June MCC Round 3 - Fight back

[bravelion83]

(This month's banner is my own elaboration on the art of Breach the Multiverse by Liiga Smilshkalne.)


June MCC Round 3

Fight back

As is tradition by now, this month we will celebrate the latest set, in this case March of the Machine (plus The Aftermath), by exploring its mechanics and themes, as usual in this kind of MCC months.


Main Challenge

Choose one of the planes that have been represented in a battle card in March of the Machine. Please state your chosen plane in your submission post. This is a specific exception to the "no extra content" rule for this month.

Your chosen plane CANNOT share any colors in its MOM battle card with the MOM battle cards you chose in Rounds 1 and 2.

Then design a non-battle card that shares at least one color and all supertypes, card types, and subtypes (in other words, the whole type line) with the BACK face of the MOM battle card you chose for THIS round.

You can't use any mana symbols that go outside of your chosen battle card's colors anywhere on the card.

I hope this wording is clear enough, but if it isn't, follow these steps:
1 - Choose a battle card from MOM that doesn't share any colors with the MOM battle cards you chose in previous rounds. (See the list of players at the bottom of this post for the colors each player is allowed to choose.) Don't think about the colors of the cards you designed, those don't matter here. Just compare the colors of the MOM battle cards.
2 - Once you chose your MOM battle card for THIS round in step 1, check its back face and note the whole type line of the BACK face, that is the "reward" you get for "defeating" that battle (which by the way is NOT an actual rules term, there is no instance of the word "defeat"/"defeated"/"defeating" a battle in the CR).
3 - Design a card using that same whole type line (not counting rarity) that's at least one color (unless you choose Ravnica), while staying within the colors of the MOM battle card you chose for THIS round in step 1. (What counts for the MOM battle card is only the FRONT face, the actual battle, for example Theros is mono-W even if Ephara is WU.)
4 - Post your choice of plane (aka MOM battle card) for this round and the card you designed in step 3. That's your submission for this round.

If you choose Ravnica, that has a colorless battle card, then your card must also be colorless and can't have any colored mana symbols on it.

Note: See clarifications for a list of the 36 battle cards in MOM and their respective back-face type lines.


Subchallenge 1 - Your card's mana value is greater than that of the MOM battle card you chose for THIS round. (Past rounds do NOT matter here.)


Subchallenge 2 - Your card has flavor text that mentions by name a known location on your chosen plane but NOT the name of the plane itself.

Clarifications

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Main Challenge

List of planes, colors, and back-face type lines

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BATTLE LIST

Plane: Ravnica
Colors: colorless
Back-face type line: "Artifact Creature — Construct"

Plane: Belenon
Colors: W
Back-face type line: "Enchantment"

Plane: Dominaria
Colors: W
Back-face type line: "Creature — Angel"

Plane: Gobakhan
Colors: W
Back-face type line: "Enchantment"

Plane: Theros
Colors: W
Back-face type line: "Legendary Enchantment Creature — God"

Plane: Kamigawa
Colors: U
Back-face type line: "Creature — Moonfolk Ninja"

Plane: Vryn
Colors: U
Back-face type line: "Artifact"

Plane: Arcavios
Colors: U
Back-face type line: "Enchantment"

Plane: Segovia
Colors: U
Back-face type line: "Legendary Creature — Serpent"

Plane: Eldraine
Colors: B
Back-face type line: "Creature — Faerie"

Plane: Ulgrotha
Colors: B
Back-face type line: "Legendary Creature — Human Wizard"

Plane: Fiora
Colors: B
Back-face type line: "Legendary Creature — Human Noble"

Plane: Innistrad
Colors: B
Back-face type line: "Enchantment"

Plane: Mercadia
Colors: R
Back-face type line: "Creature — Goblin Spellshaper"

Plane: Regatha
Colors: R
Back-face type line: "Creature — Human Monk"

Plane: Kaldheim
Colors: R
Back-face type line: "Enchantment"

Plane: Karsus
Colors: R
Back-face type line: "Creature — Elemental"

Plane: Tarkir
Colors: R
Back-face type line: "Creature — Dragon"

Plane: Muraganda
Colors: G
Back-face type line: "Creature — Ooze"

Plane: Zendikar
Colors: G
Back-face type line: "Creature — Elemental"

Plane: Ikoria
Colors: G
Back-face type line: "Legendary Creature — Dinosaur"

Plane: Ixalan
Colors: G
Back-face type line: "Creature — Dinosaur"

Plane: Shandalar
Colors: G
Back-face type line: "Enchantment"

Plane: New Phyrexia
Colors: WU
Back-face type line: "Legendary Planeswalker — Teferi"

Plane: Xerex
Colors: WU
Back-face type line: "Creature — Angel Knight"

Plane: Amonkhet
Colors: UB
Back-face type line: "Creature — Zombie"

Plane: Azgol
Colors: BR
Back-face type line: "Creature — Zombie Elemental"

Plane: Ergamon
Colors: RG
Back-face type line: "Creature — Rhino"

Plane: Moag
Colors: GW
Back-face type line: "Creature — Dryad"

Plane: (New) Capenna
Colors: WB
Back-face type line: "Artifact — Equipment"

Plane: Tolvada
Colors: WB
Back-face type line: "Enchantment"

Plane: Kaladesh
Colors: UR
Back-face type line: "Legendary Artifact — Vehicle"

Plane: Lorwyn
Colors: BG
Back-face type line: "Creature — Elf Warrior"

Plane: Kylem
Colors: RW
Back-face type line: "Sorcery"

Plane: Pyrulea
Colors: GU
Back-face type line: "Creature — Beast"

Plane: Alara
Colors: WUBRG
Back-face type line: "Sorcery"

The type line of your card and the back face of your chosen MOM battle card must literally be the same, word by word. You CANNOT add or remove any word from the whole type line. You CANNOT add or remove any supertype, card type, or subtype.

