October MCC Round 4 (Final) - Synthesis

[Ink-Treader]

(This banner was put together using both Raymond Swanland and Jason Felix's art for Wastes, plus Wizards of the Coast's colorless symbol, as well as bravelion83's MCC logo.)

October MCC Final Round

Synthesis

I would bet some among you foresaw where this might end. We're going somewhere untreaded at this this time: C and colored mana together in a mana cost! Very curious to see what you'll do with this.

Main Challenge - Design a monocolored card with C and at least one colored mana in its mana cost. Your card must have flavor text.

Subchallenge 1 - Your card has "greater than", "more than", "less than", and/or "fewer than" in its rules text.

Subchallenge 2 - Your card unconditionally has two or more keyword abilities that have never been unconditionally on a card of only that color before.

Clarifications

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Main Challenge - None yet.

Subchallenge 1 - None yet.

Subchallenge 2 - Link to the list of keyword abilities here. Note that it appears to not yet have been updated for Doctor Who or Lost Caverns of Ixalan, but keyword abilities from those are allowed.
'Unconditionally' means that the card has the ability at all times.
Those abilities must each individually not been on a card of that color.
As asked here, mechanics like affinity and protection would not qualify, even with a novel variant.

DEADLINES

Design Deadline: Wednesday, November 15th 2023 at 23:59 Eastern Time

Judging Deadline: Sunday, November 19th 2023 at 23:59 Eastern Time

MCC Rubric

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

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

Ink-Treader
void_nothing

Players

@Caspernicus
@haywire
@Subject16
@bravelion83

BRACKETS

It's the finals, it's a free-for-all.

[bravelion83]

Departed Captain 2CU
Creature — Merfolk Soldier Spirit (R)
Battle cry, haunt
When Departed Captain or the creature it haunts dies, choose up to one target player. If the number of cards in their graveyard is less than the number of cards in their library, they mill twenty cards.
The continent of Meibeuld was once a lush land with advanced civilizations. The Witch's spell of power devastated it. Most were killed, their spirits condemned to haunt the wastelands forever. Few survived, turned into vampires and forced to emigrate.
3/2

[Subject16]

Tendril of Marit Lage CU
Creature — Avatar Tentacle (R)
Reach
At the beginning of your upkeep, if the number of cards in your graveyard is greater than the number of cards in your library, create Marit Lage, a legendary 20/20 black Avatar creature token with flying and indestructible. Then shuffle Tendril of Marit Lage and your graveyard into your library.
Dredge 3
Her freedom is nigh, as is Dominaria's end.
2/2

[Caspernicus]

Ashnod's Assistant xcb
Artifact Creature - Zombie (R)
Affinity for artifacts
Graft X (This creature enters the battlefield with X +1/+1 counters on it. Whenever another creature enters the battlefield, you may move a +1/+1 counter from this creature onto it.)
Whenever a counter is removed from Ashnod's Assistant, if another creature has power greater than this card's power, create a tapped Powerstone token. Otherwise, you draw a card and you lose 1 life.
"Powerstones may infect the living, but what effect do they have on the dead?"
-Ashnod, Flesh Mechanist
0/0

[Ink-Treader]

24 hours left to tweak your card! @haywire, don't forget to get a submission in!

[haywire]

Nylea, Huntress of the Eternities 5CCG
Legendary Enchantment Creature — God {M}
Affinity for enchantments
Annihilator X, where X is your devotion to colorless.
Whenever a player sacrifices a permanent with mana value less than Nylea's power, put 2 +1/+1 counters on her.
CG, Sacrifice an enchantment: Exile the top card of your library. You may cast it. If you don't, manifest it.
The gods of Theros were resistant to the corruption of phyresis, but the inversion of the Blind Eternities was so much more sublime.
6/6

[Ink-Treader]

And the round is closed. @void_nothing and I will judge each of you, and the highest combined score will win the month.

