May MCC, Round 3 - Hero's Death

[void_nothing]

Banner based on Living Death by Charles Gillespie and Wizards of the Coast. Thanks to bravelion83 for the "Core Set Style" MCC Logo

May MCC, Round 3 - Hero's Death

Welcome to the May MCC! It's Graveyard Month here at the MCC.

Main Challenge: Design a creature card with a triggered ability that begins with "When [this card] dies..."
Subchallenge 1: Your card is legendary
Subchallenge 2: Your card also has at least one other triggered ability

DEADLINES

Design deadline: Sunday, May 30th 23:59 EDT

Judging deadline: Wednesday, June 2nd 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
@netn10
@Freyleyes

[netn10]

The Nameless Brawler RWB
Legendary Creature - Orc Warrior (Mythic)
Double strike, double provoke (Whenever this creature attacks, you may have up to two target creatures defending player controls untap and block it if able.)
Whenever a creature dealt damage by The Nameless Brawler this turn dies, put a +1/+1 counter on The Nameless Brawler.
As long as The Nameless Brawler has four or more +1/+1 counters on it, its name is Torgg, who Smiles at Carnage and has "When this creature dies, return it to the battlefield tapped with six +1/+1 counters on it."
"I promised Alesha that I will earn my name in battle... A promised well kept."
2/2

[void_nothing]

Bump - @StonerOfKruphix @Lorn Asbord Schutta @Freyleyes

[StonerOfKruphix]

Iriz, the Nightbard XB{B/G}G
Legendary Creature — Elf Rogue (MR)
When Iriz, the Nightbard enters the battlefield, distribute X +1/+1 counters among any number of creatures you control.
Whenever another creature you control dies, each opponent loses life equal to the number of +1/+1 counters on that creature and you gain that much life.
When Iriz, the Nightbard dies, each opponent loses life equal to the total number of +1/+1 counters on creatures you control and you gain that much life.
She uses the same notes for both her anthems and her dirges.
3/3

[void_nothing]

Going to be a 24-hour extension for @Lorn Asbord Schutta and @Freyleyes. Other contestants may also freely edit during that time if they so choose.

[Freyleyes]

Irene the Quicksword WW
Legendary Creature - Human Knight {M}
First strike
When Irene the Quicksword dies, you may destroy target creature or planeswalker.
Whenever another creature you control dies, you may pay WW. If you do, return Irene the Quicksword from your graveyard to your hand.
"You're coming with me!"
2/2

[Lorn Asbord Schutta]

Lazav, Perpetual Shifter uubb
Legendary Creature — Shapeshifter (M)
When you cast Lazav, Perpetual Shifter, search your library for a card, put it into your graveyard, then shuffle.
When Lazav dies, you may exile another creature card from your graveyard. If you do, return Lazav to the battlefield as a copy of that card, except its name is Lazav, Perpetual Shifter, it's legendary in addition to its other types, and it has this ability.
3/3

[void_nothing]

And the round is closed. Brackets are as follows:

netn10 vs. Freyleyes
StonerOfKruphix vs. Lorn Asbord Schutta

Both judges will evaluate both pairings, and the top scorer in each pair will be a finalist.

[void_nothing]

Bump for the judges.

[slimytrout]

netn10

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The Nameless Brawler RWB
Legendary Creature - Orc Warrior (Mythic)
Double strike, double provoke (Whenever this creature attacks, you may have up to two target creatures defending player controls untap and block it if able.)
Whenever a creature dealt damage by The Nameless Brawler this turn dies, put a +1/+1 counter on The Nameless Brawler.
As long as The Nameless Brawler has four or more +1/+1 counters on it, its name is Torgg, who Smiles at Carnage and has "When this creature dies, return it to the battlefield tapped with six +1/+1 counters on it."
"I promised Alesha that I will earn my name in battle... A promised well kept."
2/2

Design
(2.5/3) Appeal – Spike sees a ton of value from eating all of the opponent's stuff and making this nigh-unkillable. Timmy wants to make this guy huge. Johnny is interested in the last ability, but the rest of the package is a bit of a blunt instrument.
(1.5/3) Elegance – Already microtext *before* adding flavortext – as is, it's ridiculously small. Fortunately most of that text is fairly straightforward, but still, it's just so much.

Development
(2.5/3) Viability – All seems doable on the colors front. Personally, I really don't like the Questing Beast version of mythics, where you just keep adding text until it becomes a good card – mythics should be splashy and elegant, not just overpowered and overdone. But I definitely agree that this shouldn't be rare because it's just too pushed, so I'm not taking off a full point.
(3/3) Balance – I mean, once it "ascends" it's basically unkillable and just eats two of your creatures every combat. However, it's definitely held back by having no ETB and being a difficult-to-cast 3-mana 2/2 when you play it, and combined with the fact that it's still vulnerable to bounce/exile in its buffed state I think it's not too powerful.

