June MCC, Round 3 - The Unforgettable Name

[void_nothing]

Banner based on Words of Worship, by Rebecca Guay and Wizards of the Coast. Thanks to bravelion83 for the "Core Set Style" MCC Logo

June MCC, Round 3 - The Unforgettable Name

Welcome to the June MCC! It's Words Month here at the MCC.

Main Challenge: Design a card that mentions an existing card name other than a basic land in its rules text.
Subchallenge 1: Your card does not have the same color identity as the card mentioned in its rules text
Subchallenge 2: The mentioned card was originally printed in or before 2005

DEADLINES

Design deadline: Monday, July 11th 23:59 EDT

Judging deadline: Wednesday, July 13th 23:59 EDT

Clarifications

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Main Challenge: You can reference more than one name, however...

Subchallenges: All referenced card names must fulfill a subchallenge for it to count.

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
Venedrex

Players:
@slimytrout
@bravelion83
@kwanyeegor-ii
@Freyleyes

[kwanyeegor-ii]

Jamuraan Savannah 4G
Enchantment (Rare)
At the beginning of your upkeep, create a token that's a copy of the card named Savannah Lions.
At the beginning of each of your main phases. add G or W.

[bravelion83]

Krey, Lightning Conjuror 3RR
Legendary Creature — Human Wizard (R)
2R, T, Pay 2 life: Krey, Lightning Conjuror deals 4 damage to target opponent. Reveal the top card of your library. If it's a card named Lightning Helix, you may cast that card without paying its mana cost.
Formerly a Boros soldier, he was cast out from the Legion for being too chaotic for their rigid hierarchy. Now he puts his fiery passion at the service of guildmaster Ral.
3/3

[void_nothing]

@slimytrout and @Freyleyes - just checking in here.

[slimytrout]

Yosher, the Mad Miller 2UB
Legendary Creature - Human Peasant (R)
T, Exile two target cards from a single graveyard: Add CC.
At the beginning of each end step, if that player has eight or fewer cards in their graveyard, create a colorless artifact token named Millstone with "2, T: Target player mills two cards."
3/3

[Freyleyes]

Wrath of the Titans 2R
Sorcery {R}
Wrath of the Titans deals 3 damage to each creature. If you control a card named Darksteel Colossus, Wrath of the Titans deals 11 damage to each creature instead.
Do not seek shelter in the shadow of the colossus.

Ref Card - Darksteel Colossus

[void_nothing]

And that'll do it for the round. This is the versus round and @Venedrex and I will each judge all the contestants, in pairs. The following are the pairings:

kwanyeegor-ii vs. bravelion83
slimytrout vs. Freyleyes

Let's aim to finish by July 15th.

[void_nothing]

kwanyeegor-ii

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Design
(3/3) Appeal - Txmmy likes a steady flow of 2/1 tokens and mana. Jxnny could definitely do something with the fact that the tokens are Savannah Lions (devotion?) and mana twice per turn. Spike sees a possible GW control win-con.
(2.5/3) Elegance - Mostly hard to argue with this one. Creates tokens of one of the most iconic and easy to remember cards there is. (Might not be too easy to remember that the token copy has a mana cost, though, and new players would not have any idea what the token was - but I assume this would only ever be printed in a Modern Horizons set or similar.)

Development
(3/3) Viability - Can't argue with the colors or rarity. This is technically a monogreen card but it has a bit of white association to it, so the implementation is good.
(2/3) Balance - This card certainly has the potential to be powerful by filling the board up and letting its controller cast stuff with the mana it grants multiple times per turn. It is, however, a five-mana enchantment - hard to evaluate, I'd say.

Creativity
(1.5/3) Uniqueness - "Just" a token and mana generator, but with some twists that make it memorable.
(2.5/3) Flavor - Name's perfect - flavor text could have happened, maybe? I assume the reference to Savannah was also intentional - nice detail.

Polish
(2.5/3) Quality - Not sure that's how the token creation ability would be worded. Our only precedents are digital-only (which just use conjure) and Garth One-Eye (which has a different implementation).
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - Looks good.
(2/2) Subchallenges - And done - card's as old as you can get and W is not GW.

Total: 21.5/25

bravelion83

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Design
(2/3) Appeal - A Txmmy/Spike card. Jxnny has only one sensible thing to do with this until there's some way to change names of cards in the library.
(2.5/3) Elegance - Heart of the Cards is at the same time an elegant play pattern and an inelegant one. And those who haven't been enfranchised players for a long time will question the logic of this design.

