May MCC, Round 1: City of Industry

[void_nothing]

Banner based on Tarnished Citadel by David Martin and Wizards of the Coast. Thanks to bravelion83 for the "Core Set Style" MCC Logo

May MCC, Round 1 - City of Industry

Welcome to the May MCC! It's Land Month here at the MCC. Lands are critical to how Magic is played, and this month will mechanically be all about them.

Main Challenge: Design a land card that has the following exact activated ability: "T: Add C."
Subchallenge 1: Your card also has an ability that can add colored mana.
Subchallenge 2: Your card is rare.

DEADLINES

Design deadline: Friday, May 8th 23:59 EDT

Judging deadline: Tuesday, May 12th 23:59 EDT

Clarifications

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MCC Rubric

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Design
(X/3) Appeal - Do the different player psychographics (Timmy/Johhny/Spike) have a use for the card?
(X/3) Elegance - Is the card easily understandable at a glance? Do all the flavor and mechanics combined as a whole make sense?

Development
(X/3) Viability - 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?
(X/3) Balance - 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?

Creativity
(X/3) Uniqueness - 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"?
(X/3) Flavor - 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?

Polish
(X/3) Quality - Points deducted for incorrect spelling, grammar, and templating.
(X/2) Main Challenge (*) - Was the main challenge satisfied? Was it approached in a unique or interesting way? Does the card fit the intent of the challenge?
(X/2) Subchallenges - One point awarded per satisfied subchallenge condition.

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

Judges:
void_nothing
bravelion83
Ryder

If you are not interested in playing, please sign up to judge the contest!

Players:
Anyone is welcome to enter this first round!

[RaikouRider]

Valley of Dusk
Land {R}
T: Add C.
T: Add CC. You can't spend this mana to cast spells.

[marioguy3]

Land of Tall
Land (Rare)
: Add .
: Add 1 mana of any color, then put a rust counter on Land of Tall. If there are 2 or more rust counters on Land of Tall, sacrifice it, then each player searches their library for a basic land card and puts it onto the battlefield, then shuffles their library.
The boldest explorers can't quite eliminate the strange feelings about this place.

[slimytrout]

Glittering Tomb
Land (R)
T: Add C.
T, Exile a nonland card from your graveyard: Add one mana of any of that card's colors.
No treasure can be hidden forever.

[Mimicvat]

Is a card that becomes a land a valid entry?

Does the card need to be "industry" themed or somehow related to an industry based plane?

[Kypster]

Transmorphic Wastes
Land (R)
T: Add C
1, T: Destroy target nonbasic land. Transmorphic Wastes becomes a copy of that land.
I swear we're walking in circles.

[Sojourner Dusk]

Cliffs of Sublimation
Land (R)
: Add .
, Sacrifice a nonland permanent: Add mana equal to the sacrificed permanent's mana cost. (Mana cost includes color. If a mana symbol has multiple colors, choose one.)
Progress builds from what came before.

[netn10]

Umori's Lair
Legendary Land (Rare)
T: Add C.
T: Add BG. Activate this ability only if you have a card named Umori, The Collector as your companion.

[StonerOfKruphix]

Dragon's Lair
Land (R)
T: Add C.
T: Add RRR. Activate this ability only if you control a Dragon.

[Flatline]

Hall of Remembrance
Land (R)
t: Add c.
t, Pay 1 life: Add two mana of any color. Spend this mana only to cast spells from your graveyard or activate abilities of cards in your graveyard.
Memories are often bittersweet.

[Lorn Asbord Schutta]

Excavated Mana Rig
Land (R)

When Excavated Mana Rig enters the battlefield, exile cards from top of your library until you exile an artifact card. Put on Excavated Mana Rig number of charge counters equal to the converted mana cost of exiled artifact card.

: Add
, Remove a charge counter from Excavated Mana Rig: Add one mana of any color. If Excavated Mana Rig has no charge counters on it, put artifact card exiled with Excavated Mana Rig onto the battlefield.

Machinery might look unsalvageable, but the powerstones inside have no price nor limits.

[Legend]

Lotus Oasis
Land (R)
Lotus Oasis enters the battlefield tapped.
t: Add c.
t, Exile a Desert card from your graveyard: Add three mana of any one color.

