November MCC, Round 2 - Snuff Out the Spark

[void_nothing]

Banner based on Deadly Insect by Scott Kirschner and Wizards of the Coast. Thanks to bravelion83 for the "Core Set Style" MCC Logo

November MCC, Round 2 - Snuff Out the Spark

Welcome to the November MCC! It's Deadly Month here at the MCC.

Main Challenge: Design a card that can destroy one or more planeswalkers
Subchallenge 1: Your card is not black.
Subchallenge 2: Your card is rare.

DEADLINES

Design deadline: Monday, November 22nd 23:59 EDT

Judging deadline: Wednesday, September 24th 23:59 EDT

Clarifications

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Main Challenge: The card must explicitly mention "destroy" and "planeswalker" - this can't be "destroy noncreature permanent" or "remove all counters from target permanent."

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:
@kwanyeegor-ii
@Henlock
@Freyleyes
@vishamon
@Lorn Asbord Schutta
@netn10
@bravelion83
@RaikouRider

[kwanyeegor-ii]

Disastrous Duel W
Instant (Rare)
Destroy target creature or planeswalker with power or loyalty 4 or greater. Its controller draws a card.
Cycling W
Nothing in battle is sure, but you can always bet against arrogance.

[netn10]

Historic Topple 2WW
Instant (Rare)
Destroy target artifact, enchantment or planewalker. If that permanent had counters on it, put that many +1/+1 counters, charge counters, lore counters or loyalty counters on a permanent you control.

[bravelion83]

Gaea's Command 3GG
Sorcery (R)
Choose two —
• Destroy target land.
• Destroy target artifact.
• Destroy target enchantment.
• Destroy target planeswalker.
Nature will reclaim what belongs to it.

[vishamon]

Igneous Undoing
Sorcery (R)
Destroy all creatures and planeswalkers. For each permanent destroyed this way, its controller creates two 1/1 red Elemental creature tokens with haste.
"The magma flows within all of us."
—Koth of the Hammer

[RaikouRider]

Usher In Prehistory 2GGG
Sorcery {R}
Destroy all permanents other than creatures and lands.
The time rifts uprooted the urban jungle, miles of dense foliage in every direction where the capital city once stood.

[Henlock]

Lost in the Crowd w
Instant (u)
Destroy target creature or planeswalker with mana value less than the number of creatures and/or planeswalkers you control.
Few places are as good for hiding as among the masses.

[void_nothing]

@Lorn Asbord Schutta @Freyleyes A reminder that you have a bit over 15 hours to get your entries in. However I'll happily grant an extension if anyone is tied up.

[Freyleyes]

Siphon the Spark XWU
Sorcery {R}
Destroy target planeswalker with X loyalty counters on it. You may put X loyalty counters on target planeswalker you control.
I will take that. You will not be needing it any more.

[Lorn Asbord Schutta]

Planar Severance 2WW
Enchantment (R)
When Planar Severance enters the battlefield, destroy all planeswalkers.
Planeswalkers can't enter the battlefield.
Permanents can't enter the battlefield from exile.
Spells can't be cast from exile.
There are planes which preserve and hone Feroz's knowledge.

[void_nothing]

And the round is closed. Judging assignments are as follows. The top two scorers per judge will move on to the next round.

void_nothing:
netn10
bravelion83
RaikouRider
Lorn Asbord Schutta

slimytrout:
kwanyeegor-ii
vishamon
Henlock
Freyleyes

[void_nothing]

netn10

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Design
(3/3) Appeal - Everyone can get into the pipe dream of blowing up an almost full Simic Ascendancy to turn an unblocked attacker into a 20+/20+.
(2.5/3) Elegance - That is a long list of counters there but it seems easy to follow otherwise.

Development
(2.5/3) Viability - Monowhite is a bit questionable but overall I think the design is fine in that color. Rare is where this should be.
(3/3) Balance - Looks fine - could be crazy if you used it on a planeswalker that had higher-than-starting loyalty to get one of your own to ultimate, but that's a relatively niche scenario.

Creativity
(2.5/3) Uniqueness - While all spot removal cards necessarily have similarities, the specific types this card calls out plus that counter-alchemy ability make it feel quite new.
(2/3) Flavor - The connection between the permanent types is a little tenuous. But the name somewhat makes it work.

