July MCC -- Round 2 -- Second: The Conflict

[Rithaniel]

(This month's banner is made from an image found on Wikimedia Commons, and ran through Blender for a little extra style.)

July MCC

Second: The Conflict

A setting can be interesting just based on appearances. However, a setting that only has an aesthetic to offer does not have much staying power. An interesting picture, by itself, does not make a person think. There has to be something more.

Sometimes art can hide something more, and make the audience engage with something indirectly. There have been many art pieces that endeavored to do exactly this. However, they tend to be fairly high-concept pieces. If your art piece is instead meant to be a setting or a story, you need something that is easier to engage with, such as a conflict or imperfection that will draw the audience's mind.

That is what we will be making in this round. You have each been assigned a card from the previous round, and your goal is to build off of the flavor of that card, and introduce a bit of conflict to the world presented in that previous round. You can take the world in whatever direction you would like, but you have to build off of what is already there. Make it interesting.


Main Challenge -- In the clarifications below, you have been assigned a card from the previous round. Make a legendary creature from the world posited by that card.


Subchallenge 1 -- Your card's rules text mentions the type or subtype of the card you have been assigned.


Subchallenge 2 -- Your card has flavor that suggests a conflict based on the flavor of the card you have been assigned.

Clarifications

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Main Challenge -- You have each been assigned a card from the previous round. Refer to the list below to find yours. You are free to discuss ideas involved in the setting with the original creator of the card, but, ultimately, the reigns are in your hands, and you can take the lore in whatever direction you would like.

bravelion83 - Albium, Blade of Joah, by Henlock
Freyleyes - Ramosan's Oath, by haywire
Ink-Treader - The End-Seed, by slimytrout
Henlock - Her Cruel Intent Upon Them, by Freyleyes
slimytrout - Genesis, Pernicious Tyrant, by netn10
Riria - Tapestry of Dirae, by Ink-Treader
haywire - Myrthen, Inheritance Court, by Riria
netn10 - Predation Ground, by bravelion83


Subchallenge 1 -- The card type that your card would need to reference in order to satisfy this challenge are listed below.

bravelion83 - Artifact or Equipment
Freyleyes - Enchantment
Ink-Treader - Artifact
Henlock - Instant, Tribal, or Angel
slimytrout - Artifact
Riria - Enchantment
haywire - Land
netn10 - Land


Subchallenge 2 -- This challenge can be subjective. The judges will need to evaluate whether your introduction of a conflict to the lore was effective or not. Try to avoid sticking too closely to the established flavor, because otherwise your card won't be your own.

DEADLINES

Design deadline: Monday, July 24th 2023 at 23:59 Eastern Time

Judging deadline: Thursday, July 27th 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.

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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

Rithaniel
void_nothing


PLAYERS

@bravelion83
@Freyleyes
@haywire
@Henlock
@Ink-Treader
@netn10
@Riria
@slimytrout

[Riria]

Diana, Deathweave Hieromancer 4WB
Legendary Creature — Human Wizard (MR)
Affinity for enchantments
Sacrifice an enchantment: Put a shield counter on target creature you control. Each opponent sacrifices a creature unless they sacrifice an enchantment.
"I find the Keepers' lectures about humility to be rather ironic. Why do they presume the worldsoul can even notice our tiny Tapestry?"
4/6

[bravelion83]

Vramira, Light of Rebellion 1BRR
Legendary Creature — Viashino Rebel (R)
First strike, haste
Whenever one or more creatures you control deal damage to a player, if none of those creatures are equipped, choose up to one target Equipment and up to one target non-Equipment artifact that player controls. Remove all counters from one and destroy the other.
"King Joah believes his kingdom to be unshakeable because of all the favors loyal people do to him. Instead I tell you: they do him favors out of fear! We'll break Albium, the symbol of his oppression! We'll show him that true power lies in freedom!"
3/3

[slimytrout]

Ynara, the Last Fabricator 2WU
Legendary Creature — Vedalken Artificer (R)
Ward — Sacrifice a permanent.
Artifacts lose all abilities.
2WWUU: Other nonland permanents you control become a copy of target nonlegendary permanent until end of turn.
"What a thousand made, one can unmake."
3/3

[Freyleyes]

Ramosan, Bane of Requiem 1BBR
Legendary Creature — Zombie Fungus {M}
Haste
Cascade Zombie (When you cast this spell, exile cards from the top of your library until you exile a Zombie card that costs less. You may cast it without paying its mana cost. Put the exiled cards on the bottom in a random order.)
Escape—1GG, Exile target enchantment. (You may cast this card from your graveyard for its escape cost.)
"In this weakened state, the Mycelia have become susceptible to my rot. And within this rot our forces will flourish."
4/3