Development
(3/3) Viability - This is VERY TECHNICALLY a red lifegain card, but it requires you to be playing RW cards. Rare is of course where this should be.
(2/3) Balance - Not an OP card, but a swingy one. Char their face every turn with no card cost is fine - it's a heavy amount of damage, but the base card is five mana, it costs three to activate, it leaves you vulnerable to be outraced in some cases... when this replicates the Topdeck of the Century, though, it's unbelievably good. That, of course, was a very important game-winning play, but that still means that in the rare critical success this card is stupendously strong.

Creativity
(1.5/3) Uniqueness - "Just" a pinger - a hefty one, though - but this does have one very big selling point that's new.
(2/3) Flavor - I have to give you points for what you're referencing, but the rest of the flavor doesn't do a great job of explaining why this event is being referenced in an inverse-meta sense in Magic itself.

Polish
(3/3) Quality - Seems fine to me.
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - Looks good.
(2/2) Subchallenges - And done (Ravnica was printed in '05 and RW is not R).

Total: 20/25

slimytrout

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Design
(2/3) Appeal - Mostly a Jxnny/Spike card - those players like a card that is a self-contained engine. Timmy can appreciate a mill deck, sure, but probably one that blasts to the face with Traumatize and then Braingeyser rather than incremental grinding.
(2.5/3) Elegance - A lot of triggering and a lot of graveyard counting, but otherwise fine.

Development
(3/3) Viability - Colors and rarity are exactly what they should be.
(3/3) Balance - Sure - he's pretty strong and a strategy all unto himself, but by nature this is a slow deal.

Creativity
(2.5/3) Uniqueness - Definitely some interesting stuff going on here.
(3/3) Flavor - Perfect, of course. I appreciate the oddness of a UB Peasant.

Polish
(2/3) Quality - "At the beginning of each player's end step..." Plus, costs can't target.
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - Good.
(2/2) Subchallenges - And done. Millstone's old, colorless is different than UB.

Total: 22/25

Freyleyes

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Design
(2.5/3) Appeal - Txmmy obviously approves. A bit... linear for Jxnny, although they could potentially do something with Spy Kit here. Spike likes the base rate and the possibility of "kill every blocker and get in with Darksteel Colossus" is a nice niche bonus.
(3/3) Elegance - Sure, certainly not inelegant.

Development
(3/3) Viability - Correct color and rarity.
(2.5/3) Balance - The 11 damage possibility is not an issue - you have to work to get a DSC out in the first place. The base rate, however, is efficient and requires only one red mana.

Creativity
(1/3) Uniqueness - There are many "deal 3 damage to each creature" cards already existing, and the bonus clause here just jumps it up to closer to a Blasphemous Act or a straight wrath effect.
(1.5/3) Flavor - Flavor text is pithy, but the name doesn't quite work: It's referencing multiple creatures ("Titans") when you only need one Darksteel Colossus to turn it on, and what's more, that's specifically a Colossus, not a Titan.

Polish
(3/3) Quality - Good.
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - Done.
(2/2) Subchallenges - And done. Darksteel is going on 20 years old and monored is not colorless.

Total: 20.5/25

[Venedrex]

kwanyeegor-ii

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Design
(2.5/3) Appeal - Txmmy likes a powerful enchantment that churns out a an army of lions and gives mana. Spike likes this as a way to win games of limited. Jxnny is less interested.
(3/3) Elegance - The card is clean, and due to Savannah Lions being such an iconic card for many players, is easy to grok.

Development
(3/3) Viability - Rarity is good, this is not something you want at uncommon for limited, this doesn't break the rules of the game, and the green can add mana in any color and both white and green can make tokens.
(2.5/3) Balance - Presumably a strong card for limited, might not see much play elsewhere, but it has a purpose and a role in draft.

Creativity
(2/3) Uniqueness - We don't see many cards that make tokens of existing creature cards, but that was the prompt... still this is unique enough for me. Adding a little bit of mana is a nice touch.
(3/3) Flavor - Works for me.

Polish
(2.5/3) Quality - As void said, uncharted territory, but since we don't have any official examples to go off, your version is believable for me.
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - Done.
(2/2) Subchallenges - Both met.

Total: 22.5/25

bravelion83

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Design
(2/3) Appeal - Txmmy likes the idea of going straight to the dome, and the excitement of flipping lightning helix off the top. Spike recognizes that repeatable burn is pretty good for draft, but is otherwise unimpressed, and Jxhnny might like to use this with untap shenanigans, (assuming you run another color such as white)
(2.5/3) Elegance - A lot of costs upfront, but not that difficult to understand.

