January CCL, Top 4: Jumbo Jet

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void_nothing
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Post by void_nothing » 1 year ago

CCL January Top 4/Round 3

"Jumbo Jet"


Image
Skysovereign, Consul Flagship, taken from Reddit, by Jung Park and Wizards of the Coast
Welcome to the Card Creation League! Everyone is free to participate in either or both of the first two rounds. Come join us!

Theme

It's Evasion Month here in the CCL. We will go through any number of abilities that make creatures harder to block.

Challenge
Design a Vehicle card that has flying AND has mana value 5 or greater.
Clarifications
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  • The card must have flying inherently, and not gain it from an ability.
  • Make sure to include a rarity.
Contestants:
@slimytrout
@Subject16
@netn10
@Rithaniel
Your submissions are due Thursday, January 26th, 23:59 EST.
Schedule
  • Round 1 — Open to Everyone (January 1st-8th)
  • Round 2 — Open to Everyone (January 9th-15th)
  • Rounds 1 and 2 Critiques (Due January 17th)
  • Top 4 — Open to top 4 finishers (January 22nd–26th)
  • Top 4 Critiques (Due January 28th)
  • Final (January-February, 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.
Psst, check the second page of Custom Card Contests & Games! Because of the daily contests, a lot of games fall down to there.

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Subject16
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Post by Subject16 » 1 year ago

Skyblazer, Kari's Flagship 4RR
Legendary Artifact — Vehicle (M)
Flying
Ward — Pay 3 life.
Whenever Skyblazer attacks for the first time each turn, untap it and all creatures that crewed it this turn. After this phase, there is an additional combat phase.
Crew 4 (Tap any number of untapped creatures with total power 4 or greater: This Vehicle becomes an artifact creature until end of turn.)
6/5

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Rithaniel
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Post by Rithaniel » 1 year ago

Time Tiller
Artifact - Vehicle M
Flying, haste
Whenever Tine Tiller attacks or deals combat damage to a player, take an extra turn after this one.
At the beginning of your upkeep, if it's an extra turn, exile Time Tiller.
Crew 10
12/6
And a Few Quotes
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"Why are numbers beautiful? It's like asking why is Beethoven's Ninth Symphony beautiful. If you don't see why, someone can't tell you. I know numbers are beautiful. If they aren't beautiful, nothing is."
― Paul Erdős

“I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.”
― Stephen Jay Gould

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void_nothing
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Post by void_nothing » 1 year ago

Bump and reminder to @slimytrout and @netn10.
Psst, check the second page of Custom Card Contests & Games! Because of the daily contests, a lot of games fall down to there.

The greatest (fake) pro wrestling on the internet - Collaborative Create-A-Booster - My random creations (updated regularly)

Important Facts: Colorless is not a color, Wastes is not a land type, Changeling is not a creature type

netn10
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Post by netn10 » 1 year ago

It of Different Sky 3UU
Artifact - Mothership Vehicle (Rare)
Flash
Flying
When It of Different Sky enters the battlefield, choose a creature and implant it. (Implanted creatures have base power and toughness 3/4 and are green Aliens as long as you control a Mothership Vehicle.)
As long as It of Different Sky is a creature, you control the chosen creature.
Crew 3
4/4

slimytrout
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Post by slimytrout » 1 year ago

Bitterwood, Ship of the Damned 3UB
Legendary Artifact - Vehicle (R)
Flying
When Bitterwood, Ship of the Damned enters the battlefield, return target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield. That creature can't attack or block for as long as you control Bitterwood.
Crew 3
Pirates tell stories of a rotting ship that descends from raging storms to pull freshly drowned corpses from the waves.
5/5

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void_nothing
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Post by void_nothing » 1 year ago

Okay, round is closed - please critique all the other contestants and organize them into a top 3!
Psst, check the second page of Custom Card Contests & Games! Because of the daily contests, a lot of games fall down to there.

The greatest (fake) pro wrestling on the internet - Collaborative Create-A-Booster - My random creations (updated regularly)

Important Facts: Colorless is not a color, Wastes is not a land type, Changeling is not a creature type

slimytrout
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Post by slimytrout » 1 year ago

Subject16
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Nice, I really like this. My only complaint is that we know the name of Kari Zev's flagship -- the Dragon's Smile.
Rithaniel
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This is very much a Timmy card, which isn't a problem in and of itself but it's just a little win-more for my taste. You need to cast your 7-mana and have 10 power worth of creatures and your opponent needs to not have instant speed removal. Even if that all happens, if your opponent has even a single thopter then this is still probably worse than a 7-mana Time Warp. The only way this is really good is if you connect with it, in which case it's a 7-mana Time Stretch, which is extremely good, but also you've already slammed in for 12 so your opponent is probably dead.
netn10
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Definitely the most unique of the submissions -- new artifact subtype and new mechanic all at once. My biggest quibble with this is that it keeps trading the creature back and forth based on whether It of a Different Sky is a creature and then separately transforms the creature to and from being a 3/4 if It of a Different Sky dies, which is a lot to keep track of. I definitely think there should be some kind of "implantation counter" for tracking purposes.
T3
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1. Subject16
2. netn10
3. Rithaniel

netn10
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Post by netn10 » 1 year ago