[Ink-Treader]

Jendar, the Cultivator GG
Legendary Creature - Demigod Druid (R)
At the beginning of your end step, you may exile any number of cards from your graveyard. When you do, you may untap that many target artifacts and/or lands.
"The weight of civilization is getting to be more than the world can bear. I've been sent to lighten it, so to speak."
0/4

[Henlock]

Cesia, the Caregiver 1ww
Legendary Creature - Angel (m)
Flash
Flying
If a source would deal an amount of damage to you greater than your life total, prevent that damage.
"Have not we, Lucilia, taken the vow to nurse the feeble, to guide the lost, to comfort the woebegotten?"
2/4

[netn10]

Watcher of the Proving Grounds 2CC
Legendary Creature - Elder Beast (Mythic)
Territorial 6 (When this creature enters the battlefield, choose a land you control and put six defense counters on it. It becomes a Battle - Territory in addition to its other types.)
Whenever you tap a Territory for mana, add CG.
Legendary Territories you control have T: Draw two cards.
In the six Proving Grounds, myriad skills are tested, ancient as the Primal Dawn. Was The Watcher born before The Sacred Rules, or was it their maker? No beast knows, nor dares to ask.
6/6

[void_nothing]

Judge's bump and reminder for @haywire.

[Rithaniel]

Alright, round is closed. I gave about a 12 hour delay, but won't go past that without actually hearing a request for an extension from haywire. In lieu of that, it's time to judge some cards. Top two from each group proceed.

Groups have been re-randomized now that haywire has submitted.

Rithaniel's Group
bravelion83
Freyleyes
Ink-Treader
slimytrout

Void's Group
haywire
Henlock
netn10
Riria

[haywire]

Maeve, Lady of Schemes 1UBB
Legendary Creature — Faerie Noble {R}
Blessed Existence (When this creature dies, exile it from your graveyard. For as long as this creature remains exiled, you may cast it by exiling a nonlegendary creature you control that shares a type with it in addition to its other costs.)
When Maeve, Lady of Schemes enters the battlefield, target creature loses all subtypes, supertypes and abilities. Then, destroy that creature.
"If nobody can remember who the great Sillerian king was in his many lives, well then I suppose there won't be anybody to challenge my claim to the throne once you're gone for good."
2/2

[Rithaniel]

Judgments

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bravelion83

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Vramira, Light of Rebellion 1BRR
Legendary Creature — Viashino Rebel (R)
First strike, haste
Whenever one or more creatures you control deal damage to a player, if none of those creatures are equipped, choose up to one target Equipment and up to one target non-Equipment artifact that player controls. Remove all counters from one and destroy the other.
"King Joah believes his kingdom to be unshakeable because of all the favors loyal people do to him. Instead I tell you: they do him favors out of fear! We'll break Albium, the symbol of his oppression! We'll show him that true power lies in freedom!"
3/3

Design
(1/3) Appeal - Timmy doesn't like that he isn't allowed to put equipment on his creatures to make benefit of this. Johnny doesn't see much combo potential here, except perhaps through Liquimetal Coating. Spike might put this guy in a sideboard against a deck built around Albium, if that deck is a part of the meta, but otherwise sees this as a 3/3 haste for four.
(2/3) Elegance - Why not just destroy both? I know it's to build off of the design of the card that you were assigned, but there's nothing else on Vramira that cares about counters being removed, and while counters on artifacts is common enough, it still makes the design a little eclectic.

Development
(3/3) Viability - Colors are appropriate, and I can potentially see rare. Though, if there were loads of legendary creatures in this set, I would also be fine with this at uncommon.
(1.5/3) Balance - So, this card isn't necessarily weak, but it is situational. If your opponent isn't running artifacts, Vramira is just a 3/3 first strike haste guy. If your opponent is only running a few equipments or a few artifacts, that's when it's decent. Now, the best situation to get this card in is against an artifact deck with both equipments and non-equipment artifacts, which isn't going to happen that often, unless the meta happens to shake out with a deck like that being common. In that situation, it's pretty decent, but you still only destroy one artifact per attack. At four mana, you'd sooner just play Shatterstorm or similar mass artifact hosing. Getting one destroyed artifact and one drained artifact each turn on your attack step is kinda meh. Still, it's not terrible, so you get some balance points.

