed, and so that shouldn't be in the type line.
(2/2) Main Challenge — Check.
(1/2) Subchallenges — First is check. Second not so much.

Total: 15/25
barbecube
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barbecube wrote:
4 years ago
Configurable Exoskeleton 2W
Artifact — Vehicle (R)
Whenever Configurable Exoskeleton is crewed by a creature with flying, it gains that ability. The same is true for vigilance, first strike, double strike, hexproof, indestructible, lifelink, and vigilance.
Crew 3
5/4



Design
(2/3) Appeal — Timmy likes the idea of a suit of armor that his creatures wear, becoming bigger versions of themselves with all the same skills as before. Timmy is sold. Johnny, meanwhile, has always been a fan of making a voltron creature. He'd love to pick out creatures to fuel this guys into being the biggest and the best creature it could be. A lot of his time would go into designing the deck such that he can ensure the creatures come out reliably. Spike, meanwhile, sees this as a distraction. Why try and cleverly get various types creatures on the field and then drop this guy when you could just put out more or better weenies and keep swinging with the ones you already have?
(3/3) Elegance — Nice and simple. No issues to point out in the elegance department.

Development
(1.5/3) Viability — The issue here is that, out of cards which have this sort of effect, white versions, like Odric, Lunarch Marshal and Concerted Effort share the keywords to all creatures you control, instead of piling them up onto one creature. Black and green are more likely to pile these keywords onto a single creature, black by stealing them from the graveyard and green by copying creatures on the battlefield.
(2/3) Balance — I'm going to compare the balance, here, to Cultivator's Caravan, as the crew ability, converted mana cost, and rarity all line up. Further, their power and toughness are similar enough to consider them being roughly the same. Now, where the two cards diverge is in the fact that the caravan offers ramp and color fixing while the exoskeleton requires a specific color, but has more combat versitility. That combat versatility can actually be very useful, as suddenly a Fencing Ace and an Aerial Responder give you a turn four 5/4 ten damage lifelink swing. The only drawback is that this favors having a board state already established (as all vehicles do, to some extent), and so it can easily be a situation of "winning more." The caravan, on the other hand, gives you a better board position even if you lack creatures to crew it. So, all in all, this design ends up a being more "swingy," but also a bit weaker than the caravan.

Creativity
(3/3) Uniqueness — This style of effect is something we've seen before, but never in this particular way, with creatures "donating" their keywords to a vehicle. Also, this particular list of keywords is unique to this card. I feel the twists on the mechanic are enough to say it's fully it's own thing. It helps that this isn't a mechanic that is seen very often.
(3/3) Flavor — Multiple creatures crewing a single exoskeleton? How would that work? Other than this slightly out-of-place mental image, though, the flavor is fine. It's a suit that just magnifies the wearer's inherent abilities, and which adapts to the wearer's physiology. The flavor here is well conveyed through the mechanics.

Polish
(2/3) Quality — You put vigilance in the text of the card twice.
(2/2) Main Challenge — Check.
(2/2) Subchallenges — Double check.

Total: 20.5/25
Icarii
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Icarii wrote:
4 years ago
Arduul, Miasmic Sky-Wing 1BB
Legendary Artifact - Vehicle (R)
Flying
Whenever Arduul, Miasmic Sky-Wing deals combat damage to a player, that player discards a card for each creature crewing it.
Crew 2 (Tap any number of creatures you control with total power 2 or more: This Vehicle becomes an artifact creature until end of turn.)
3/4



Design
(2.5/3) Appeal — Timmy likes the idea of a big, flying airship that punches the enemy in the face so hard that they lose all the cards in their hand. Johnny sees this as an engine to feed with cheap tokens or as a means to fuel a combo that relies on the opponent discarding cards. Spike sees this as an efficient flying creature which can decimate a players hand, but only dislikes that it relies on him already having a board state. All three psychographics are more or less pleased with this design, with Spike being the only hold-out.
(2/3) Elegance — The only issue I can see in the elegance department is that people might not easily be able to tell which creatures are crewing which vehicles. Sure, there are ways to tell this, such as by putting the cards behind the vehicle or what-not, but some players might leave their creatures in their normal place on the battelfield while they activate the crew abilities of different vehicles at the same time. It might lead to some slight confusion. As such, I wouldn't favor effects that care about the number of creatures crewing a vehicle.