Subject16
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I like this a lot because crew 4 with such a "I want to attack a lot" card is very interesting. The card deserves to be a mythic, is explosive and I do like the ward cost. Nothing here is groundbreaking and Kari's ship is Dragons's Smile though.
Rithaniel
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Now THIS is a mythic! The first UR vehicle (yea, it's so weird), and getting an extra turn with a vehicle, and crew 10 and a 10/6 - this card is the definition of uniqueness and weirdness, and I love it.
slimytrout
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I love the flavor text so much. Vehicle and a creature "connected" is an interesting design space (I've also tried it in my entry), and I do love vehicles that gives value even when not crewed.
Top 3
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1st: Rithaniel
2nd: slimytrout
3rd: Subject16

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Subject16
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Post by Subject16 » 1 year ago

Rithaniel
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Extra turns on a vehicle is pretty novel and definitely interesting, though it's definitely not balanced. Mainly because it can get you two extra turns in one swing. Those kinds of effects usually come at a much higher mana value, and though the Crew 10 is also pretty taxing, it's not an impossible number to achieve.
netn10
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The alien mechanic is pretty interesting and could allow for some neat combat tricks. It can create its own creature to crew or block and kill a bigger attacker. However I'm not a big fan of the second ability (which should also be a trigger imo), mainly because of how "gain control of" effects work at instant speed can cause some confusing situations, especially in combat.
slimytrout
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Very thematic design for the "cursed pirate ship" aesthetic. It's cool that the reanimated creature is partially "trapped" by the ship and mostly unable to do anything but crew it.
top 3
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1: slimytrout
2: netn10
3: Rithaniel

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Rithaniel
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Post by Rithaniel » 1 year ago

Commentary
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  • netn10 - Interesting idea. I like the flavor potential of the implant action word, but I think it might be a bit better if you have implant effect a single creature at a time and then have other effects impact all implanted creatures. I also think it makes more sense for the second ability on this "It ship" to refer to "the implanted creature" instead of "the chosen creature." Minor issues, of course. I think, beyond that, the balance here is good. It's comparable to Sower of Temptation, but with a few more wrinkles that I think make the card fun. I like that it forces the creature to be 3/4, so the control-changing ability can never be as strong as some other control-changing abilities.
  • slimytrout - Interesting idea. Essentially, this returns the creature's abilities and presence as a permanent on ETB and returns the creature's power and toughness on LTB. I like the fact that the returned creature can pilot the ghost ship. The flavor is very solid, but you could have underlined the mechanics a bit better by saying something like "it's captain was always different, each time it was seen" or similar. I'm most interested in the flavor, of course, and the rest of the card gives me middling impressions. That being said, I still think it's a quite solid card, all around.
  • Subject16 - I'll be honest: Your card idea inspired mine (instead of an extra combat phase, I offered entire extra turns). So that's already a sign that I like this design. Both our designs went for the "big and splashy" approach, but where mine went as big as possible, yours stayed relatively sane. I think the biggest thing you could have done is to remove the ward cost, because, while it's a red thing to bolt your opponent when they target your stuff, this card isn't really all that defensive: it's aggressive. It would have been better served by haste than ward. The flavor, meanwhile, is pretty shallow. I know is a reference to another character in MtG lore, but, on its own, it might as well have been a dragon. (Which is to say that it's generic, not that you could have actually called it a dragon.)
Top 3
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  • First - netn10
  • Second - Subject16
  • Third - slimytrout
And a Few Quotes
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"Why are numbers beautiful? It's like asking why is Beethoven's Ninth Symphony beautiful. If you don't see why, someone can't tell you. I know numbers are beautiful. If they aren't beautiful, nothing is."
― Paul Erdős

“I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.”
― Stephen Jay Gould

User avatar
void_nothing
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Posts: 14922
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Post by void_nothing » 1 year ago

Okay, with a tie for second place, we have three finalists - Subject16, slimytrout, and netn10! Final round to come soon.
Psst, check the second page of Custom Card Contests & Games! Because of the daily contests, a lot of games fall down to there.

The greatest (fake) pro wrestling on the internet - Collaborative Create-A-Booster - My random creations (updated regularly)

Important Facts: Colorless is not a color, Wastes is not a land type, Changeling is not a creature type

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