---

Caspernicus

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Design
(3/3) Appeal - I'd say this pretty much a home run. Timmy might not like the potential life loss, but otherwise it's quite appealing to them. Johnny is going to try and abuse that triggered ability, and Spike favors potential efficiency.
(2/3) Elegance - It's pretty easy to overlook that removing multiple counters at once will trigger the ability that many times. There's also the question of what happens when -1/-1 counters get involved (pretty sure the state based action that removes the +1/+1 and -1/-1 counters would trigger the ability, which is potentially relevant) Lesser issue is someone is most certainly going to trip themselves up trying to get the card draw and ending up with a Powerstone instead.

Development
(3/3) Viability - I do wonder if this could be monoblack in the right set, but this does a pretty good job of feeling just weird enough to justify the C. Rare is appropriate.
(2.5/3) Balance - An X cost with affinity is potentially quite scary, especially affinity for artifacts. The lack of evasion or protection hurts it, certainly, but it can churn out quite a bit of value. And if that value ends up being the Powerstones, that enables even larger future copies. The card draw is certainly preferred though. I think it's probably overall reasonable, just very efficient.

Creativity
(3/3) Uniqueness - I'd say this feels quite unique. Counter removal as a trigger is very novel, perhaps for good reason.
(2/3) Flavor - I can see it as an assistant, but I feel a different word would work better here. It sounds very mundane for something that very much isn't. Unsure what the flavor justification is of why you get Powerstones or card draw; that is to say, why it depends on what power.

Polish
(2/3) Quality - 8 lines of rules text with 2 line breaks plus the 3 lines of flavor text is a bit extreme. Should be "this creature's power" not "this card's power"
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - Indeed.
(2/2) Subchallenges - The card has "greater than". And I'm honestly completely shocked monoblack doesn't have an affinity card (that's what I get for assuming. Apparently monogreen doesn't either). Graft of course also qualifies.

Total: 21.5/25
*An entry with 0 points here is subject to disqualification.

haywire

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Design
(2/3) Appeal - Timmy likes it. Johnny likes the activated ability especially. Spike is a bit apprehensive; affinity is a strong mechanic, but affinity for enchantments is pretty challenging to break. The creature itself is quite powerful though, given a chance to swing.
(2.5/3) Elegance - I appreciate that it has ways to trigger the counters via your opponents and yourself. The extra condition for those counters feels rather tacked on, especially as her power will rapidly scale beyond any mana value.

Development
(3/3) Viability - This feels like it might tread a bit far from green, but there is more C than G in that cost. Mythic is appropriate.
(3/3) Balance - Affinity as always is a strong mechanic, though affinity for enchantments seems fairly challenging to break. The card quite curiously has no innate protection, though she could sacrifice herself if she was going to die anyway. Its baseline of annihilator 2 will usually do plenty to rapidly power it up, but no evasion helps a bit there. I think its hard enough to get immediate value out of that it's fine.

Creativity
(3/3) Uniqueness - Many tweaks on familiar effects. Affinity for enchantments does not currently exist, and while derivative, devotion to colorless also is new. It's a novel package to be sure.
(2.5/3) Flavor - I'm curious if you meant 'invasion' over 'inversion', as the latter is a rather esoteric descriptor. Definitely what some might expect of Eldrazi affecting the gods of Theros though. The loss of any sort of resilience is curious too, but I suppose the compleated Heliod also lost indestructible.

Polish
(2.5/3) Quality - Should be "two +1/+1 counters", not "2 +1/+1 counters" Very nearly too texty, at 6 lines of rules text with 3 line breaks, and 3 lines of flavor text.
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - Indeed.
(2/2) Subchallenges - "Less than" in its text, and affinity (again, very surprised that monogreen and monoblack apparently didn't have affinity) and annihilator qualify.

Total: 22.5/25
*An entry with 0 points here is subject to disqualification.

Subject16

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Design
(2/3) Appeal - Timmy certainly likes the Marit Lage token, and certainly likes the antimill aspect as a bonus. Johnny has some ideas about how to get to the token quickly, and Spike's interest probably lies more in the Dredge aspect. If Johnny finds something reliable though...
(2.5/3) Elegance - Counting cards in the library is generally pretty annoying, though there are times when the condition should be obviously true. Otherwise, elegant enough.

