April CCL, Signups/Round 1 - Skipping the Study

[void_nothing]

CCL April Signups/Round 1

"Skipping the Study"


Null Profusion, taken from MtG Meta, by Kev Walker 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 Missing Out Month here in the CCL. Designs this month will be themed around the idea of something being missing.

Challenge

Design an card that can cause one or more players to skip one or more draw steps.

Clarifications

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• Make sure to include a rarity.

Anyone can enter this first round! Your submissions are due Saturday, April 8th, 23:59 EST.

Schedule

• Round 1 — Open to Everyone (April 1st-8th)
• Round 2 — Open to Everyone (April 9th-15th)
• Rounds 1 and 2 Critiques (Due April 17th)
• Top 6 — Open to top 6 finishers (April 18th–21st)
• Top 6 Critiques (Due April 23rd)
• Top 4 — Open to top 4 finishers (April 24th–27th)
• Top 4 Critiques (Due April 29th)
• Final (May, 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.

[netn10]

Contemplate 1W
Battle - Process (Rare)
(You are the protector of your processes. At the beginning of your upkeep, remove a defense counter from this battle. Then, if you removed the last, exile it, then cast it transformed.)
Skip your draw step.
{2}
///
Emerge Better
(W) Enchantment (Rare)
You have no maximum hand size.
Your opponents can't cause you to discard cards.
At the beginning of your upkeep, draw a card.

[Henlock]

Malaidel, Inquisitor of Introspection 1www
Legendary Creature - Human Cleric (r)
Malaidel, Inquisitor of Introspection has ward as long as you have no cards in your hand.
At the beginning of your upkeep, you may choose to skip your draw step this turn. If you do, destroy target permanent with mana value greater than the number of cards in your hand.
2/3

[OneAndOnly]

The Deepening Roots -- 1GG
Enchantment - Saga {M}
(Y'all know how these work by now.)
Skip your draw step.
I - Create a 1/1 green Saproling creature token for each card in your hand.
II - Create a 0/0 green Treefolk creature token with "This creature gets +1/+1 for each card in its controller's hand"
III - Discard your hand, then search your library for a green creature card with mana value equal to the number of cards discarded this way. Put it onto the battlefield, shuffle, then draw seven cards.

[kwanyeegor-ii]

Eye of Ignorance 3U
Creature - Illusion Eye (Rare)
Flying, prowess
When Eye of Ignorance enters the battlefield, target opponent skips each main phase of their next turn.
2W, Sacrifice Eye of Ignorance: Target opponent skips each combat phase of their next turn.
2B, Sacrifice Eye of Ignorance: Target opponent skips each draw step of their next turn.
2/1

[slimytrout]

Uenna, Archangel of Endurance 3WU
Legendary Creature - Angel (M)
Flying, vigilance
You may skip your draw step. When you do, until your next turn, if your life total would be reduced to 0 or less, instead your life total becomes 1.
Whenever Uenna, Archangel of Endurance deals combat damage to a player, draw a card.
4/4

[Subject16]

Coren the Unschooled 2R
Legendary Creature — Human Shaman (R)
Skip your draw step.
Magecraft — Whenever you cast or copy an instant or sorcery spell, exile the top card of your library. Until the end of your next turn, you may play that card.
1R, T: Return an instant or sorcery card at random from your graveyard to your hand.
"He would be top of his class, if he actually attended them."
—Augusta, Lorehold dean
3/3

[marioguy3]

Krenko's Machine Room
Enchantment (Rare)
Skip your draw step.
At the beginning of combat on your turn, if you control fewer than seven cards in your hand, create X 1/1 red Goblin creature tokens with haste equal to the difference.
: Draw cards equal to the number of Goblins you control, then Krenko's Machine Room deals damage to you equal to the number of cards in your hand.

[MonoRedMage]

Addling Blow 3R
Sorcery {U}
Addling Blow deals 3 damage to any target. If a player was dealt damage this way, that player skips their next draw step. If a permanent was dealt damage this way, surveil 1.
Cycling R

[void_nothing]

Alright, round is now closed! Please critique and make a top 3 out of all other contestants. Second round to come soon.