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

Total: 22.5/25

bravelion83

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Design
(1/3) Appeal - Txmmy finds this one of the less exciting Commands out there because there's actually not much variance to it. Jxnny sees nothing interesting. Spike likes a Swiss army knife.
(3/3) Elegance - Very elegant and easy to understand for sure.

Development
(2.5/3) Viability - Nothing off color per se, exactly, and Commands should be rare, but something feels not quite right about "destroy target land and target planeswalker" in green.
(3/3) Balance - This card is costed very fairly and conservatively - maybe too much so.

Creativity
(1/3) Uniqueness - Plenty of cards similar to this have been printed; this is sort of a Hull Breach/Decimate variant or something? In any case, it's a relatively well-worn idea.
(1.5/3) Flavor - The flavor works just fine but is bog-standard - name honestly feels like the playtest name for this card.

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

Total: 19/25

RaikouRider

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Design
(1/3) Appeal - Txmmy does like mass destruction but is also aware of how easily this card could be dead in their hand. Jxnny doesn't see much to work with. Spike would want this card but only in the sideboard in specific scenarios, or alternately in Commander.
(3/3) Elegance - Hard to argue with a single line of text!

Development
(3/3) Viability - Green and rare work.
(2.5/3) Balance - Maybe a bit underpowered if anything? This compares unfavorably to the admittedly very strong Fracturing Gust in most situations.

Creativity
(1/3) Uniqueness - New phrasing, but really this is mostly a variant on some pretty familiar types of mass removal.
(3/3) Flavor - I really do like that name and flavor text a lot.

Polish
(3/3) Quality - Looks good.
(1/2) Main Challenge (*) - Doesn't fit the main challenge according to the clarification, but that wasn't fully obvious. My apologies if there was confusion.
(2/2) Subchallenges - And done.

Total: 19.5/25

Lorn Asbord Schutta

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Design
(2/3) Appeal - Txmmy isn't sure about a card that's pretty much just a hoser. Jxnny feels like this is niche enough in its wording that it could be used for combo purposes. Spike likes how comprehensive it is against a couple of different strategies.
(2.5/3) Elegance - A bit wordy, and "can't enter the battlefield" invites the same rules questions as Grafdigger's Cage, but the concept seems pretty easy to understand.

Development
(3/3) Viability - Color and rarity look correct.
(3/3) Balance - Sure - all the effects are strong but they hose a couple of quite specific things. Superfriends-type decks are definitely what this card is aiming to deal with.

Creativity
(2/3) Uniqueness - Some kind of funky The Immortal Sun first ability/Grafdigger's Cage/wrath effect variant, but they work together to feel like a new way to hose planeswalkers.
(3/3) Flavor - Perfect - the Feroz reference really seals (lol) the deal.

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

Total: 22.5/25

Totals (Bold advance)

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netn10 22.5
Lorn Asbord Schutta 22.5
RaikouRider 19.5
bravelion83 19

[slimytrout]

Oooh man, I completely forgot these over the holidays. Will do them tomorrow.

[slimytrout]

kwanyeegor-ii

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Disastrous Duel W
Instant (Rare)
Destroy target creature or planeswalker with power or loyalty 4 or greater. Its controller draws a card.
Cycling W
Nothing in battle is sure, but you can always bet against arrogance.

Design
(2/3) Appeal – Spike sees the most potential in this, since it can either be a huge tempo boost or be cycled away. Timmy likes the ability to get the opponent's biggest creatures out of the way cheaply, but not giving them a card, while Johnny can maybe do some shenanigans with killing their own stuff or with cheap cycling, but isn't over the moon.
(3/3) Elegance – Very clean.

Development
(3/3) Viability – I might have said this should be uncommon, but Fateful Absence is enough of a recent precedent that I'm willing to let it slide at rare.
(3/3) Balance – The floor is pretty high, since you can always cycle it away for 1 mana, and the ceiling is a nice tempo boost but hardly busted since it gives them the card back immediately, so I think this is probably fine.

Creativity
(2/3) Uniqueness – Some strong Fateful Absence vibes here, but only destroying planeswalkers with a certain number of loyalty counters on them is new, so some points for that.
(3/3) Flavor – Flavor text is very nice.

Polish
(2.5/3) Quality – Should be "Creature with power 4 or greater or planeswalker with four or more loyalty counters on it."
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) – Yep.
(2/2) Subchallenges – Yep yep.

