September CCL Finals: The Finale

[Lorn Asbord Schutta]

CCL September Finals

"The Finale"

Everything is set, the wily and daring detective, a trail that had been followed and sinister figures plotting from behind. But how it will end? Let us find out, as the suspense raises in those stories...

Theme

It's Mystery Story month here at the CCL. This month we will follow characters of contestants' design through they journey to uncover some thrilling secrets.

Challenge

Design five instant or sorcery cards, four of them uncommon and one rare or mythic rare, each having a flavour text attributed to one of your designed legendary creatures or describing a struggle between them, with the rare one being the finale to story; across those five cards following effects should appear in each at least once:
Forcing opponent to pay for something.
Caring about cards or permanents leaving a public zone.
Removal that could hit more then one permament type.
Sacrificing something as an additional cost.
Gaining or losing life depending on a condition.

Clarifications

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• There is no color restriction in this round.
• You can make all of your cards instant, all of them sorcery, or any type of mix between those two extremes.
• The stated effects may appear in many cards, but each of them must appear at least once and each card must have at least one of them.
• If you have any questions, do not hesitate to ask them.
• Remeber to add rarity.

Contestants:
@slimytrout

slimytrout

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Mintha, Chief of the Watch 1WU
Legendary Creature — Human Soldier (R)
Flash
When Mintha, Chief of the Watch enters the battlefield, investigate.
Whenever you sacrifice a Clue, counter target spell unless its controller pays 1.
2/3

Secret Alcove 1W
Artifact - Clue (U)
Flash
When Secret Alcove enters the battlefield, exile up to one target creature you control until Secret Alcove leaves the battlefield.
2, Sacrifice Secret Alcove: Draw a card.
Jex strained to hear the vampires' conversation over the sound of his own heartbeat pounding in his ears.

Dawn Raid 1W
Sorcery (U)
Exile target artifact, enchantment, or black permanent.
With a powerful kick, Mintha blew the door off its hinges, allowing sunlight -- and watchmen -- to stream into the vampires' hideout.

Svelja, Heartless Ringleader RWB
Legendary Creature - Vampire Rogue (M)
Double strike, deathtouch
Sacrifice a creature: Svelja, Heartless Ringleader gets +1/+0 until end of turn.
"The Font of Souls will be mine, if I have to fill the city with blood to get it."
0/4

Alvina, Life's Champion 2GW
Legendary Creature - Human Druid (R)
Vigilance, protection from black
Whenever Alvina, Life's Champion or another nonblack creature enters the battlefield under your control, you gain life equal to that creature's toughness.
"A dusty vault is no place for the Font of Souls -- it belongs to all living things."
3/5

@void_nothing

void_nothing

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Varitin, the Trilling Heron 2G
Legendary Creature - Human Wizard (R)
You and legendary permanents you control have ward 1.
Whenever a legendary permanent or player becomes the target of a spell, investigate.
2W: Target Clue you control becomes a copy of target nonland permanent card in your graveyard with mana value 3 or less until end of turn. It gains haste until end of turn.
"Through me, Sigarda chronicles a better era."
2/2

Cultcarved Gravestone 1G
Artifact - Clue (R)
Spells that are cast from graveyards cost 2 less to cast and can only be cast any time their controller could cast a sorcery. (Players can't cast spells from graveyards unless another effect causes them to.)
Whenever a card leaves a player's graveyard, that player gains 1 life.
At the beginning of each player's upkeep, choose two cards in their graveyard. That player shuffles those cards into their library.
2, Sacrifice Cultcarved Gravestone: Draw a card.

Ancient Consultation 5G
Instant (R)
Choose two permanent types. Exchange up to one card in your hand of the first chosen type with one in your graveyard and up to one card in your hand of the second chosen type with one you own on the battlefield.
Flashback 5W
Varitin meditated on the glyphs, recalling similar ones he had seen in a ruin long ago.

Rutstein, the Tight-Lipped 2BG
Legendary Creature - Human Peasant (R)
T: Choose any number of card types, then mill three cards. If you chose artifact and an artifact card was milled this way, create a 2/2 green Wolf creature token. The same is true for creature and 1/1 black Vampire with lifelink, enchantment and 1/1 white Spirit with flying, land and Treasure, instant and Clue, sorcery and 3/2 blue Zombie Horror with defender. planeswalker and 1/1 red Devil with "When this creature dies, it deals 1 damage to any target", and tribal and token that's a copy of a token you control. Then you lose 1 life for each chosen type not among the cards milled this way.
2/4

The Shurmarik Transnormality 2GUR
Legendary Creature - Devil Illusion (M)
First strike, ward 3
Whenever The Shurmarik Transnormality deals combat damage to a player, create a number of Clue tokens equal to its power.
You may sacrifice two artifacts rather than pay the activation cost of the first ability of a creature you activate each turn.
You may sacrifice four artifacts rather than pay the mana cost of the first spell you cast each turn.
"Let me introduce myself. At this point, mortals typically scream 'Aaaah, I'm hallucinating!'"
3/3

Your submissions are due Sunday, October 9th, 12:00 EST.