Examples:

• If I choose Belenon ("Enchantment"), I CANNOT make Pacifism because it has an added subtype ("Aura"). Speaking in old terms, I would have to make a global enchantment.

• For the same reason, I CANNOT choose Vryn (back face "Artifact") and make an Equipment or a Vehicle.
- If I want to make an Equipment, I have to choose (New) Capenna, provided that I haven't chosen a MOM battle card that's white and/or black in previous rounds, in which case I can't do it and I have to think of something else for this round.
- If I want to make a Vehicle, I have to choose Kaladesh provided that I haven't chosen a MOM battle card that's blue and/or red in previous rounds, in which case I can't do it and I have to think of something else for this round.

• If I choose Ergamon ("Creature — Rhino"), I CANNOT make any of the following: "Creature — Rhino Warrior", "Creature — Zombie Rhino", "Legendary Creature — Rhino". In the first two I've added an extra card type (Warrior, Zombie) and in the last one an extra supertype ("legendary"). That is NOT allowed. The whole type line has to be exactly the same.


Subchallenge 1

Take the mana value of your card and the mana value of the FRONT face of your chosen MOM battle card for this round. The former must be STRICTLY greater than the latter for this Subchallenge to be met. They CANNOT be equal. Note the challenge says "greater then" with NO "or equal to". That's not by chance.


Subchallenge 2

First, the card has to have flavor text.

Second, that flavor text must contain the name of a known location on the plane represented in your chosen MOM battle card for THIS round. The world "known" means that is a location that already exists in Magic lore and NOT one that you made up yourself. In case of doubt, a good guideline is to check if it can be found in the Magic Wiki or not. PLEASE DO NOT POST ANY EXTRA INFO ABOUT THAT LOCATION OR THE LINK TO ITS WIKI PAGE! That would be extra content and cause of DQ. (The ONLY extra content that's allowed and required is stating your chosen plane.) The judge must be able to determine by themselves whether the "known" location you mentioned can be found in existing Magic canon or not.

Third, that flavor text CANNOT contain the proper name of that plane.


If you have any questions, feel free to post them in the MCC discussion thread.

DEADLINES

Design deadline: Thursday, July 6th 2023 at 23:59 Eastern Time

Judging deadline: Sunday, July 9th 2023 at 23:59 Eastern Time


RUBRIC

MCC Rubric

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The MCC Rubric is given below, in an easily "copy and pasted" form. (Courtesy of Rithaniel.)

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Code: Select all

[b]Design[/b]
[b](X/3) Appeal[/b] - Do the different player psychographics (Timmy/Johhny/Spike) have a use for the card?
[b](X/3) Elegance[/b] - Is the card easily understandable at a glance? Do all the flavor and mechanics combined as a whole make sense?
 
[b]Development[/b]
[b](X/3) Viability[/b] - 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?
[b](X/3) Balance[/b] - 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?
 
[b]Creativity[/b]
[b](X/3) Uniqueness[/b] - 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"?
[b](X/3) Flavor[/b] - 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?
 
[b]Polish[/b]
[b](X/3) Quality[/b] - Points deducted for incorrect spelling, grammar, and templating.
[b](X/2) Main Challenge (*)[/b] - Was the main challenge satisfied? Was it approached in a unique or interesting way? Does the card fit the intent of the challenge?
[b](X/2) Subchallenges[/b] - One point awarded per satisfied subchallenge condition.
 
[b]Total: X/25[/b]
*An entry with 0 points here is subject to disqualification.

JUDGES

bravelion83
void_nothing

We might or might not need more judges. If you're interested, sign up in the judge signup thread.


PLAYERS

I will also mention which colors are still available to which player for their choice of MOM battle card for THIS round based on their submissions from past rounds.

@Ink-Treader - Colors available: BR
@MonoRedMage - Colors available: BG
@netn10 - Colors available: BR
@slimytrout - Colors available: RGW
@StonerOfKruphix - Colors available: BG
@Subject16 - Colors available: UR



A reminder to everyone:
In the MCC, putting rarity on cards is mandatory! If you don't put a rarity on your card, expect huge deductions in both Viability AND Quality.
Please check out the MCC Guidelines and FAQ if you have the will and time. Link in my signature. Among the many things you can find there are a detailed explanation of the rubric (section 6.2) and the recommended card formatting (section 4) that you should use to format your text cards. Expect deductions in Quality otherwise.


BRACKETS

This is the versus round: both judges will judge all the cards and the player who gets the highest combined score in each pairing advances to the final round. These pairings have been determined randomly by associating a number from 1 to 6 to each player and then rolling dice.