Creativity
(3/3) Uniqueness - Black has removed counters from permanents before, but specifically doing so from artifacts and equipments is a new touch. The restriction that none of your creatures are equipped is also very new.
(3/3) Flavor - This is good flavor. You establish that these two factions care about equipment and artifice. The white side of the conflict wants to build up and that the black/red side sees the white side as oppressive. The crux of the conflict is expressed in the mechanics of the card, too. This is excellent flavor.

Polish
(2.5/3) Quality - I believe it should be "favors loyal people do for him."
(2/2) Main Challenge - Yep, it's a legendary creature from the world of Albium and Joah.
(2/2) Subchallenges - Yep, the flavor implies a conflict with Joah and the rules mention both artifacts and equipments.

Total: 20/25

Freyeles

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Ramosan, Bane of Requiem 1BBR
Legendary Creature — Zombie Fungus {M}
Haste
Cascade Zombie (When you cast this spell, exile cards from the top of your library until you exile a Zombie card that costs less. You may cast it without paying its mana cost. Put the exiled cards on the bottom in a random order.)
Escape—1GG, Exile target enchantment. (You may cast this card from your graveyard for its escape cost.)
"In this weakened state, the Mycelia have become susceptible to my rot. And within this rot our forces will flourish."
4/3

Design
(2/3) Appeal - Timmy and Johnny both have zombie decks to put this guy into, but Timmy doesn't like sacrificing enchantments. Spike might be very into this card, depending on what cards are around to support it.
(1/3) Elegance - So, mixing escape and cascade is potentially very confusing to a player. If you cast the card for the escape cost, do you cascade until you get a Zombie card that costs 3 or less or until you get a Zombie card than costs 2 or less? It's not clear, and I can see people requiring a judge to clarify as soon as they see this card. That's a big hit against elegance.

Development
(2.5/3) Viability - The only thing I'm unsure about, viability-wise, is mono-green cascading into zombies. Mythic feels appropriate, black for the zombie-tribal feels appropriate, and red for the haste feels fitting.
(1.5/3) Balance - So, the strength of this card depends on the zombies and enchantments that are available to it. If there are decently strong, cheap zombies in the format, Ramosan can be a good horde-generator. If there are common enchantments to sacrifice, it can be even better. If there are enchantment-creature zombies, with a few good ones below 4 in cost, then this legend is very powerful. The strongest version of this card is perhaps a bit oppressive. If the pieces work together well enough, the value is massive. However, on the flipside, without good supporting cards, this creature becomes a simple 4/3 haste guy, which is very underwhelming. Of course, you're always going to build around Ramosan, so it's never just going to be a 4/3 haste guy. You'll always have a random zombie to go along with it. All that being said, I think the balance of this card is tilted towards "too strong." It's easy to build-around, and, when built-around, can be very strong. However, I don't think it's necessarily broken, just very strong.

Creativity
(3/3) Uniqueness - Cascade zombie is new and that escape cost is also new. I also like the asymmetry in the colors of mana, here.
(2.5/3) Flavor - I like that you went to flesh out Ramosan more, rather than expanding on Requiem. This world is interesting, but not a lot has been added with the introduction of a creature card for Ramosan. We essentially just get a repeat of the flavor from haywire's card. Also, I am a little confused, because rot is usually something that mycelia and fungus create. I wasn't expecting the fungus itself to rot.

Polish
(2.5/3) Quality - Costs can't target. This escape cost would be "sacrifice an enchantment."
(2/2) Main Challenge - Yep, it's a legendary creature from the world of Ramosan and Requiem.
(2/2) Subchallenges - Yep, the flavor implies a conflict with the mycelia and the rules mention enchantments.

Total: 19/25

Ink-Treader

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Jendar, the Cultivator GG
Legendary Creature - Demigod Druid (R)
At the beginning of your end step, you may exile any number of cards from your graveyard. When you do, you may untap that many target artifacts and/or lands.
"The weight of civilization is getting to be more than the world can bear. I've been sent to lighten it, so to speak."
0/4

Design
(2.5/3) Appeal - Timmy likes the ramp, but doesn't like exiling cards from their graveyard. Johnny would put this into a Time Vault deck or some other nutty combo. Spike would just build a mill deck and use this to get rapid ramp.
(3/3) Elegance - Oh yeah, elegance is fine.

Development
(3/3) Viability - This is fine as a green and as a rare.
(1/3) Balance - In the right deck, this amounts to "at end step, untap all lands and artifacts you care about untapping," which is a fine effect if this costed more than two. At two mana, however, this is quite a bit of power. Put this into a deck with fast mill, and suddenly your lands could all untap at the end of your turn. You need instant speed stuff to take advantage of it, but there's plenty of instant speed stuff out there with which to get that benefit. I think, at three mana, this would still be strong, but not busted. At two mana, I think it's busted. Of course, there are more-busted things than even this, so you still get some points.