Development
(3/3) Viability - Dredge feels useable in any color where needed, and this is a sensible use of reach for flavor. Rare is appropriate.
(3/3) Balance - A shame Inverter of Truth died for Thassa's Oracle's sins (well, in Pioneer anyway), as that's the obvious partner. The Dredge is nice to help with this, and the card itself doesn't seem to be made problematic by Dredge. Graveyard hate is also sufficient to limit this. I think this is fine all around.

Creativity
(2.5/3) Uniqueness - Another member of the 'makes a Marit Lage token' club, but it does do it with different requirements, and fairly novel trigger in general.
(2.5/3) Flavor - Seems like a plausible condition flavor wise for Marit Lage to break free, and I do like the idea of parts of Marit Lage breaking free. Does feel like it perhaps should be unable to attack with Marit still trapped though.

Polish
(2.5/3) Quality - The tentacle should be getting shuffled into its owner's library, since this can be stolen.
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - Indeed.
(2/2) Subchallenges - Has "greater than", and reach and dredge qualify.

Total: 22/25
*An entry with 0 points here is subject to disqualification.

bravelion83

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Design
(2/3) Appeal - Timmy is interested, since battle cry is fun, and massive mill is pretty exciting. Johnny is somewhat interested, especially since the mill can be self-targeted. Spike is unsure. It's not a particularly amazing combat creature, though massive mill is definitely playable in Limited.
(2.5/3) Elegance - Counting cards in the library is generally pretty annoying, though there are times when the condition should be obviously true. Otherwise, elegant enough.

Development
(3/3) Viability - Haunt is a mechanic that can probably be used in any color if needed. Battle cry is a bit odd for blue, but is also pretty harmlessly generic. Rare is certainly appropriate.
(2.5/3) Balance - I suspect this could cost 1 less, even if it is something that can also potentially mill forty cards, with a little extra help. Which means it's probably being played more for the mill than for combat.

Creativity
(2.5/3) Uniqueness - Some familiar effects, but the mill trigger is quite unique.
(2/3) Flavor - Name is generic, but the flavor text is appreciated.

Polish
(3/3) Quality - Looks good. That is a large amount of flavor text though; could have gone without mentioning vampires without hurting flavor any.
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - Indeed.
(2/2) Subchallenges - Has "less than", and battle cry and haunt both qualify.

Total: 21.5/25
*An entry with 0 points here is subject to disqualification.

Scores

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Caspernicus: 21.5
haywire: 22.5
Subject16: 22
bravelion83: 21.5

[void_nothing]

Caspernicus

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Design
(3/3) Appeal - Txmmy and Spike want to make this huge, while Jxnny might have more fun with the graft and other triggered ability.
(2/3) Elegance - That triggered ability is wordy, and involves some math and might create a lot of tokens. However, the whole card is easily comprehensible.

Development
(3/3) Viability - Graft actually works well enough in black. This feels rare.
(2.5/3) Balance - X and affinity for artifacts seems like a dangerous proposition, but on the other hand this is far from the most dangerous thing doable with affinity.

Creativity
(2.5/3) Uniqueness - The combination of affinity with graft X adds an interesting dynamic, as does the "whenever a counter is removed" ability.
(2.5/3) Flavor - This card fits with what Ashnod is notorious for - a minor ding here because while she's quoted on many real Magic cards, none of them credit her as "Ashnod, Flesh Mechanist" in the flavor text attribution, they just use her name.

Polish
(2.5/3) Quality - That triggered ability should say "greater than Ashnod's Assistant's power" (and I think there's an extraneous "you" later on in the ability).
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - All good.
(2/2) Subchallenges - And done.

Total: 22/25

haywire

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Design
(2.5/3) Appeal - Txmmy and Jxnny are all over this card and even Spike might consider it given the affinity.
(1.5/3) Elegance - This card is about as stuffed with text as the original Eldrazi titans - which is not an inherently bad thing and in fact can be pretty good for a design like this. In fact, it's pretty cohesive and self-synergistic. However. it does have a lot of abilities and new players might be confused that devotion to colorless refers only to C.