Development
(3/3) Viability - Tap, pay mana and life, deal damage to face, this is all very red. Casting spells without mana cost is fine, especially with such a strict criteria. Rarity is good. I don't think this breaks anything at all as far as the rules are concerned.
(1.5/3) Balance - Hmm. This is a card that I'm tempted to call too weak. In draft, being able to steadily chip away at your opponent's life total is good, but having to wait until turn six to do so, and having to pay 3 mana each use is a lot of investment, even for 4 damage to the face. As far as the potential to free cast lightning helix, that assumes
they must be presumably in Boros colors instead of just mono-red. and that they must also be playing this card in a format with lightning helix, not to mention the fact that they must have 4 copies before it becomes likely to produce the free cast effect, making this feel unreliable to me.

Creativity
(2/3) Uniqueness - A big red creature that hits the dome isn't particularly groundbreaking, but caring about Lightning Helix is somewhat new.
(2/3) Flavor - The flavor here is fine. We've seen examples of this before, but I personally would have liked him to have done the opposite of what was described, starting as a blue-red mage before finding his true purpose in the legion when he casts a lightning bolt that heals in an epic moment. I personally think it's neat to reference famous IRL events in MTG on custom cards, but I can't in good conscience award points for flavor that comes from outside the internal MTG universe.

Polish
(3/3) Quality - No complaints
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - Done
(2/2) Subchallenges - Both met.

Total: 20/25

slimytrout

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Design
(1.5/3) Appeal - Well. This is a unique card to evaluate. Txmmy is getting a little lost here at first glance. They see something about adding mana, and maybe making a artifact that can be used to make people mill... Spike cuts to the chase and sees a 4 mana 3/3 that can conditionally make millstone, which outside of decking someone in limited, is not the most powerful of cards. Jxnny likes this with tricks and synergies, such as exiling peoples graveyards and using the millstones for improvise etc etc.
(2.5/3) Elegance - It isn't too wordy, but you have to read the second effect twice before you get it. (or at least I did)

Development
(3/3) Viability - Rarity is fine, color pie is getting a little dicey. But Deranged Assistant and similar exist, so I am alright with the mana generation. This doesn't really break the rules of the game.
(2/3) Balance - Again, outside of draft, I can't imagine this seeing much play. In limited, this could be a win condition, but it seems fairly slow, at least when compared to other milling cards that saw lots of use such as Teferi's Tutelage Soaring Thought-Thief or Hedron Crab. Although perhaps that is a mark against those cards design, as they caused many players a great deal of annoyance.

Creativity
(2.5/3) Uniqueness - This hasn't been done before to my knowledge, although Dimir cards milling is pretty standard.
(3/3) Flavor - Quite nice. The crazy miller goes on a milling rampage. It makes me laugh in a good way, and I bet players would enjoy it.

Polish
(2/3) Quality - "At the beginning of each player's end step", and costs can't target.
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - Done.
(2/2) Subchallenges - Both met.

Total: 20.5/25

Freyleyes

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Design
(2.5/3) Appeal - OK, OK, Txmmy will bite. 3 damage is already decent, but the idea of dealing 11 damage if they controls a quintessential Txmmy creature is alluring to them. Spike sees this as an Anger of the Gods that isn't quite as good, but is less color intensive and therefore a powerful card they'd be happy to play, the potential upside notwithstanding. Jxnny doens't see much use for this other than perhaps in combination with Stuffy Doll or Enrage type effects.
(3/3) Elegance - No problems from me.

Development
(3/3) Viability - Red damage based board wipe that does more damage if you control a big creature. Totally fine. Doesn't break anything in the game. Rarity is correct.
(2.5/3) Balance - Again, my best comparison is Anger of the Gods, and this seems to be right in line with it, so good to me. I will knock the fact that the bonus effect is mostly just flavor text, as controlling a specific 11 mana creature is akin to winning the lottery in most games of magic that aren't incredibly casual. However, the meat of the card still allows it to be functional and fun to play with even if hitting the eleven damage part is just about impossible to happen.

Creativity
(1/3) Uniqueness - We've seen lots of these type of effects before, but caring about Darksteel Colossus is new.
(1.5/3) Flavor - A little lackluster but OK.

Polish
(3/3) Quality - Good
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - Done.
(2/2) Subchallenges - Both met.

Total: 20.5/25

[void_nothing]

And our finalists are kwanyeegor-ii and slimytrout! Final round to come very soon.