Ink-Treader vs. MonoRedMage
netn10 vs. StonerOfKruphix
slimytrout vs. Subject16

Judging may begin right now.

[Subject16]

Plane: Tarkir

Stormveil Warkite 1RRR
Creature — Dragon (M)
Flying
Whenever you attack, you may manifest a card from your hand that's tapped and attacking. (Put that card onto the battlefield face down as a 2/2 creature. Turn it face up any time for its mana cost if it's a creature card.)
Whenever a face down creature you control dies or is turned face up, exile the top card of your library. Until the end of your next turn, you may play that card.
The Machine Legion marched on Screamreach. Kolaghan's brood marched on them.
4/4

[Ink-Treader]

Plane: Innistrad

Desecrated Ground 2BB
Enchantment (R)
Creatures you control have "Ward - Pay 3 life."
Creatures your opponent's control have "Whenever this becomes the target of a spell or ability an opponent controls, you lose 3 life. This ability triggers only once each turn."
Formerly the seat of the Avacynian church, Thraben has become a necropolis only visited by the bravest or the most depraved.

[slimytrout]

Plane: Ixalan

Crested Trumpeter 2GG
Creature — Dinosaur (R)
Whenever Crested Trumpeter attacks, look at the top card of your library. If it's a creature card you may reveal it and put it into your hand. Otherwise, you may put it into your graveyard.
Enrage - Whenever Crested Trumpeter is dealt damage, you may put a creature card from your hand onto the battlefield.
The jungles of Itlimoc did not offer the invaders easy passage.
3/5

[StonerOfKruphix]

Plane: Ixalan

Ixalli's Herdcaller 2GGG
Creature — Dinosaur (M)
Ascend
At the beginning of combat on your turn, create a 3/3 green Dinosaur creature token with backup 1 and trample. If you have the city's blessing, create two of those tokens instead.
At the beginning of your upkeep, if you don't have the city's blessing, populate.
When the first portal in the sky opened, a mighty roar echoed throughout the spires of the golden city, soon followed by many more.
3/3

[netn10]

Plane - Fiora

Those Who Pull Strings 5BB
Legendary Creature — Human Noble (Mythic)
Ward—Discard half of your hand and pay half of your life, rounded up.
Whenever a player attacks you, they discard half of their hand and pay half of their life, rounded up.
Whenever a player attacks one or more of your opponents, they draw cards equal to half of number of cards in their hand and they gain half of their life, rounded up.
"Paliano is in good hands. Kinnesta is in bad hands. We can't have one without the other."
3/3

[bravelion83]

About one hour left before the design deadline and we're still missing @MonoRedMage's submission. If it doesn't come within the deadline, I'll grant an automatic 24-hour extension.

[MonoRedMage]

Plane: Muraganda

Mimeospawn 4GG
Creature - Ooze {R}
Trample, vigilance
When Mimeospawn enters the battlefield and at the beginning of your upkeep, mill three cards.
Whenever one or more creatures you control attack or block, you may exile a creature card from your graveyard. If you do, those creatures have base power equal to that card's power and base toughness equal to that card's toughness until end of turn.
The Feeding Grounds are always teeming with life even in the face of mass death.
5/5

[bravelion83]

The round is closed.

BRACKETS

This is the versus round: both judges will judge all the cards and the player who gets the highest combined score in each pairing advances to the final round. These pairings have been determined randomly by associating a number from 1 to 6 to each player and then rolling dice.

Ink-Treader vs. MonoRedMage
netn10 vs. StonerOfKruphix
slimytrout vs. Subject16

Judging may begin right now.

[void_nothing]

Bumping for near-future judging purposes.

[bravelion83]

In progress... (finally, sorry for the delay, I've had to deal with a few personal things)

July 14th 9:30 am CET - Like I did last time, I'll publish right now the Polish section of all the judgments, mainly to show what the challenges were looking for. None of the rest has been written yet. Now I have to take a break, I'll go on later.

July 19th 8:30 an CET - Judgments finally compete. Again, sorry for the delay and for all the typos that might be there.

Ink-Treader vs. MonoRedMage

Ink-Treader

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Plane: Innistrad

Desecrated Ground 2BB
Enchantment (R)
Creatures you control have "Ward - Pay 3 life."
Creatures your opponent's control have "Whenever this becomes the target of a spell or ability an opponent controls, you lose 3 life. This ability triggers only once each turn."
Formerly the seat of the Avacynian church, Thraben has become a necropolis only visited by the bravest or the most depraved.