Creativity
(3/3) Uniqueness - I conceptualize this as a Deathrite Shaman that can do more things and multiple of those things in a turn. However, this is the closest I can get to a direct parallel, so I think uniqueness is fine.
(1/3) Flavor - So, the flavor and mechanics of this card are at odds with one another. On one side, you have Jendar claiming to have come to "lighten the load of civilization," which makes them into a destroyer. Yet their name is "cultivator," and, mechanics-wise, Jendar is only acting as a ramp/builder card. I understand that this is meant to pair with the End-Seed, but you have to remember that this creature isn't always going to be paired with the End-Seed. Without that context, the flavor usually attached to untapping permanents, particularly lands, does not bring up the idea of a destroyer. The flavor isn't clear.

Polish
(3/3) Quality - Seems good.
(2/2) Main Challenge - Yep, it's a legendary creature from the world of the End-Seed.
(2/2) Subchallenges - Yep, the flavor implies a conflict with the End-Seed as a macguffin and the rules mention artifacts.

Total: 20.5/25

slimytrout

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Ynara, the Last Fabricator 2WU
Legendary Creature — Vedalken Artificer (R)
Ward — Sacrifice a permanent.
Artifacts lose all abilities.
2WWUU: Other nonland permanents you control become a copy of target nonlegendary permanent until end of turn.
"What a thousand made, one can unmake."
3/3

Design
(2/3) Appeal - Timmy doesn't like that this also hits their own artifacts, but is very much into the mass-clone effect. Johnny would use this with artifacts that have drawbacks. Spike is a little dubious about the costs, but sees a lot of value for the mana they would have to put in.
(1.5/3) Elegance - So, the different abilities this card has are fairly eclectic. On one side, it encourages sacrificed permanents. On the other, it neutralizes artifacts. On the third, it lets your permanents copy other permanents. There isn't a clear idea in this design, and nothing that it's specifically building to. I suspect the artifact-hosing effect is only there as a way of fighting the card Genesis, itself, but I'm not necessarily sure where the other parts are coming from.

Development
(3/3) Viability - White/blue and rare both feel appropriate, for this design.
(2/3) Balance - So, how do I feel about the balance, here? With no artifacts to hose, this is a difficult-to-target 3/3 for four mana, with an expensive activated ability whose effectiveness depends on the board state. Overall, a somewhat meh card. On the other hand, with artifacts to hose, it's fantastic. This is great sideboard card. Spike is particularly a fan of that ward ability preventing easy counterplay. Spike might not want to cast this card for four mana, if all it did was hose artifacts. However, with it hosing artifacts and being difficult to spot-remove, perhaps four mana is entirely acceptable. I am having trouble imagining a good use for the copy ability, but it does allow for some more flexibility for the card. However, there is a very-real possibility that the activated ability would do nothing. Ultimately, I think this card would be sideboard-only. It's a good design, and interesting, but the power is a touch on the weak side.

Creativity
(3/3) Uniqueness - "Artifacts lose all abilities" is an entirely new line of rules text, and the fact that such a design hasn't been done before is surprising to me. I count that as enough to get full uniqueness points.
(1.5/3) Flavor - So, it's clear where you're going with this: The creators of Genesis survived, and the last of their number is coming back to eradicate the god machine. However, the issue with elegance also rears its head here. With no clear mechanical direction, there needs to be flavor that pulls the mechanics together, but the flavor here only suggests a conflict. It suggests this conflict with both the name and the flavor text. The conflict and the "lose all abilities" ability do tie together well, of course, and the ward ability can tie together with Ynara being a survivor, but the copy-ability doesn't seem to connect back to the idea of the character.

Polish
(3/3) Quality - Seems good.
(2/2) Main Challenge - Yep, it's a legendary creature from the world of Genesis.
(2/2) Subchallenges - Yep, the flavor implies a conflict between creators and created and the rules mention artifacts.

Total: 20/25

Scores

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Bolded Advance:

• Ink-Treader - 20.5
• bravelion83 - 20
• slimytrout - 20
• Freyeleyes - 19

[void_nothing]

haywire

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Design
(2/3) Appeal - Not much of a Txmmy card, but blessed existence is a mechanic with a ton of Jxnny appeal, and Spike appreciates self-recurring premium removal.
(1.5/3) Elegance - Features a relatively complicated recursion mechanic and an even more complex variation on a typical Nekrataal type ability. All in all, this means this card's quite wordy.