Development
(2.5/3) Viability - This card feels mythic for sure and most of it is in accordance with green and Nylea's character, but that activated ability feels at least partly red.
(2.5/3) Balance - Affinity is always potentially dangerous, but counting enchantments is a lot safer than counting artifacts. Generally just a neat and stylish finisher.

Creativity
(2.5/3) Uniqueness - Quite a few unique elements, and even the old keywords being used are remixed.
(2.5/3) Flavor - I like the flavor of the card and Nylea being an Eternities-influenced threat, but is that flavor text really accurate? While the gods' bodies in Nyx can't be compleated, multiple Theros gods were turned Phyrexian during the events of March of the Machine. I guess that hinges on the word "phyresis" but if the flavor can even be quibbled with, it's not quite perfect imo.

Polish
(2.5/3) Quality - That triggered ability should end "put two +1/+1 counters on it".
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - Done.
(2/2) Subchallenges - And done.

Total: 20.5/25

Subject16

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Design
(3/3) Appeal - Look, who doesn't want the Lage token for two mana?
(2/3) Elegance - There are two blue entries with a compare-library-and-graveyard mechanic. Go figure. This is a relatively complicated card in terms of mathematical complexity but is never going to do anything too hard to understand to the board: either it's making Marit Lage and hopefully quickly ending the game or it's not.

Development
(2.5/3) Viability - With or without obligate colorless mana, reach looks odd in blue, but the flavor accords with the creature type and at least it's a "lesser" version of flying, an ability that blue constantly gets. Definitely looks like a rare.
(2.5/3) Balance - We should at least be wary of a two-mana card that creates a 20/20 token, but obviously nothing compares to the combo craziness of Dark Depths and Thespian's Stage or Vampire Hexmage. I remember when you had to use Aether Snap to abuse that card, rassum frassum.

Creativity
(2/3) Uniqueness - Making the Marit Lage token is practically a custom card meme at this point, but I like being able to fuel this card's marquee ability with dredge.
(3/3) Flavor - Love this. Cool typeline and punchy flavor text writing.

Polish
(3/3) Quality - Looks good to me.
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - And done.
(2/2) Subchallenges - Done.

Total: 22/25

bravelion83

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Design
(1.5/3) Appeal - Half points from everyone. Txmmy likes huge amounts of mill but is disappointed by the conditionality. Jxnny sees potential but also something kind of linear and unreliable. Spike likes the versatility and double death triggers but is not that impressed by the creature stats.
(2/3) Elegance - Having someone count the number of cards in their library and graveyard multiple times seems not ideal. Haunt is also a fairly complex mechanic.

Development
(2.5/3) Viability - Battle cry is pretty borderline in blue, but the rest of the card feels blue and rare and the obligate colorless also makes sense.
(3/3) Balance - Milling twenty cards is extremely potent, but this card does have the important limiter of checking library vs. graveyard counts.

Creativity
(1.5/3) Uniqueness - Basically a mashup card. Battle cry and haunt have never been used together, and in fact haunt is a very little-used mechanic, but they're just separate parts of the card that don't interact.
(2.5/3) Flavor - That flavor text overexplains a bit, giving us extraneous information beyond why there are elite soldier merfolk ghosts. (The vampires, for example, have nothing to do with anything else.) All in all, it feels like an out of context snippet from this plane's Planeswalker's Guide.

Polish
(3/3) Quality - Seems okay.
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - Done.
(2/2) Subchallenges - And done.

Total: 20/25

Scores

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Caspernicus 22
haywire 20.5
Subject16 22
bravelion83 20

[Ink-Treader]

Caspernicus: 21.5 + 22 = 43.5
haywire: 22.5 + 20.5 = 43
Subject16: 22 + 22 = 44
bravelion83: 21.5 + 20 = 41.5

Congratulations to @Subject16, the winner of the 2023 October MCC!