Design
Appeal 2.5/3 - Timmy likes to protect his own creatures while also being rewarded for removing his opponents' ones. Johnny might try to use positive spell or abilities instead of negative to trigger the life loss. Spike likes the immediate impact but is not a fan of the "triggers only once each turn" part.
Elegance 2/3 - The last ability is not the easiest thing to read and understand at first glance. Getting that your opponent's opponent is you, so it's you who wants to target your opponent's things to trigger the life loss for them, might not be immediate. It gets even worse in multiplayer where that ability could trigger from an opponent attacking another opponent but not you.
Development
Viability 3/3 - No problems with the color pie, rarity, or the rules.
Balance 2.5/3 - An effective way to protect your creatures in limited, but I don't know how many ways you will have there to be able to take full advantage of the second ability. In constructed you can of course just build your deck around it, filling it up with such ways. The "once each turn" restriction breaks the potential for infinite combos but also the possibility to use that second ability as an alternative win condition, which would have been quite interesting in my opinion. Of course you actually CAN make your opponent lose 3 life multiple times in a turn, as the ability is granted to all of their creatures and each one of their creatures is a different source for the granted ability. Just target each creature once, either with a single spell or ability with multiple targets or with multiple spells and/or abilities, it doesn't matter. You can actually make your opponent lose 3 life times how many creatures they control. It's each single creature that can only trigger once each turn. That might be relevant in competitive constructed, but I don't know how many casual players will see that trick. This is obviously a card made for multiplayer that also happens to work in regular duel, or at least it looks like that to me. An opponent being able to trigger this targeting another opponent's creature suggests me that is the case. It would be a very interesting political card in multiplayer, provided a player likes multiplayer politics in Magic, which I personally don't, but luckily there are many other players who do.
Creativity
Uniqueness 2.5/3 - An original take on a ward variation. Nothing groundbreaking but still nice.
Flavor 3/3 - The card concept works perfectly for the plane of Innistrad. I could see all flavor elements of this card being printed as is.
Polish
Quality 1/3 - The wording of the first ability is correct, as shown by Mishra, Tamer of Mak Fawa for example, but I have two remarks here. The first one is that you used a hyphen instead of an em dash, but as your opponent also did that, I'm not going to deduct any points for that. The second is that there should be no space right before and after the dash (again, just check Mishra), and this is indeed a mistake. (-0.5) The apostrophe in "opponent's" at the beginning of the second ability is just wrong and a serious mistake, which changes the grammatical meaning of the sentence, so -1 for that. In the granted ability, the word "creature" is missing right after "this". Using simply "this" with no noun attached to it is a practice that is not found in actual existing cards, where it's always something like "this creature", "this permanent", "this card", "this spell", or something like that. I've only ever seen "this" being used by itself (wrongly) in custom cards. (-0.5)
Main Challenge 2/2 - Innistrad (B) is a valid choice of plane after Xerex (WU) and Zendikar (G). The type line is correct.
Subchallenges 1/2 - Invasion of Innistrad has mana value 4. Your card also has mana value 4, and 4 is NOT greater than 4 itself, so Subchallenge 1 is NOT met. Thraben is a known location on Innistrad and the plane itself is not mentioned in flavor text, so Subchallenge 2 is met.
TOTAL 19.5/25

MonoRedMage

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Plane: Muraganda

Mimeospawn 4GG
Creature - Ooze {R}
Trample, vigilance
When Mimeospawn enters the battlefield and at the beginning of your upkeep, mill three cards.
Whenever one or more creatures you control attack or block, you may exile a creature card from your graveyard. If you do, those creatures have base power equal to that card's power and base toughness equal to that card's toughness until end of turn.
The Feeding Grounds are always teeming with life even in the face of mass death.
5/5

Design
Appeal 2.5/3 - Big monster for Timmy. Johnny likes self-mill and will try to use that part of the card for unintended purposes. Six mana is a bit too high to Spike unless we're talking of a power level like Primeval Titan. For that much mana, she wants something that can win the game all by itself. This might do it if left unchecked, but I find it hard to believe that the opponent won't try to interact with this.
Elegance 2.5/3 - The text is a bit long but still very understandable.
Development
Viability 3/3 - No problems with the color pie, rarity, or the rules.
Balance 3/3 - The rate and mana cost look fine to me. Limited playable, close to a bomb I'd say. It's certainly a big creature that requires immediate response in limited. I feel like the graveyard shenanigans going on here will be more relevant for competitive constructed rather than the sheer size. Self-mill decks will look at this card with a high interest, and if such a deck is viable in the format, this card might find a home there. I see no problems in casual or multiplayer.
Creativity
Uniqueness 3/3 - I can't really remember anything similar to the last ability.
Flavor 3/3 - Heavy piggybacking here, mostly on The Mimeoplasm and less on Feeding Grounds. That's an easy way to make something feeling like it comes from Muraganda, but it does work just fine. I just wish we got to see a little more of that plane because I really like it. Maybe one day we'll see more of it.
Polish
Quality 2.5/3 - A hyphen instead of an em dash in the type line, but I will deduct no points for that as your opponent did the same mistake, even though in rules text. The order of keywords is wrong, as seen for example in Elfhame Wurm. (-0.5)
Main Challenge 2/2 - Muraganda (G) is a valid choice of plane after Kylem (RW) and Kamigawa (U). The type line is correct.
Subchallenges 2/2 - Invasion of Muraganda has mana value 5. Your card has mana value 6, which is indeed greater than 5, so Subchallenge 1 is met. The Feeding Grounds are a known location on Muraganda and the plane itself is not mentioned in flavor text, so Subchallenge 2 is also met.
TOTAL 23.5/25

netn10 vs. StonerOfKruphix

netn10

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Plane - Fiora

Those Who Pull Strings 5BB
Legendary Creature — Human Noble (Mythic)
Ward—Discard half of your hand and pay half of your life, rounded up.
Whenever a player attacks you, they discard half of their hand and pay half of their life, rounded up.
Whenever a player attacks one or more of your opponents, they draw cards equal to half of number of cards in their hand and they gain half of their life, rounded up.
"Paliano is in good hands. Kinnesta is in bad hands. We can't have one without the other."
3/3

