December MCC, Round 3: The Big Freeze

[void_nothing]

Banner based on Thawing Glaciers by Jeff A. Menges and Wizards of the Coast. Thanks to bravelion83 for the "Core Set Style" MCC Logo

December MCC, Round 3 - The Big Freeze

Welcome to the November MCC! It's Winter/Summer Month here at the MCC. We will be covering the spirit of the season in both hemispheres!

Main Challenge: Design a card that can cause one or more permanents not to untap during its controller's untap step.
Subchallenge 1: Your card has an even converted mana cost
Subchallenge 2: Your card is red and/or green

DEADLINES

Design deadline: Tuesday, December 29th 23:59 EDT

Judging deadline: Friday, January 1st 23:59 EDT

Clarifications

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None yet!

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
slimytrout

Players:
@StonerOfKruphix
@Lorn Asbord Schutta
@Sagharri
@Henlock

[StonerOfKruphix]

Shigu the Fearsome 1BGU
Legendary Creature — Naga Warrior (M)
Menace
Whenever Shigu the Fearsome or another creature enters the battlefield under your control, you may tap target creature with lesser power than that creature. If you do, it doesn't untap during its controller next untap step.
Tapped creatures your opponents control get -1/-1.
"They know we're here. That's why they cower."
4/4

[Sagharri]

Syllath, the Evergrowing 1GGG
Legendary Creature - Plant Hydra (R)
Reach, vigilance
Whenever an artifact you don't control becomes tapped, choose one —

• Create 0/1 green Plant creature token.
• Put +1/+1 counter on target Plant you control.

3G, Tap untapped Plant you control: Tap target noncreature permanent. It doesn't untap during its controller's next untap step. This ability costs 1 less to activate for each +1/+1 counter on Syllath, the Evergrowing.
3/4

[void_nothing]

Going to give this a bump.

[Lorn Asbord Schutta]

Latulla's Tactics
Sorcery (R)
Choose one —

• Destroy all artifacts with a mana ability.
• Nonbasic lands don't untap during their controllers' next untap step.

"Brake the baubles and topple the fortresses. We don't need them, while they will die without them."
—Latulla, Keldon overseer

[void_nothing]

Still waiting on @Henlock and this is the versus round so everyone can have an extension to edit if they like.

[Henlock]

ill be doing this as soon as possible

[Henlock]

Valora, Rogue Strategist 2rw
Legendary Creature - Human Soldier (r)
Flash
Whenever a creature deals combat damage to you, that creature doesn't untap during its controller's next untap step.
Whenever a creature you control deals combat damage to an opponent, untap that creature.
Expectations can be the weakest point of your enemy.
4/4

[void_nothing]

And here are the pairings for this, the versus round:

StonerOfKruphix vs. Henlock
Sagharri vs. Lorn Asbord Schutta

Let us judge: top scorer in each pairing will be a finalist.

[slimytrout]

StonerOfKruphix

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Shigu the Fearsome 1BGU
Legendary Creature — Naga Warrior (M)
Menace
Whenever Shigu the Fearsome or another creature enters the battlefield under your control, you may tap target creature with lesser power than that creature. If you do, it doesn't untap during its controller next untap step.
Tapped creatures your opponents control get -1/-1.
"They know we're here. That's why they cower."
4/4

Design
(2.5/3) Appeal — Timmy likes a beater that also helps their creatures get through (especially if they play even bigger creatures); Spike likes a tempo machine that will sometimes give value by killing smaller creatures; Johnny is not fully sold on it since it's a bit straightforward, but there's some interest.
(2/3) Elegance — There's a lot of "creature" in the tap ability, but it does make sense on the second read-through. Including flavor text makes the card quite crowded.

Development
(3/3) Viability — There's not a ton of green in this card, so it's pretty clearly added to fit the challenge, but I'm not going to penalize for it since I think it could work as a Sultai card. Definitely too good in limited to be anything but mythic.
(2/3) Balance — The final ability is *quite* strong, in large part because it also affects (non-vigilant) attacking creatures. So your opponent's creatures are bad at attacking, but if they hold them back you can play a creature precombat and tap them down for basically three full turns. And it's an absolute bloodbath against 1-toughness creatures. I think this is just a bit too oppressive, even for a 3-color mythic.

Creativity
(2.5/3) Uniqueness — There's a lot of fairly new effects on here – nothing that's quite unprecedented enough to earn full points, but very close.
(2.5/3) Flavor — Flavor text is a little clumsy, but the basic point comes across.