Development
(3/3) Viability — Specter effects fit naturally in black and are oftern seen at rare, too. Vehicles are available in all colors as well. Nothing I can see warrants any questions about viability.
(1/3) Balance — This design is most similar to Fell Flagship, as a whole. The rarities are the same and the power, toughness, abilities, and mana costs are similar enough to draw direct comparisons. I believe the base designs are very well balanced with each other. A 3/3 vehicle with Crew 3 for against a 3/4 flying (and legendary) vehicle with Crew 2 for 1BB. Now, flying is a major benefit, but 1BB is much more difficult to cast than , and the vehicle being legendary also helps to put them on par with each other. For the rest of the abilities, however, I feel that Arduul ends up being considerably overpowered, by comparison. Remember, a player can crew a vehicle with as many creatures as they want, provided that their total power is the given value or higher. So, Arduul effectively makes your opponent discard cards equal to the number of creatures you control. After all, you can activate a crew ability even after the vehicle is a creature. Doing so doesn't do anything except change the number of creatures crewing it, so a player could crew this with a 2/2 Bear, and then swing, just to pile on three more 0/1 Plants when it becomes apparent that the opponent isn't going to block it. Suddenly your opponent has to discard four cards, which is massive card advantage. Granted, this does rely on you having a good board position already, but this can effectively give your creatures the ability ": Target player discards a card." Giving Pirates +1/+0 is relatively small compared to the hand-devastating ability that Arduul has.

Creativity
(3/3) Uniqueness — We've never had a vehicle which cared about how many creatures were crewing it, before, nor have we seen the word "crewing" on a card. So, while that effect might raise balance concerns, it does make the design unique. Also, while there are similarities to Fell Flagship and also Specter creatures in general, the differences are plenty to label this as an entirely unique design.
(1/3) Flavor — The flavor here intrigues me. What is a sky wing? I assume some sort of flying vehicle, clearly, but what about Arduul makes it miasmic? Is it made out of vapor? Does it drop vapor on the places it flies over? Why is Arduul special enough to be legendary? Some short flavor text explaining what you had in mind, here, would have been a major help, because it seems like there is a story to this card, but it's only hinted at in the name.

Polish
(3/3) Quality — Things appear to be in order, here.
(2/2) Main Challenge — Check.
(2/2) Subchallenges — Double check.

Total: 19.5/25
Jimmy Groove
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Jimmy Groove wrote:
4 years ago
Troop Carrier 2
Artifact - Vehicle (U)
Kicker WW (You may pay an additional WW as you cast this spell.)
When Troop Carrier enters the battlefield, if it was kicked, create two 1/1 white Soldier creature tokens.
Crew 2 (Tap any number of creatures you control with total power 2 or more: This Vehicle becomes an artifact creature until end of turn.)
3/4



Design
(2.5/3) Appeal — Timmy likes getting a 3/4 for two mana, and he also likes getting reinforcements, even if he wishes they were bigger than 1/1s. Johnny sees this as a method to generate loads of 1/1s if he can recur the vehicle and cast it with the kicker again. He's less than enthused about how mana intensive doing so would be, however. After all, there are more efficient combos to generate tokens. Spike looks at this and sees a vehicle that solves the problem inherent to vehicles: the reliance on pre-established board state. Also, Spike is in love with the weenies that this guy can provide.
(3/3) Elegance — A simple design is often going to be the best for elegance. This is very smoothly implemented. Two keyword abilities which indirectly interact with each other. The fact that it provides just enough tokens to fuel it's crew ability is very clever.

Development
(3/3) Viability — White loves producing 1/1 Soldiers, and effects like this, producing tokens with a little bit of added complexity on top, is something I would very much expect to see on an uncommon. A very viable card.
(3/3) Balance — It's difficult to make direct comparisons between existing vehicles and this card. The closest overall would likely be Shadowed Caravel, being a vehicle with crew 2, converted mana cost 2, and an ability to increase the total power and toughness you have on the field. Though, the way that the cards increase power and toughness are different enough that you can't guage one based on the other. Carrier is much more reliable while caravel has greater potential impact. Instead, I would compare it to Beetleback Chief, which I believe has equivalent power to this card. On one side, the chief gives you two small bodies AND one larger bodies off the bat while the carrier gives either two small bodies OR one large body. The trade-off is that carrier can have a much larger body overall (a body which is larger than any vehicle with converted mana cost 2 and crew 2, but a body which I think is still fair) and also has the versatility to potentially come down on turn two instead of turn four. All in all, I think this is a good design.

Creativity
(3/3) Uniqueness — The kicker reminds me of a more efficient Sergeant-at-Arms, but we've never seen this kind of effect on a vehicle, so it's fairly unique. In fact, the only vehicle which produces tokens would be Parhelion II, and it would be a difficult task to find two cards more different than Troop Carrier and Parhelion II which are still unified by being the only two cards fitting a particular description. So, you're golden when it comes to originality.
(1.5/3) Flavor — Fairly bland flavor; It's a vehicle which carries troops into battle. The only issue is that troop carriers don't head into battle directly. They drop the troops off just on the edge of the battlefield, allowing them to charge the rest of the way. So the un-kicked version of this card doesn't make too much sense, in that context.

Polish
(3/3) Quality — No issues to report.
(2/2) Main Challenge — Check.
(2/2) Subchallenges — Double check.