Design
Appeal 2/3 - Timmy likes the sheer size and the high impact on the board. So many things for Johnny to do. Spike doesn't really mind too much about this card already, but then she sees the mana cost and she walks away.
Elegance 2.5/3 - The text is long but the symmetry of the effects helps here.
Development
Viability 3/3 - No problems with the color pie, rarity, or the rules.
Balance 2/3 - I'm honestly not sure how playable this is in limited, after all it's a seven-mana 3/3, but as it's a mythic you won't see it often in limited. This is another place where this card gets to shine instead: multiplayer casual constructed (not necessarily Commander, even though Commander is obviously included in this description). There are several hints in the wording of this card that make me think this was first conceived for multiplayer and then retrofitted to also work in regular duel: whenever "a player" attacks you... "a player attacks one or more of your opponents..." You don't even need to do anything yourself for the last one to trigger: "a player" is not necessarily "you" in multiplayer. If I, you, and a third player are in a multiplayer game and you control this card, it will trigger from me attacking the third player or vice versa. Again, another very political card for players who, unlike me, like that style of Magic. I can't see this in competitive constructed though, the cost is just too high for that.
Creativity
Uniqueness 3/3 - The ward cost is new and the way it's reflected in the other abilities is quite nice.
Flavor 3/3 - Perfect flavor for Fiora, the plane of political intrigue. I can't think of any known connections between Paliano and Kinnesta, so the last sentence is a little disconcerting at first, but at the same time it adds a sense of mystery that feels very appropriate for the plane, something like "there is more to this, something that has always being going on behind the scenes but you have never known... also because you are in fact not supposed to know about it unless you're one of us..."
Polish
Quality 0/3 - Fraying Omnipotence, Peer into the Abyss, Pox, and Saw in Half (from Unfinity but eternal legal) show two things: first, "half of" is not correct templating, that would be just "half" without the "of". (There are six instances of this mistake, two in each ability. Normally I would apply a -0.5 to each single one and that would already bring the score in this area to zero...) Second, when there are more things to round, like the number of cards in hand and the life total here, there is a separate sentence that goes "Round up each time." That's to avoid ambiguity like what we have here, where it's not clear if "rounded up" only applies to halving the life total or to both that and also to the number of cards in hand. (Again, this would be a -0.5 for each instance of the mistake, and there are three here, one in each ability.) The repetition of these two mistakes tells me they are not just an oversight, but a more serious problem in templating, which helps feel the full zero here being justified.
Main Challenge 2/2 - Fiora (B) is a valid choice of plane after Moag (GW) and Arcavios (U). The type line is correct.
Subchallenges 2/2 - Invasion of Fiora has mana value 6. Your card has mana value 7, which is indeed greater than 6, so Subchallenge 1 is met. Paliano is by far the most well-known location on Fiora. Kinnesta is another one, though less well-known. The plane itself is not mentioned in flavor text, so Subchallenge 2 is also met.
TOTAL 19.5/25

StonerOfKruphix

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Plane: Ixalan

Ixalli's Herdcaller 2GGG
Creature — Dinosaur (M)
Ascend
At the beginning of combat on your turn, create a 3/3 green Dinosaur creature token with backup 1 and trample. If you have the city's blessing, create two of those tokens instead.
At the beginning of your upkeep, if you don't have the city's blessing, populate.
When the first portal in the sky opened, a mighty roar echoed throughout the spires of the golden city, soon followed by many more.
3/3