Schedule

• Round 1 — Open to Everyone (September 1st-10th)
• Round 2 — Open to Everyone (September 10th-19th)
• Rounds 1 and 2 Critiques (Due September 22nd)
• Top 8 — Open to top 8 finishers (September 22nd–25th)
• Top 8 Critiques (Due September 28th)
  
• Top 5 — Open to top 5 finishers (September 30th–October 2nd)
• Top 5 Critiques (Due October 5th)
• Final (October, winner determined by public poll)

Please note: For this month we will continue asking first and second round contestants to evaluate seven other contestants during the critique and top 3 period, in order to increase the total number of evaluations each contestant gets.

[slimytrout]

Just a heads up that I'm pretty sure I'm going to need more time than is scheduled for this round. That's a complex list of constraints and I'm going to be traveling between now and then.

[Lorn Asbord Schutta]

How much then, if you are able to answer this question?

[slimytrout]

I hope to have it done within a week, but I don't want to make any promises. This challenge has a lot of requirements (card type, rarity, flavor text, and effects) and I'm going to have to start judging the MCC once I get home from traveling.

[void_nothing]

I have to say I'm going to travel tomorrow as well, although seemingly not for as long. I think there may be delays on my end too.

[slimytrout]

Port Tax WU
Instant (U)
Counter target spell unless its controller pays 1.
Counter target spell unless its controller pays 1.
"The docks need to be kept safe, and safety isn't free."
-Mintha, Chief of the Watch

Shadowy Infiltration 1BB
Sorcery (U)
Until end of turn, whenever a black card leaves your graveyard, up to one target creature gets -1/-1 until end of turn.
Return up to two target creature cards from your graveyard to your hand.
"I remember what it was like to be blind and think I could see."
-Svelja

Svelja's Revenge 2BR
Sorcery (U)
Destroy target creature or land.
Mintha dropped to her knees in front of the burning watchtower as the screams from within died out. Perched on the rooftops, Svelja knew her message had been received.

Plea for Aid 1W
Sorcery (U)
Target opponent may create a 1/1 white Human creature token. If they do, create a 1/1 white Human creature token.
Target opponent may draw two cards. If they do, draw two cards.
Target opponent may gain 3 life. If they do, gain 3 life.
"I will always fight for the living."
-Alvina

Souls' Deliverance 2GW
Sorcery (R)
As an additional cost to cast this spell, sacrifice a nonland permanent.
Return up to X target permanent cards with mana value less than X from your graveyard to the battlefield, where X is the mana value of the sacrificed permanent.
With one blow, Mintha shattered the Font, freeing the souls bound within it.

[void_nothing]

Unnerving Discovery 2BG
Instant (U)
Mill two cards. For each land card milled this way, you gain 6 life. For each nonland card milled this way, you draw two cards and lose 3 life.
Flashback 5BG
"Don't blame me if you don't like it. I don't know what we're going to see either." - Old Rutstein

Aspect of Asp 1G
Sorcery (U)
Until end of turn, creatures you control get +1/+1 and gain "Whenever this creature deals damage to a player, that player loses 1 life at the beginning of their next draw step unless they pay 1 before that draw step."
"I mean, maybe there are horrible venomous scaly things everywhere. You make your own decision about that." - The Shurmarik Transnormality

Saintly Iconoclasm 4G
Sorcery (U)
Destroy target artifact or nonbasic land.
Put two +1/+1 counters on up to one target creature. If you do, that creature gains trample until end of turn.
It was as though all of nature backed Varitin as he overpowered Rutstein, hurling the old peasant through his own blasphemous altar.

Dreamtorrent U
Instant (U)
Until end of turn, whenever a creature leaves the battlefield, you may have that creature's controller shuffle a card of your choice from their graveyard into their library. If you don't, that player mills a card.
"Some psychic phenomena are just too much, y'know, and I'm saying this as a psychic phenomenon myself." - The Shurmarik Transnormality

Sigarda's Reset 3GW
Sorcery (M)
As an additional cost to cast this spell, sacrifice an artifact or enchantment.
Exile all creatures that aren't Angels or Humans. Each player shuffles their graveyard into their library.
1GW, Tap an untapped creature you control, Discard Sigarda's Reset: Put Sigarda's Reset from your graveyard onto the battlefield transformed. Activate only as a sorcery.
"By my lady's will, this ends with both of us living and you facing justice." - Varitin, to Rutstein
///
Sanctified Hourglass
●● Artifact Enchantment - Clue Aura (M)
Enchant artifact, creature, or enchantment
At the beginning of your upkeep, put on enchanted permanent your choice of a +1/+1 counter or a kind of counter already on it.
When Sanctified Hourglass leaves the battlefield, double the number of each kind of counter on enchanted permanent.
2, Sacrifice Sanctified Hourglass: Draw a card.
"Only Sigarda knows the time, the reason, and the way I am to act." - Varitin

[void_nothing]

Finished.

[slimytrout]

Done!