Polish
(3/3) Quality — All good.
(2/2) Main Challenge — Yep.
(2/2) Subchallenges — Yep yep.

Total: 21.5/25

Henlock

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Valora, Rogue Strategist 2rw
Legendary Creature - Human Soldier (r)
Flash
Whenever a creature deals combat damage to you, that creature doesn't untap during its controller's next untap step.
Whenever a creature you control deals combat damage to an opponent, untap that creature.
Expectations can be the weakest point of your enemy.
4/4

Design
(3/3) Appeal — An all-rounder! Spike loves the tempo and the surprise of this, Timmy loves a powerful, efficient card that makes combat fun for them and sad for their opponent, and Johnny has lots of ideas for what to do with untapped creatures.
(3/3) Elegance — Very clean and simple.

Development
(2.5/3) Viability — White hasn't gotten "doesn't untap…" like this since original Zendikar, so I went back and forth on whether to penalize for this. Ultimately I went and checked Maro's mechanical color pie, and it confirmed that this is a blue-only ability. Deduction is minor, though, because there is precedent. Rare seems good.
(2.5/3) Balance — Wasn't sure whether to put this here or in viability, but this has too much stats for a non-green flash creature – that's the only color to get an unrestricted 4-mana 4/4 flash, let alone with upside. Overall, though, this is pretty balanced.

Creativity
(2.5/3) Uniqueness — I honestly expected the saboteur ability to have been done before – there's been a lot of those – but it hasn't been. Lots of fresh stuff here.
(2/3) Flavor — I don't get the "rogue" part, and it's doubly weird because, of course, she's not a rogue. So a ding for that.

Polish
(3/3) Quality — All good.
(2/2) Main Challenge — Yep.
(2/2) Subchallenges — Yep yep.

Total: 22.5/25

Sagharri

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Syllath, the Evergrowing 1GGG
Legendary Creature - Plant Hydra (R)
Reach, vigilance
Whenever an artifact you don't control becomes tapped, choose one —

• Create 0/1 green Plant creature token.
• Put +1/+1 counter on target Plant you control.

3G, Tap untapped Plant you control: Tap target noncreature permanent. It doesn't untap during its controller's next untap step. This ability costs 1 less to activate for each +1/+1 counter on Syllath, the Evergrowing.
3/4

Design
(2.5/3) Appeal — Spike likes choices, and this card is full of choices. Johnny likes the weirdness of a plant deck that's donating artifacts. Timmy likes making this guy huge, but doesn't like that it depends on your opponent having artifacts.
(2/3) Elegance — Real microtext problems.

Development
(1.5/3) Viability — Mono-green doesn't get to tap things, let alone stop them from untapping. Even worse, the ability doesn't have "nonland," so this goes from bend to straight-up break. Rare is right for a card with this much text.
(2/3) Balance — If this was "nonland, noncreature" it would be strong in the right matchups, but a Grazing Whiptail otherwise. But once you start building your own Opposition in mono-green, you get into dangerous territory very fast. I don't want to say for sure that this would be busted, because the ability would always cost at least G, but I wouldn't want to risk it.

Creativity
(3/3) Uniqueness — I'll give full points for a piece of text that's never been seen before. The other stuff is pretty unusual too.
(2.5/3) Flavor — The "evergrowing" part and being a plant hydra all make sense with the mechanics and is fun, but I don't understand how the artifact part really fits in.

Polish
(2/3) Quality — Several problems with indefinite articles: "Create a 0/1 green…", "Put a +1/+1," "Tap an untapped…" (-1). The formatting of the list is a bit off, but I'm not going to penalize for that.
(2/2) Main Challenge — Yep.
(2/2) Subchallenges — Yep yep.

Total: 19.5/25

Lorn Asbord Schutta

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Latulla's Tactics
Sorcery (R)
Choose one —

• Destroy all artifacts with a mana ability.
• Nonbasic lands don't untap during their controllers' next untap step.

"Brake the baubles and topple the fortresses. We don't need them, while they will die without them."
—Latulla, Keldon overseer

Design
(1/3) Appeal — Spike certainly isn't interested in spending a card and 3 mana to keep nonbasics from untapping, but destroying mana rocks is interesting in some formats. It's weird enough that Johnny could be on board. Timmy doesn't want to lock/blow up his own stuff, so no interest from them.
(3/3) Elegance — Very clean.