Design
Appeal 3/3 - Big creature for Timmy. Very open-ended for Johnny, who can use the tokens in unintended ways and/or try to manipulate the city's blessing. Spike likes that you get two tokens each turn regardless of whether you have the city's blessing or not, it looks like you're getting value out of this anyway.
Elegance 2/3 - The abilities for when you do or do not have the city's blessing triggering at different times might not be the easiest thing to "grok". It would be easier to understand if the check whether you have the city's blessing or not happened at the same time. Also, having three set mechanics on a single card, while I love it as I always do with mix-and-match cards, and having them with no reminder text on top of that, doesn't look like the most friendly thing to do to less experienced players. Reminder text would help it, but it doesn't fit here. Luckily this is a mythic, so those players aren't likely to see many of these.
Development
Viability 3/3 - No problems with the color pie, rarity, or the rules.
Balance 3/3 - I love how all the different non-evergreen abilities work together on this card. I just love that. It goes to show perfectly why I'm all in favor of making more mechanics deciduous, potentially a lot of those if not most of them, and why I like mix-and-match cards so much. Ascend requires ten permanents for you to gain the city's blessing. Now there is a fork in the road: you currently do or don't have the city blessing. If you don't have it yet and play this on an empty board before combat, the first thing that happens is that you create a 3/3 Dinosaur at the beginning of combat, which is a step that is not skipped if there are no available attackers, unlike the rest of the combat phase. That Dinosaur token will actually be 4/4 as there are no other creatures for backup to give the +1/+1 counter to except itself. If that token is still alive on your next upkeep, then you will get to populate that token, creating a 3/3 (that can either make itself a 4/4 or the first Dinosaur a 5/5 with backup) that's another permanent that counts for the ten required by ascend. At the beginning of combat, you create another 3/3 Dinosaur token that can use backup on any of the three tokens that exist so far. Repeat until you have the ten permanents required by ascend. Now you've got the city's blessing, but the coming of the herd doesn't stop! The cycle just changes into "make two Dinosaurs at the beginning of combat, and don't forget that each of them has a bunch of creatures by now to use their backup ability on." You're still making two tokens each turn but in different ways. Add to this the fact that before you get the city's blessing it's not a given that you always populate a Dinosaur. If you have other tokens you can populate those instead, which adds flexibility. I just love when different non-evergreen mechanics get to interact with each other like this, and I always wish we could see a lot more of this in real Magic. I feel like there is so much wasted potential in not letting mechanics from different sets interact on the same card, and this card is a perfect example of what you could do if you realize that potential. I can see that a lot of thought went into how each mechanical piece of the card interacts with the others, and I want to prize that. If you don't have an immediate response to this before it makes the first token, then you're not in a good place. This card essentially allows you one turn cycle to respond to it or it will create a lot of trampling tokens if left unchecked. That makes it a bomb in limited but requiring one turn cycle to start working as a threat is a sign of weakness in competitive constructed. At least here you can mitigate that by playing it before combat, like I did in the example above, so it's not a big problem, but usually you want to play your creatures post-combat in competitive constructed. Casual players will do no such scruples and just play and love this card, as long as they understand what's going on with all the keywords. Reminder text would have helped here if there were room for it. No problems in multiplayer.
Creativity
Uniqueness 3/3 - This is a perfect mix of not just two but three different set mechanics, that generates a very unique card.
Flavor 3/3 - I see no problems here. This is only the first of a pack of dinosaurs that's about to show up, which is reflected very well in the card's mechanics.
Polish
Quality 3/3 - All good. There is a bunch or reminder text missing, but this is a mythic and it clearly doesn't fit, so dropping it is the correct choice here.
Main Challenge 2/2 - Ixalan (G) is a valid choice of plane after Kaladesh (UR) and Theros (W). The type line is correct.
Subchallenges 1.5/2 - Invasion of Ixalan has mana value 2. Your card has mana value 5, which is indeed greater than 2, so Subchallenge 1 is met. The plane is not mentioned in flavor text. "The golden city" is clearly Orazca, the reference is very clear and loud, but Subchallenge 1 required you to mention it "by name", meaning its proper name, so I'm only giving you half points for Subchallenge 2. The location you're referring to is clear but its proper name is not used, just an attribute.
TOTAL 23.5/25

slimytrout vs. Subject16

slimytrout

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Plane: Ixalan

Crested Trumpeter 2GG
Creature — Dinosaur (R)
Whenever Crested Trumpeter attacks, look at the top card of your library. If it's a creature card you may reveal it and put it into your hand. Otherwise, you may put it into your graveyard.
Enrage - Whenever Crested Trumpeter is dealt damage, you may put a creature card from your hand onto the battlefield.
The jungles of Itlimoc did not offer the invaders easy passage.
3/5

Design
Appeal 2.5/3 - A relevant creature that can look for other creatures and then put creatures on the battlefield for free? Sign Timmy up! I think Johnny is much more interested in the enrage ability rather than the first one, because it doesn't require you to attack: just play a burn spell on your own creature at the most convenient time and you get the enrage trigger without having to attack. Spike is a little disappointed that the creature from enrage enters too late to deal combat damage. She would have preferred a different timing, like the first ability on upkeep and the enrage at the beginning of combat also giving the creature haste. It would have probably been too much, but that's what she was hoping for.
Elegance 2.5/3 - The text is a bit long but very easy to understand.
Development
Viability 3/3 - No problems with the color pie, rarity, or the rules.
Balance 2/3 - Definitely playable in limited and probably a high pick in draft. Putting creatures directly on the battlefield for free is very powerful, as it lets you cheat the mana cost of the creature, so it's like playing with fire. I think that plays such as "I ping my own Dinosaur to put Emrakul onto the battlefield" would be quite common in constructed. Of course, that Emrakul would need to be already in your hand, but there are means to be used and things to be done here. Again, circumventing the creature's mana cost is the only problem I could see in casual too, just picture to be the player on the receiving end of that play. It don't think it would be that fun, and fun is the game in casual. Fun is to casual what winning the game is to competitive. No additional remarks in multiplayer.
Creativity
Uniqueness 2.5/3 - As I like to say: old and well-known elements mixed together in a technically new way.
Flavor 2.5/3 - The name feels a bit generic to me, something that could go on most Dinosaurs, but the rest of the flavor is quite good. The flavor text works especially well in the context of the Phyrexian invasion of the Multiverse.
Polish
Quality 2/3 - A comma is missing right after "If it's a creature card". (-0.5) Strange how you correctly used an em dash in the type line (correct) but then a hyphen right after the enrage ability word (wrong). Doing it right in one instance and wrong in the other shows me this is probably not just an oversight, so -0.5.
Main Challenge 2/2 - Ixalan (G) is a valid choice of plane after Innistrad (B) and Arcavios (U). The type line is correct.
Subchallenges 2/2 - Invasion of Ixalan has mana value 2. Your card has mana value 4, which is indeed greater than 2, so Subchallenge 1 is met. Itlimoc is a known location on Ixalan and the plane itself is not mentioned in flavor text, so Subchallenge 2 is also met.
TOTAL 21/25