[OneAndOnly]

Reviews

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netn10

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Contemplate 1W
Battle - Process (Rare)
(You are the protector of your processes. At the beginning of your upkeep, remove a defense counter from this battle. Then, if you removed the last, exile it, then cast it transformed.)
Skip your draw step.
{2}
///
Emerge Better
(W) Enchantment (Rare)
You have no maximum hand size.
Your opponents can't cause you to discard cards.
At the beginning of your upkeep, draw a card.

I dunno, a Battle with a defense of only 2 seems kind of weak -- while you can't attack your own battles, your teammates can, you might force an opponent to, you can casually Shock it ... In some ways, this just comes across as "weird Fading."

The Emerge Better side is okay, but no max hand size is a pretty cheap effect. Not being subject to discard is decent, The additional card draw is, obviously, the gravy everyone wants -- but weird to find in mono-white. The name sounds blue! but more importantly, doesn't sound like a battle at all. "Search for Serenity"? "Journey to the Inner Mind"?

Henlock

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Malaidel, Inquisitor of Introspection 1www
Legendary Creature - Human Cleric (r)
Malaidel, Inquisitor of Introspection has ward as long as you have no cards in your hand.
At the beginning of your upkeep, you may choose to skip your draw step this turn. If you do, destroy target permanent with mana value greater than the number of cards in your hand.
2/3

Trading a draw for repeatable permanent destruction is a little eep -- especially at extreme values; zero cards in hand more or less equals "Destroy target non-land permanent." If it were "Exile until ~ leaves the battlefield" it would feel a lot more white.

Both the ward ability and the permanent destruction resonate with hellbent, which is a red-black mechanic ... exactly like permanent destruction.

kwanyeegor-ii

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Eye of Ignorance 3U
Creature - Illusion Eye (Rare)
Flying, prowess
When Eye of Ignorance enters the battlefield, target opponent skips each main phase of their next turn.
2W, Sacrifice Eye of Ignorance: Target opponent skips each combat phase of their next turn.
2B, Sacrifice Eye of Ignorance: Target opponent skips each draw step of their next turn.
2/1

That's an interesting variety of effects, and fit nicely in their colors -- black might be a bit of a stretch, but is an interesting analogue to discard. Prowess seems a little tacked on, and seems to run counter to the self-sacrifice abilities.

slimytrout

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Uenna, Archangel of Endurance 3WU
Legendary Creature - Angel (M)
Flying, vigilance
You may skip your draw step. When you do, until your next turn, if your life total would be reduced to 0 or less, instead your life total becomes 1.
Whenever Uenna, Archangel of Endurance deals combat damage to a player, draw a card.
4/4

I think the "skip your draw step" ability needs a trigger or an activation cost. (Even "Each turn, you may skip you draw step...") It seems weirdly proactive; like, I would have to know well in advance to use it, and the window for making that choice is fairly narrow. But, since the intent is that the angel will most get a card through combat -- I guess what I'm getting at is that it's not much of a choice at all, and might read and play better if it weren't a choice, but some other condition given to the Worship ability -- maybe simply, "If you drew a card this turn..."

Subject16

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Coren the Unschooled 2R
Legendary Creature — Human Shaman (R)
Skip your draw step.
Magecraft — Whenever you cast or copy an instant or sorcery spell, exile the top card of your library. Until the end of your next turn, you may play that card.
1R, T: Return an instant or sorcery card at random from your graveyard to your hand.
"He would be top of his class, if he actually attended them."
—Augusta, Lorehold dean
3/3

So, draw here is replaced with impulsive draw, which limits it a little -- but the activated ability provides some gas, especially since it's repeatable, and when there's only one instant or sorcery in your graveyard, not random at all! (Or, two similar cards, or cards of equal value).

Shamans in Strixhaven always struck me as weird. Red has wizards, too!

marioguy3

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Krenko's Machine Room
Enchantment (Rare)
Skip your draw step.
At the beginning of combat on your turn, if you control fewer than seven cards in your hand, create X 1/1 red Goblin creature tokens with haste equal to the difference.
: Draw cards equal to the number of Goblins you control, then Krenko's Machine Room deals damage to you equal to the number of cards in your hand.