Total: 23/25
Raptorchan
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Raptorchan wrote:
4 years ago
Prakhata Express 3
Artifact Creature - Vehicle (U)
Whenever Prakhata Express attacks, you may pay g. If you do, search your library for a land card that doesn't share a name with a land you control and put it onto the battlefield tapped. If you search your library this way, shuffle it.
Crew 2
"Explore all tiles of Ghirapur puzzle!"
—Prakhata Express commercial

3/4



Design
(2/3) Appeal — Timmy isn't really a fan of utility creatures like this, and the naming restriction kind of puts a damper on his enjoyment as well. Johnny, meanwhile, sees a powerful fetch engine which will allow him to set up combos involving stuff like Dark Depths, Eye of Ugin, Westvale Abbey, or Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle, or perhaps just searching up an Evolving Wilds and then using it so that, next turn, he can get another Evolving Wilds. Spike, is interested in this design for the ramp and the crazy potential card advantage. Also, Spike hardly ever gets his hands on nonbasic land search, and this is repeatable, so Spike is absolutely in love.
(2.5/3) Elegance — The line about the lands not sharing names with lands you control confused me, at first, but then I realized that it was because the train was taking you on a tour, and it was meant to be showing you amazing places you've never seen before. In that sense, it's very elegantly executed. The only thing that breaks up the simplicity of the design are the repeated instances of the words "If you," but they are a minor issue.

Development
(1.5/3) Viability — Repeated land search is an impressive effect, so this should probably be rare just on that front. However this includes nonbasic land searching as well, so your pretty much locked into rare at that point. Color, meanwhile, is on point.
(1.5/3) Balance — Comparing this to Mobile Garrison, the body should be fine. Mana cost, power and toughness, and crew ability are all the same. Moving past these initial stats, the land search is likely too much. The closest effect to this would be Primeval Titan. All other repeatable land search I've been able to find specifically search for basic lands. Granted, there are many differences between Primeval Titan and Prakhata Express, including that the titan fetches two cards instead of one, and does so for free, instead of requiring be paid and creatures with power totalling 2 or greater be tapped. However, this is also a card with twice the converted mana cost, and converted mana cost is not linearly connected to power. So an effect like this, even with all these restrictions and drawbacks, at this converted mana cost, is going to be in the danger zone. It might not be a full-on game breaker, with all of those restrictions, but it's definitely flirting with being overpowered. Like, the instant you've paid that ability once, you can just fetch a land that produces and effectively all future uses of the ability are "free." Also, the name restiction is not a restriction in any kind of singleton format.

Creativity
(3/3) Uniqueness — Land search effects that allow finding nonbasic lands are fairly uncommon. On top of that, I'm certain that I've never seen any search effect that had to find a land of a different name each time it was used, so, on that front, you are very much in unique territory. Also, the biggest "ramp" vehicle would probably be Cultivator's Caravan, and the fact that this searches for lands instead of directly giving mana makes it unique in it's own right. All in all, there are not many things more unique than this design.
(1.5/3) Flavor — So, this is a train that takes passengers on a tour of the different locales in Ghirapur? Fair enough. Though, Prakhata is, from what I've seen, a fancy club for rich people, and associated with black mana. They aren't tour guides and also not liable to use green mana. Also, I'm curious about this "puzzle." Is this some sort of event the leadership of Ghirapur have put together? If so, it doesn't make much sense to give it an awkward name like "Ghirapur puzzle." Though, that's a small complaint.

Polish
(1/3) Quality — Vehicles are not creatures. Also, "share" isn't used in relation to card names. Judging from Realms Uncharted, this ability would be more likely phrased using the words "different name."
(2/2) Main Challenge — Check.
(2/2) Subchallenges — Double check.

Total: 17/25
Top Two Progress
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  1. Jimmy Groove: 23
  2. barbecube: 20.5
  3. Icarii: 19.5
  4. Raptorchan: 17
  5. Algernone25: 15
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
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Post by void_nothing » 4 years ago

Flatline
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Design
(2.5/3) Appeal - Txmmy likes huge hordes and huge Vehicles, Jxnny likes abusing triggered abilities, Spike might consider it for a Soul Sisters build but also has better options most likely, and if Spike has a token deck they can just win with tokens.
(2.5/3) Elegance - The only thing that would cause judge calls on this would be the fact that it's a base 0/0 Vehicle.

Development
(2.5/3) Viability - The uniqueness and build-around factors make this feel possibly more rare than uncommon.
(2.5/3) Balance - I'm not that concerned about this in Constructed, although if it had the right cards around it it could make for a dominant deck, but this card has the potential to take over games in Limited fast and irreversibly.