Subject16

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Plane: Tarkir

Stormveil Warkite 1RRR
Creature — Dragon (M)
Flying
Whenever you attack, you may manifest a card from your hand that's tapped and attacking. (Put that card onto the battlefield face down as a 2/2 creature. Turn it face up any time for its mana cost if it's a creature card.)
Whenever a face down creature you control dies or is turned face up, exile the top card of your library. Until the end of your next turn, you may play that card.
The Machine Legion marched on Screamreach. Kolaghan's brood marched on them.
4/4

Design
Appeal 3/3 - Big Dragon for Timmy. I can see Johnny trying out several ways to exploit the last ability. Spike likes the rate very much here, and sees the potential for card advantage.
Elegance 2/3 - The "dies or is turned face up" trigger might not be the easiest thing to process mentally. It reminds me of how haunt was used in original Ravnica: the fact that it mattered at two different times highly raised the comprehension complexity of that mechanic.
Development
Viability 3/3 - No problems with the color pie, rarity, or the rules.
Balance /3 -
Creativity
Uniqueness 3/3 - A nice and original use of manifest, mixing it with impulsive draw. The "dies or is turned face up" trigger is also new.
Flavor 3/3 - This flavor text also works especially well in the context of the Phyrexian invasion of the Multiverse. I really like its symmetrical structure. The use of manifest helps this feel like a Tarkir dragon, rather than just a Dragon that could come from any plane.
Polish
Quality 3/3 - That "that's" in the first triggered ability just sounds wrong to me, but I'll make no deductions for that as I haven't been able to find any precedents in either direction.
Main Challenge 2/2 - Tarkir (R) is a valid choice of plane after (New) Capenna (WB) and Zendikar (G). The type line is correct.
Subchallenges 2/2 - Invasion of Tarkir has mana value 2. Your card has mana value 4, which is indeed greater than 2, so Subchallenge 1 is met. Screamreach is a known location on Tarkir and the plane itself is not mentioned in flavor text, so Subchallenge 2 is also met.
TOTAL 21/25

Results

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Ink-Treader: 19.5
MonoRedMage: 23.5

netn10: 19.5
StonerOfKruphix: 23.5

slimytrout : 21
Subject16: 21

[void_nothing]

Ink-Treader

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Design
(3/3) Appeal - Txmmy likes protecting their creatures. Jxnny likes the second ability. Spike appreciates how quickly 3 life a pop adds up...
(2.5/3) Elegance - Gets its point across easily, but needs to be wordy in order to do so.

Development
(3/3) Viability - Definitely black, definitely rare.
(3/3) Balance - Makes targeting your creatures painful but not impossible. Makes your removal spells hit life totals as a bonus/win con. Doesn't allow for infinite combos. I think this is all fair for a four-mana rare that "doesn't do anything" on its own.

Creativity
(2/3) Uniqueness - Of all the ward-granting cards, only Cultist of the Absolute grants life-payment ward, I think, and the anti-ward ability is quite novel.
(3/3) Flavor - Very good!

Polish
(2/3) Quality - That second ability has two errors: It should say "opponents" (plural, not possessive) and "Whenever this CREATURE becomes..."
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - Done.
(1/2) Subchallenges - 4 is not greater than, uh... 4, but this mentions Thraben and not Innistrad.

Total: 21.5/25

MonoRedMage

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Design
(2.5/3) Appeal - Txmmy likes this for obvious reasons. Jxnny likes all the graveyard and size-setting interactions. Spike likes that it self-fuels with the milling, but otherwise sees it as relatively unreliable for six mana - it requires you to already have a Death's Shadow or something in the 'yard in order to be sure about it. More than that, unlike the likes of Craterhoof Behemoth, it doesn't grant trample!
(1.5/3) Elegance - A relatively wordy card, and mass p/t setting effects sometimes get a little funky ruleswise.

Development
(3/3) Viability - All checks out as being green and rare!
(3/3) Balance - Could make your armies MASSIVE on the turn it comes down, but this requires setup. All in all, pretty fair for a six-mana green rare these days.

Creativity
(2/3) Uniqueness - Largely a huge beater with some interesting features, like the grave-based mass pump ability.
(3/3) Flavor - Oozes are definitely associated with Muraganda, and tying in The Mimeoplasm, which we also know is from that plane, is smart.

Polish
(2/3) Quality - That should say, based on Woodcaller Automaton, "base power and toughness equal to that card's power and toughness" - it's even much shorter. Also, yes, those evergreen abilities should be reversed!
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - Done.
(2/2) Subchallenges - CMC higher than Invasion of Muraganda // Primordial Plasm, mentions Feeding Grounds but not Muraganda.