Hellbent, seven 1/1s each turn is pretty darn good. I'm not certain what difference waiting until the beginning of combat makes, and creating them then (as opposed to upkeep) just seems to get into rulesplaining over whether they can attack that turn or not. I suppose one huge difference is that red is most likely to have more than one combat in one turn, but that's still a little corner-case-y.

The activated ability seems almost too dangerous to use! I suppose anywhere between 1 - 5 damage for 1 - 5 cards, though, is a great deal, and in some scenarios (anything involving lifegain) can become open-ended. Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind loves this part of the card.

MonoRedMage

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Addling Blow 3R
Sorcery {U}
Addling Blow deals 3 damage to any target. If a player was dealt damage this way, that player skips their next draw step. If a permanent was dealt damage this way, surveil 1.
Cycling R

I think you're the only contestant to put this on a non-permanent! The surveil seems a little random; maybe "put a stun counter on that permanent"?

Rankings

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1. kwanyeegor-ii
2. Subject16
3. MonoRed Mage
4. Henlock
5. marioguy3
6. slimytrout
7. netn10

[marioguy3]

netn10: Simple and pretty decent powerlevel, if not the most exciting thing out there. I like that this turns into a personal Howling Mine effect though.

Henlock: Repeatable nonland permanent destruction on a creature is pretty strong. I like the ward 3 though. This plays well to white devotion decks.

OneandOnly: That is some unique reminder text, I'll give you that. Could easily give out 7 tokens for 3 mana which is near really great territory. The other effects are fine.

kwanyeegor-ii: This needed the "if you cast this" type of ETB to be fair. It gets really annoying with flicker effects. Or you could swap the "skip main phase" with "skip combat" and would be fair and fun to play with in pillow fort shells.

slimytrout: Azorious Angels is a strong and fun archetype, and this would fit right in with the best of that world. Skipping draw to protect yourself from losing from damage is a nice pairing.

Subject16: I like the elegance of this card. Skipping draws in exchange for a short-term storm strategy is a clever design twist. I think the recursion ability should be sorcery speed though.

MonoRedMage: Quite the burden to cast at four mana, despite the cycling.

Top 3:

3rd place: Henlock
2nd place: slimytrout
1st place: Subject16

[MonoRedMage]

1 - Subject16
2 - slimytrout
3 - netn10

[kwanyeegor-ii]

top 3

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1 slimytrout
2 henlock
3 subject16

[void_nothing]

Just a reminder to all contestants to please get your critiques and top 3 in ASAP - the revised deadline will be 23:59 Eastern US time on Friday.

[netn10]

Henlock

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Two very fresh abilities that combo together and creates a neat package. Conditional ward is intriging to me, and the second ability is a new "mini game" that feeds the first ability in a cool way. 1WWW for 2/3 is also new, and it's enough of a drawback for these abilities.

OneAndOnly

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It's funny, sagas specifically says "after your *draw step*, add a lore counter", and I'm not sure if you are supposed to add lore counters if the draw steps don't happen. The last ability doesn't feel like mono green ability, and the saga might be way too strong at 3 mana even with the drawback.

kwanyeegor-ii

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This card is weird, a mishmash of abilities that don't mash into a coherent package to me at least. Why prowess? Why blue with white and black abilities?

slimytrout

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This feels broken, but probably isn't. The drawback doesn't feel much like a drawback if you can easily get the card back.

Subject16

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I can't say no to Strixhaven flavored cards, and this was screams Lorehold! It's a twist of old red card advantage mechanics in a way that feels fresh, and the flavor is good.

marioguy3

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The flavor is interesting. Blue with Krenko? Why's the mobster have a machine room? Creating tokens equal to the difference is cute.

MonoRedMage

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There's a lot of things going on for a burn spell. I like the first part, the surveil and cycling seems tucked on.

Top 3:

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1st: Henlock
2nd: Subject16
3rd: OneAndOnly

[slimytrout]

Top 3 only:

1. Henlock
2. Subject16
3. MonoRedMage

[Henlock]

Top3

1. marioguy
2. Subject16
3. Monoredmage