Development
(2.5/3) Viability — There are some play issues with red locking down lands (people tend to conveniently "forget" about it) although the fact that this isn't just an ancillary effect makes that less likely. Color and rarity are right.
(2/3) Balance — Pretty weak in most formats. The nonbasic land thing is almost never going to be useful (it doesn't even untap them, just locks them down), so everything is riding on the mana rock ability. That is probably usable in EDH if you're running a mana-rock-less deck, but it's pretty rare that this will be better than Shatterstorm or Shattering Spree.

Creativity
(2.5/3) Uniqueness — Pretty unusual to reference mana abilities in a way that isn't exclusionary, so credit there. However, that mode is still pretty similar to mass artifact wipes that have been printed before, so just short of full credit.
(2.5/3) Flavor — The only problem here is the flavor text – Latulla was an artificer, and she's all about converting the enemy's war machines into her own. But the overall flavor of the card is ok.

Polish
(2.25/3) Quality — "Break" is replaced with a homophone in the flavor text (-0.5). I'm sorry to be so nitpicky but the apostrophe after controller should be before the s, not after it (-0.25).
(2/2) Main Challenge — Yep.
(1/2) Subchallenges — Odd.

Total: 18.75/25

Results

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Henlock: 22.5
StonerOfKruphix: 21.5

Sagharri: 19.5
Lorn Asbord Schutta: 18.75

[void_nothing]

StonerOfKruphix

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Design
(2/3) Appeal - A Txmmy/Spike card - Jxnny finds it to be kind of blunt.
(2.5/3) Elegance - A little wordy but not outright inelegant.

Development
(2/3) Viability - Not sure where the green comes in here: Is it just because the triggered ability checks power?
(1.5/3) Balance - Every ability here is intensely powerful, particularly the mass -1/-1. This would probably be an all-star commander.

Creativity
(1.5/3) Uniqueness - A new-feeling mashup of old abilities.
(3/3) Flavor - I really like this - it's simple but effective. Feels like a proper legend.

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

Total: 19.5/25

Henlock

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Design
(3/3) Appeal - All-rounder. Big enough for Txmmy, the combat wackiness is subtle enough for Jxnny, and there's enough power for Spike.
(3/3) Elegance - Solidly elegant.

Development
(2/3) Viability - Red doesn't seem like the right second color for this card imo - this feels like a WU card mechanically speaking through and through.
(3/3) Balance - This card does a lot but none of it is OP.

Creativity
(1.5/3) Uniqueness - There are plenty of mirror-mirror cards similar to this, most notably the Praetor cycle.
(3/3) Flavor - I really like the flavor text being an aphorism that's not phrased as a quote.

Polish
(3/3) Quality - 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/Spike card. Too reactive for Jxnny to be that interested though.
(1.5/3) Elegance - While this card does have a central driving idea, it's too wordy and too complex by half imho. There's a modal triggered ability, tons of tokens and counters, an activated ability with a discount... so much to keep track of.

Development
(2.5/3) Viability - If this card only tapped artifacts with its activated ability, that would likely be fine for green - but tapping down lands is too much. See also...
(2/3) Balance - Yeah we have to talk about that activated ability: if your opponents dare to use mana rocks this quickly becomes a way to lock out all their mana while having a huge beater to threaten them with. That seems like a Commander meta-definer. At least it's somewhat in your opponents' control.

Creativity
(2/3) Uniqueness - This pulls from old sources but it does so much that it's hard not to be somewhat unique.
(2/3) Flavor - Decent, but "evergrowing" doesn't quite capture the whole kudzu/choking vines flavor.

Polish
(2.5/3) Quality - Missing an "an" between "tap" and "untapped".
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - Done.
(2/2) Subchallenges - And done.

Total: 18.5/25

Lorn Asbord Schutta

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Design
(1/3) Appeal - This is a utility, hate card: A pure Spike design.
(3/3) Elegance - Quite simple and to the point.

Development
(3/3) Viability - Color seems right and this feels like a rare for sure.
(3/3) Balance - Primarily designed to prevent unfairness rather than do unfair stuff itself.

Creativity
(1.5/3) Uniqueness - Mass land hate and mass artifact hate are old as the hills, but this is two relatively new takes on those abilities.
(3/3) Flavor - Perfect. Love to see a Prophecy reference!

Polish
(2.5/3) Quality - Bit of an apostrophe issue.
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - Done.
(1/2) Subchallenges - Odd CMC.

Total: 20/25

[void_nothing]

And our finalists are Henlock and Lorn Asbord Schutta! Final round to come soon...