Creativity
(3/3) Uniqueness – Yeah, I mean, a lot going on on this card, and enough of it is new to earn full points.
(3/3) Flavor – It's a little heavy handed for my tastes, but given the amount of care that went in to making it all knit together I don't think it's fair to take off points here.

Polish
(1.5/3) Quality – "Double provoke" should just be "provoke, provoke," since that's how you print a card that has two versions of a stackable ability (-0.5). Missing an "it" in the final ability (-0.5) and "promised" should be "promise" in the flavor text (-0.5).
(1/2) Main Challenge (*) – I'm usually fairly lenient about these things (and I honestly might be here, given that I'm not DQing you) – but the challenge specifically calls for a card with a triggered ability that begins with "when…" and this doesn't really fit the bill. Sure, it sometimes has that ability, but this *definitely* doesn't meet the letter of the requirements.
(2/2) Subchallenges – Yep yep.

Total: 20/25

Freyleyes

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Irene the Quicksword WW
Legendary Creature - Human Knight {M}
First strike
When Irene the Quicksword dies, you may destroy target creature or planeswalker.
Whenever another creature you control dies, you may pay WW. If you do, return Irene the Quicksword from your graveyard to your hand.
"You're coming with me!"
2/2

Design
(2/3) Appeal Spike loves the immediate 2-for-1 and the repeated value. Timmy is interested in an efficient beater. Johnny doesn't like how challenging it is to loop in any effective way.
(3/3) Elegance – Sure, all the abilities are pretty straightforward.
Development
(3/3) Viability – Sure, all in order. Definitely too busted in limited to be rare.

(2.5/3) Balance – Yikes, this would not be fun to play against in limited, but at least it's mythic. In standard it still seems like a really pushed tool for white weenie against everything but hard control. I think it's a shade too good, although probably wouldn't be broken.

Creativity
(2/3) Uniqueness – We've seen a lot of the individual pieces before, but the package still seems pretty fresh.
(2/3) Flavor – I don't quite get the flavor of the recursion, and the flavor text is a bit ambiguous (is it, "if I die, you're coming with me," or is it "you're coming with me because I'm arresting you"?), but the basic elements make sense.

Polish
(3/3) Quality – Looks good. The "another" is a bit odd since this is mostly going to be in the graveyard, but I can't think of a better way to phrase it.
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) – Yep.
(2/2) Subchallenges – Yep yep.

Total: 21.5/25

StonerOfKruphix

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[Iriz, the Nightbard XB{B/G}G
Legendary Creature — Elf Rogue (MR)
When Iriz, the Nightbard enters the battlefield, distribute X +1/+1 counters among any number of creatures you control.
Whenever another creature you control dies, each opponent loses life equal to the number of +1/+1 counters on that creature and you gain that much life.
When Iriz, the Nightbard dies, each opponent loses life equal to the total number of +1/+1 counters on creatures you control and you gain that much life.
She uses the same notes for both her anthems and her dirges.
3/3

Design
(3/3) Appeal – Lots of choices and lots of value make Spike a happy camper. Timmy wants to make their stuff massive and drain their opponent. Johnny can definitely see applications to drain their opponents for crazy amounts.
(2/3) Elegance – Getting close to microtext even before the flavor, and that definitely puts it over the edge. It all mostly makes sense though.
Development
(2.5/3) Viability – Yeah, first ability is green and other two are black. This is just a *lot* of text for a mythic, and I think it would've made more sense as a less pushed rare.
(2/3) Balance – Absolutely degenerate in a sacrifice/counters deck – to use an EDH example, a Ghave, Guru of Spores deck could just use this to one-shot the entire rest of the table – but definitely needs support to be truly busted.

Creativity
(3/3) Uniqueness – Yeah, most of the stuff going on here is pretty new, and there's plenty of stuff, so I'll give full credit.
(3/3) Flavor – Sure, all makes sense.

Polish
(2.5/3) Quality – Shouldn't use full card name the second time you mention it – like all legends it can just shorten to Iriz. Otherwise looks good.
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) – Yep.
(2/2) Subchallenges – Yep yep.

Total: 22/25

Lorn Asbord Schutta

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Lazav, Perpetual Shifter uubb
Legendary Creature — Shapeshifter (M)
When you cast Lazav, Perpetual Shifter, search your library for a card, put it into your graveyard, then shuffle.
When Lazav dies, you may exile another creature card from your graveyard. If you do, return Lazav to the battlefield as a copy of that card, except its name is Lazav, Perpetual Shifter, it's legendary in addition to its other types, and it has this ability.
3/3

Design
(3/3) Appeal – Johnny and Timmy both like the potential to turn this into an enormous threat, although they have slightly different plans for how to do it. Spike wants to just get a ton of value.
(2.5/3) Elegance – The cast trigger (rather than just ETB) confused me, but otherwise pretty straightforward.
Development
(3/3) Viability – Yes, all looks appropriate.
(2.5/3) Balance – Potential to be pretty unfair given that it can tutor for the exact right card, but it is a little tough to cast, and it's weak to exile/bounce/graveyard hate so hopefully wouldn't be too oppressive.