Total: 21/25

netn10

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Design
(2.5/3) Appeal - Txmmy and Jxnny both get excited about a unique and large-scale effect like this, but Spike thinks it's a bit dicey to pay seven mana for it.
(1.5/3) Elegance - It's easy to realize what this is supposed to do, but it's also very wordy and involves a fair bit of math.

Development
(3/3) Viability - Definitely a black mythic.
(3/3) Balance - Hard to evaluate in some sense, and dependent on other players, but ultimately it's a 3/3 creature for 7 mana - of course it should have powerful abilities.

Creativity
(3/3) Uniqueness - Multiple really interesting ideas here centered around multiplayer politics and counting half the size of your hand and life.
(3/3) Flavor - Love it! Reminds me of One Piece, a little bit... and the deep lore with a Kinnesta mention is very nice.

Polish
(1/3) Quality - This plays fast and loose with the wording of how halved quantities are checked in Magic.
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) -
(2/2) Subchallenges - Costs more than Invasion of Fiora // Marchesa, Resolute Monarch, mentions Paliano without Fiora.

Total: 21/25

StonerOfKruphix

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Design
(3/3) Appeal - Txmmy's sources of appeal here are probably obvious. Jxnny likes populate! Spike is into beginning-of-combat triggers because of the immediacy; this is generating value right away as long as your opponent doesn't have instant removal they can pay for.
(1.5/3) Elegance - Fairly wordy, and tokens with backup is an additional layer of complexity. There's also the oddity of populate, triggering only if you haven't ascended, being arguably the better ability (timing aside) than getting an extra token, just because it can be your dino token, a Desolation Twin token, or anything else you have on the board.

Development
(3/3) Viability - Definitely green, definitely mythic.
(2.5/3) Balance - So this is going to put a lot of power on the board, and it's in the color that can most easy accelerate it out. Basically this card can take over the game, if you let it. Thankfully, it's a 3/3 at base with no self-protection abilities. I'd say this is mostly fair.

Creativity
(3/3) Uniqueness - For a big dumb token generator this is really unique, creating tokens with backup and even having an alternate ability before you get the city's blessing.
(3/3) Flavor - Good stuff. Name makes sense, flavor text is very fitting.

Polish
(3/3) Quality - Looks good - no reminder texts despite three(!) non-evergreen mechanics but it IS a mythic.
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - Done.
(1.5/2) Subchallenges - Higher CMC than Invasion of Ixalan // Belligerent Regisaur, mentions Orazca but not Ixalan. However, Orazca isn't mentioned by name.

Total: 22.5/25

slimytrout

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Design
(3/3) Appeal - Txmmy, Jxnny, and Spike all want to fill their hand and cheat out creatures.
(3/3) Elegance - Sort of a one-two punch of triggered abilities, both of which are really easy to understand.

Development
(3/3) Viability - Definitely green, definitely rare (specifically does feel more rare than mythic).
(2.5/3) Balance - I know green gets a lot of creature for four mana these days, but this does look quite pushed. It lets you draw fairly often when it attacks and no one's ever going to want to block it... or attack into it.

Creativity
(2.5/3) Uniqueness - Combines some well-tread effects in a new way, and yes, it's nice to see a new enrage effect.
(3/3) Flavor - No issues whatsoever. Nice well-written flavor text. And is this a Corythosaurus?

Polish
(3/3) Quality - Looks fine.
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - All good.
(2/2) Subchallenges - 4 is higher than 2, and flavor text talks about Itlimoc but not Ixalan.

Total: 24/25

Subject16

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Design
(3/3) Appeal - Everyone wants a piece of the efficient value-adding Dragon with wacky splashy abilities.
(2.5/3) Elegance - Two triggered abilities that are pretty easy to understand but that both add complexity in their own way. Mostly fine though.

Development
(3/3) Viability - Definitely a red mythic.
(2.5/3) Balance - This looks really quite pushed and definitely like a Limited all-star, which of course makes it good that it's a mythic. The triple red cost is also important in limiting what kind of decks it can go into.

Creativity
(3/3) Uniqueness - Does some genuinely funky things with manifest, and "dies or is turned face up" is neat.
(3/3) Flavor - Very nice. Name's even fun to say, and you can sing it to the Spongebob Squarepants theme tune!

Polish
(2.5/3) Quality - Not much precedent here, but I would not word that attack trigger that way: Either I'd drop the "that's" or just write out "It enters the battlefield tapped and attacking," Ghired, Conclave Exile style.
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - Looks good to me.
(2/2) Subchallenges - Higher CMC than Invasion of Tarkir // Defiant Thundermaw, and mentions Screamreach without Tarkir.

Total: 23.5/25

[bravelion83]

Final results (bold advance)

Ink-Treader: 19.5 + 21.5 = 41
MonoRedMage: 23.5 + 21 = 44.5

netn10: 19.5 + 21 = 40.5
StonerOfKruphix: 23.5 + 22.5 = 46

slimytrout : 21 + 24 = 45
Subject16: 21 + 23.5 = 44.5

Our finalists are MonoRedMage, slimytrout, and StonerOfKruphix. The final round will come as soon as possible in a few minutes.