Development
(3/3) Viability - Good call making the mana cost overbalanced in favor of black, that just feels right; blue's ability-loss clause contributes less to that triggered ability than the destruction obviously does. Colors and rarity look fine.
(2.5/3) Balance - All repeatable recursion abilities deserve extra care because of, well, possibly repetitive game states. But blessed existence looks fine because using it means you're down a card (or at least a token) and it also doesn't kick in till you play this for the first time and it dies. The indestructible-destroyer/death-trigger-silencer creature kill ability is strong, but certainly not beyond the pale for what this card costs.

Creativity
(2.5/3) Uniqueness - While an ETB removal creature is nothing at all new, this has a number of unique twists.
(3/3) Flavor - Accomplishes its goal of making me MORE curious about the setting!

Polish
(2.5/3) Quality - Multi-word keywords have words other than the first not capitalized unless they're a proper name. See battle cry in card text for an example.
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - Done.
(1/2) Subchallenges - Definitely suggests a conflict, but no mention of lands in the rules text.

Total: 20/25

Henlock

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Design
(3/3) Appeal - Txmmy wants to get saved! Jxnny has either a Near-Death Experience shell or Earthquakeing the entire table but themselves to death in mind (...or Lich?). Spike is just happy about the utility.
(3/3) Elegance - Hard to misunderstand what that means.

Development
(3/3) Viability - Definitely a white mythic.
(3/3) Balance - This card is mostly a flyer with flash - that last ability is a bit fringe in application unless you are, in fact, at 1 life, and it's plenty vulnerable to removal.

Creativity
(2.5/3) Uniqueness - Cards in the sort of Worship family have been around literally since Ali from Cairo, but this is a unique version of that general category of effect.
(3/3) Flavor - I really enjoy this!

Polish
(2.5/3) Quality - This is an odd thing to have to type, but I think you conflated "woebegone" and "misbegotten" - "woebegotten" is not actually a word.
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - Looks good.
(1/2) Subchallenges - Flavor text suggests at least a philosophical conflict, but card mentions no card types at all.

Total: 23/25

netn10

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Design
(3/3) Appeal - It's big, it's probably comboriffic, it's pushed in power terms - everyone wants a piece.
(2/3) Elegance - I would say territorial is inherently a complex mechanic, besides granting an extra ability to legendary lands that it effects. Extra mana generation and tapping to draw cards are both easy to understand, however.

Development
(3/3) Viability - Definitely mythic-worthy and I can see how this feels like obligate-colorless with some green association.
(1.5/3) Balance - So I know territorial is meant to offer a drawback in addition to an advantage - the idea is for opponents to be able to attack the lands you've designated and thus take away what you've invested in them, right? However, 6 defense is super high and you'll most likely have your Territory for this card around for quite a while - to say nothing of other cards with the keyword getting a Sliver effect and being a 6/6 for four mana. I don't think the difficulty of producing colorless mana is enough to justify how pushed this is for its mana cost.

Creativity
(3/3) Uniqueness - Probably the most unique card I've seen this round.
(3/3) Flavor - Pretty abstract, but I like this one.

Polish
(2.5/3) Quality - I know reminder text can be written loosely, but by convention that would say "becomes a Territory battle" rather than "becomes a Battle - Territory".
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - Done.
(2/2) Subchallenges - Does suggest a conflict in the form of an optional boss fight, it seems. Definitely has to do with lands.

Total: 22/25

Riria

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Design
(3/3) Appeal - Txmmy likes the big creature that hands out shield counters, Jxnny is all over the moving parts here, Spike likes the pillowfort commander.
(2/3) Elegance - That activated ability is doing a fair amount and has a slightly unintuitive function: An opponent who controls enchantments but no creatures doesn't have to sacrifice anything because of that "unless".

Development
(3/3) Viability - Yeah, this works perfectly as a WB mythic.
(2.5/3) Balance - Affinity for enchantments is still affinity, meaning this can come down early, which can be very strong despite the setup needed. That activated ability is potentially really powerful, after all.

Creativity
(2/3) Uniqueness - Definitely a use of shield counters that the Brokers weren't doing. This is a pretty unorthodox control finisher although it's all made with familiar ideas.
(3/3) Flavor - Ooh, that sass!

Polish
(3/3) Quality - Looks good to me.
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - Done.
(2/2) Subchallenges - Suggests a conflict based on rival organizations, and is all about enchantments.

Total: 22.5/25

Totals (Bold advance)

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Henlock 23
Riria 22.5
netn10 22
haywire 20