Creativity
(2.5/3) Uniqueness – Definitely borrows some ideas from previous versions of Lazav, but adds a fairly new spin.
(3/3) Flavor – Sure, fits very nicely into the character we know and love.

Polish
(3/3) Quality – Looks good.
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) – Yep.
(2/2) Subchallenges – Yep yep.

Total: 23.5/25

Results

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netn10: 20
Freyleyes: 21.5

StonerOfKruphix: 22
Lorn Asbord Schutta: 23.5

[void_nothing]

netn10

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Design
(3/3) Appeal - Txmmy loves everything about this card. Jxnny likes the Voltron shenanigans. Spike likes the sheer power.
(1.5/3) Elegance - Not necessarily that complicated on the face of it but this card is wordy, has at least one full-on unique aspect, and makes combat math an utter mess.

Development
(3/3) Viability - Colors and rarity are definitely right.
(1/3) Balance - Just double strike and double provoke on a 2/2 would be strong for three mana. This might be one of the best pure combat creatures ever - growing to huge sizes, taking out multiple creatures per attack at will, and gaining the ability to self-recur. If this started at 1/1, a size at which you'd have to pick and choose what to provoke or else support it with pump, I think it'd be a lot more reasonable.

Creativity
(2.5/3) Uniqueness - A lot that is new here even if it's based on past mechanics and the name change has literally never been done before.
(3/3) Flavor - The Mardu war-name tradition is pretty well known. This is a perfect encapsulation of it.

Polish
(2.5/3) Quality - Slight grammar error in the flavor text: should be "promise well kept," not "promised."
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - Done.
(2/2) Subchallenges - And done.

Total: 20.5/25

Freyleyes

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Design
(1.5/3) Appeal - Mostly a Spike card for the efficiency and toolboxy nature. Txmmy finds it a bit small; Jxnny finds it a bit generic but could use it as an engine.
(2.5/3) Elegance - A bit wordy and has a triggered ability you have to keep track of in the graveyard, but otherwise understandable.

Development
(1.5/3) Viability - This card really does not feel like it should be white, or at least not mono-white. Both the triggered abilities could theoretically fit in white but black would seem infinitely more obvious and primary. If this exiled instead of destroying it would certainly be even stronger, but as-is this feels like it should be either a monoblack or, perhaps better, a WB card. Mythic also feels like a stretch unless this is an important story character: generally the size and effects feel rare.
(2/3) Balance - Efficient stats, a very strong death trigger, and recurrability make this a pushed card for sure, although maybe not out and out overpowered.

Creativity
(1.5/3) Uniqueness - All pretty standard effects - generally speaking this card doesn't feel like anything we haven't seen before.
(2/3) Flavor - Flavor text is pithy and feels a bit obvious; the quickness of her sword-arm doesn't necessarily seem like her most salient aspect but the name rolls off the tongue really well.

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
(3/3) Appeal - Txmmy loves all the +1/+1 counters and lifedrain. Jxnny likes the moving parts at play. Spike likes the Aristocrats-type gameplay and all the effectiveness you get even after this is removed.
(1.5/3) Elegance - Rather wordy and with a lot of triggers and counting involved.

Development
(3/3) Viability - Black for the drain, green for the +1/+1 counters, and mythic is right for such potentially huge effects.
(2/3) Balance - You need to pump quite a bit of mana into this to really get going but if you already have a board with a fair number of +1/+1 counters - possibly modular and graft creatures and the like - Iriz's own death trigger can be all-but-game-ending.

Creativity
(2/3) Uniqueness - Some hoary effects to be sure, but everything has a fairly new twist to it in this design.
(2.5/3) Flavor - The flavor text ties together what might otherwise be disparate effects and name.

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

Total: 21/25

Lorn Asbord Schutta

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Design
(3/3) Appeal - Txmmy likes a creature that can "never die." Jxnny likes all the reanimation and copying. Spike likes a strong creature that can in fact be many other strong creatures.
(2.5/3) Elegance - While the death trigger here is a bit complicated it's also eminently understandable.

Development
(3/3) Viability - Guild leaders are usually mythic and this card is viable both for its colors and for the existing character it represents.
(2.5/3) Balance - You need a stocked graveyard in the first place to really use this version of Lazav but if you do it's probably a bit too easy to continuously sacrifice. Besides combos of those kinds, I think this card is fair.

Creativity
(2/3) Uniqueness - Feels like a riff on both past Lazavs and on Sakashima the Impostor.
(3/3) Flavor - Effects are very much in line with what we know about Lazav's modus operanid.

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

Total: 23/25

[void_nothing]

And our finalists are netn10 and Lorn Asbord Schutta - final round to come soon!