Total: 22.5/25

vishamon

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Igneous Undoing
Sorcery (R)
Destroy all creatures and planeswalkers. For each permanent destroyed this way, its controller creates two 1/1 red Elemental creature tokens with haste.
"The magma flows within all of us."
—Koth of the Hammer

Design
(1.5/3) Appeal – Johnny is the most interested, since this is just begging to have the symmetry broken by anthems or Goblin Chainwhirler. Spike can see some appeal, but they obviously don't like that instead of clearing the opponent's board, it actually doubles it. Timmy has little interest in this sort of pseudo-wrath, as they'd prefer a Warp World.
(3/3) Elegance – Sure, pretty simple.
Development
(2/3) Viability – This is absolutely not red. Red can do the Chaos Warp sort of transformation, or (exactly once) Descent of the Dragons, but March of Souls is definitely a white effect, maybe stretching to blue.
(3/3) Balance – It's really only good if you have some way of breaking the symmetry, otherwise you end up with a million 1/1's just suiciding into each other, but that's a fine place for a card to be, since it gets busted pretty fast if you do have an anthem.

Creativity
(1.5/3) Uniqueness – Pretty much just March of Souls that includes planeswalkers and trades an extra token for flying.
(3/3) Flavor – Sure, flavor is fun.

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

Total: 21/25

Henlock

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Lost in the Crowd w
Instant (u)
Destroy target creature or planeswalker with mana value less than the number of creatures and/or planeswalkers you control.
Few places are as good for hiding as among the masses.

Design
(2/3) Appeal – Spike is interested in a very efficient removal spell for a white weenie deck, and Timmy imagines that they'll always have enough creatures to make this good. It's too much of a blunt instrument for Johnny though.
(2.5/3) Elegance – The and/or, even if it might be necessary for templating, is a bit inelegant.
Development
(3/3) Viability – Yep, feels super white. I went back and forth on whether this felt more uncommon or rare, but ultimately since you already gave up the point on the subchallenge I decided it was fine.
(2.5/3) Balance – Almost certainly weaker than Kabira Takedown, since creatures and planeswalkers tend to have higher mana value than they do toughness or loyalty, and it doesn't have a land on the back, but the takedown has seen some real standard play so being weaker than that (and 1 mana cheaper) doesn't mean unplayable.

Creativity
(2/3) Uniqueness – The "destroy" is newish, as is counting 'walkers, but overall it's definitely descended from a long line of Outnumber-like effects.
(2.5/3) Flavor – I see what you're getting at with the flavor text, but hiding is usually a good thing – I would have gone with something more like "it's all too easy to get swallowed up by the masses."

Polish
(3/3) Quality – Looks good.
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) – Yep.
(1/2) Subchallenges – Not rare.

Total: 20.5/25

Freyleyes

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Siphon the Spark XWU
Sorcery {R}
Destroy target planeswalker with X loyalty counters on it. You may put X loyalty counters on target planeswalker you control.
I will take that. You will not be needing it any more.

Design
(1.5/3) Appeal – Johnny can think of some crazy ways to ultimate planeswalkers really fast. Timmy also loves ulting their 'walkers, but even they feel like the setup cost is going to be tough, and they definitely don't want to hit their own 'walkers to do it. Spike is not interested in a card that can only destroy a planeswalker if you have one yourself.
(2/3) Elegance – Players will definitely be tripped up (as you might have been yourself) by the fact that the wording of this requires two targets – there's a reason why The Elderspell uses "choose" instead of "target."
Development
(2.5/3) Viability – This is definitely rare, but it doesn't feel right without black in it – destroying something and taking its stuff is so very black that it seems wrong to do it in another color combination.
(1.5/3) Balance – Suuuper swingy. Either you meet the setup cost and your opponent likely concedes on the spot, or it rots in your hand forever. Not the best place for a card to be.

Creativity
(2/3) Uniqueness – Some strong Elderspell vibes, although with its own twist.
(2/3) Flavor – Again, the flavor text feels soooooo black that it just doesn't seem right on an Azorius card.

Polish
(2.5/3) Quality – Should be quotes around the flavor text, since it's clearly being spoken.
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) – Yep.
(2/2) Subchallenges – Yep yep.

Total: 18/25

Results

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kwanyeegor-ii: 22.5
vishamon: 21
Henlock: 20.5
Freyleyes: 18