Creativity
(2;5/3) Uniqueness - We've seen Vehicles that get +1/+1 counters before but this is a unique take that's nicely also useful when not animated.
(2.5/3) Flavor - The name/concept match is a bit too cute for me; a literal old-timey bandwagon plus the use of the modern turn of phrase feels out of place in most Magic settings.

Polish
(3/3) Quality - Fine.
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - Looks good.
(1/2) Subchallenges - Low enough CMC but even P/T.

Total: 21/25
netn10
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Design
(1.5/3) Appeal - Txmmy would very much enjoy a VEHICLE EQUIPMENT. Jxnny might have some odd things to do with this depending on the environment but mostly this is just a wacky but linear beatstick. Spike doesn't care all that much since the stats aren't quite good enough.
(2.5/3) Elegance - Having the reminder text helps a lot but I think the biggest question people would have with this is "What happens if this gets crewed while it's attached to a creature?" (The answer is of course that it just becomes unattached and becomes a creature.)

Development
(3/3) Viability - Rules issues aside, this feels very artifacty (from the multiple uses and the general flavor besides having two artifact subtypes) and uncommon is where I'd put this for Limited.
(3/3) Balance - Both the Vehicle and Equipment versions of this do just fine work in Limited but shouldn't raise any concerns.

Creativity
(3/3) Uniqueness - Hard not to give full uniqueness points to a Vehicle Equipment.
(2.5/3) Flavor - I'm... having a slightly hard time imagining what this is supposed to look like but if the art were convincing this would be a flavor home run.

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

Total: 22.5/25
Sagharri
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Design
(2/3) Appeal - Definitely a Txmmy/Jxnny thing. Spike is less interested in a beater that only beats if you have other beaters.
(1/3) Elegance - The damage-to-player replacement effect is one thing - it's a bit wordy, but not that hard to understand. Crew 0 is another; I genuinely don't know whether you have to tap at least one creature to animate this card or whether the ability has an effective cost of 0 to use it as a blocker. "Any number" can be zero, but zero creatures have no value for power, not 0 power. There's no precedent here.

Development
(3/3) Viability - Rare is appropriate for both flavor and complexity reasons.
(3/3) Balance - Nothing objectionable here, you need to work to get this to put in damage.

Creativity
(3/3) Uniqueness - Definitely some unique concepts going here!
(2.5/3) Flavor - Nice flavor text (although ungrammatical - see below) and I think I'm supposed to imagine a New Phyrexian machine here a la Batterskull, although... why I shouldn't be afraid of a 5/4 trampler named Batterspine is a little odd.

Polish
(1/3) Quality - Creatures don't continuously crew a Vehicle after they're tapped to pay its crew cost, so the wording you want is "...the total power of creatures that crewed Batterspine this turn..." "Would deal" and not "deals". Flavor text should be more like "What you should really be afraid of is its contents."
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - Done.
(2/2) Subchallenges - And done.

Total: 19.5/25
Sojourner Dusk
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Design
(2/3) Appeal - A definite Txmmy/Jxnny toy with some Spike appeal if the stars are right.
(2/3) Elegance - Again, I have no clue how crew 0 is actually supposed to work. At least in this instance 0 toughness means that if you tapped 0 power worth of creatures OR if you activated for free, usually all you'd get would be a dead to state based actions creature.

Development
(3/3) Viability - Obviously spot-on colors and rarity.
(3/3) Balance - Potentially bomby... as long as you have the resources to make it that way, and risky to boot. I think this one's fine.

Creativity
(3/3) Uniqueness - Quite unique, even in its drawback. I am interested in a setting with both Vehicles (and multicolor ones at that) and wither.
(2.5/3) Flavor - Name is good but slightly too on the nose for me.

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

Total: 22.5/25
StonerOfKruphix
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Design
(2/3) Appeal - A Txmmy-Spike appeal card that's possibly too obvious in its use for Jxnny.
(3/3) Elegance - Inarguable - not a wordy or inelegant card at all.

Development
(3/3) Viability - Hard to argue with the colors and rarity.
(1.5/3) Balance - Yes, it has no evasion. Yes, it has a crewing restriction. But a 6/7 for two mana is really really over the curve - I think we all know that - creature tokens are not that hard to come by especially for Ravnica-based sets with the Selesnya in them, and being a Vehicle this has the potential to dodge lots of removal. Not something I'd be that comfortable with in a Standard or Limited.

Creativity
(1.5/3) Uniqueness - Crewing restriction aside this is a vanilla beater Vehicle, which have been seen before.
(2.5/3) Flavor - The flavor text is pithy, but it's throwing me. Mother Selesnya communicates to the world-city through prayers, hymns, and SMASHING PEOPLE'S DOORS DOWN WITH SAPROLING-POWERED SIEGE ENGINES!

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

Total: 20.5/25
Scores
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netn10 22.5
Sojourner Dusk 22.5

Flatline 21
StonerOfKruphix 20.5
Sagharri 19.5
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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