[Subject16]

Radiant Geoscape
Land (Rare)
T: Add C.
Domain — 2, T: For each basic land type among lands you control, add one mana of any color a land you control of that type could produce.
It's said that no two see the same landscape.

[haywire]

The Ravenous Pit
Legendary Land (R)
: Add .
Whenever you sacrifice a land, The Ravenous Pit deals 2 damage to each opponent and you add , or .
None of the natives of Jund knew much about the Pit, but they knew one thing for certain: like everything else, it was a part of their savage food chain. And it was no one's prey.

[Jimmy Groove]

Valley of Plenty
Land (R)
T: Add C.
Sacrifice an artifact, T: Add one mana of any color. When you cast a creature spell with this mana, it enters the battlefield with an additional +1/+1 counter on it and is an Ally in addition to its other types.
A well-paid adventurer is an effective adventurer.

[kwanyeegor-ii]

Quarry of the Conflux
Land (Rare)
Quarry of the Conflux enters the battlefield tapped.
T: Add C.
T: Add one mana of any color. Activate this ability only if you control an artifact named Manalith.
3, T, Discard a card: Create a colorless artifact token named Manalith. It has "T: Add one mana of any color."
Manaliths quickly sprang up all over New Alara.

[Phyrexian Editor]

Reactant Pool
Land {R}
t: Add c.
1: Put a Plains, Island, Swamp, Mountain, or Forest counter on Reactant Pool.
The silvery liquid appears dull and inert—but once exposed to mana by a skilled alchemist, it glitters with every color of the rainbow.

[Stankweed Imp]

River of Souls
Land (R)
River of Souls enters the battlefield tapped unless a creature died this turn.
: Add .
, Exile a creature card from a graveyard: Add or .
Those souls that fall into its waters become lost souls, beckoning others to their doom.

[Rithaniel]

Pyramids of Snagoth
Land R
: Add .
, : Add one mana of any color to your mana pool.
2: Until end of turn, Pyramids of Snagoth becomes a 3/3 Spirit creature that is all colors. It's still a land.

[Ink-Treader]

Gloomy Gate
Land (R)
T: Add C.
T, Exile a creature card from your graveyard: Add one mana of any color.
Whenever a nontoken creature you control dies, you may exile it. If you do, untap Gloomy Gate.
The netherworld holds limitless power, but only the cruelest could exploit it.

[Henlock]

Frontline Encampment
Land (r)
; Add .
: Add rw. Activate this ability only if a creature you control is attacking or blocking.
Nomad soldiers never retreat to their shelters, they just set their austere tents as far as they have advanced.

[void_nothing]

The round is closed. The top four entrants per judge will advance to round 2. Here are the judging assignments:

void_nothing:
RaikouRider
slimytrout
Lorn Asbord Schutta
haywire
Phyrexian Editor
Ink-Treader
Henlock

bravelion83:
Sojourner Dusk
netn10
Flatline
Legend
Jimmy Groove
Stankweed Imp

Ryder:
marioguy3
Kypster
StonerOfKruphix
Subject16
kwanyeegor-ii
Rithaniel

[bravelion83]

Judgments complete. A lot of lands that produce more than one mana. Remember that's, first, almost never done these days, and, second, it's like playing with fire.

Sojourner Dusk

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Cliffs of Sublimation
Land (R)
: Add .
, Sacrifice a nonland permanent: Add mana equal to the sacrificed permanent's mana cost. (Mana cost includes color. If a mana symbol has multiple colors, choose one.)
Progress builds from what came before.

Design
Appeal 2/3 - Timmy doesn't care. Both Johnny and Spike care a lot. Spike loves lands that add more than one mana and stay on the battlefield. Johnny could very probably build an engine producing infinite mana based on this.
Elegance 2.5/3 - Less experienced players might not know that "mana cost includes color", but luckily there is reminder text for them. Let's hope they actually read them.
Development
Viability 3/3 - Rarity was required by the challenges and it's not difficult to design a rare land that feels like one. Lands are also colorless, so if everything is fine it's useless to analyze them in the color pie.
Balance 1.5/3 - Lands that can add more than one mana are always dangerous, in fact they no longer do them these days. At least, this requires a sacrifice. But we're still playing with fire. I see this as playable in all formats, but not necessarily for good reasons.
Creativity
Uniqueness 2.5/3 - While effects like this aren't completely new, it's true that we haven't seen them since original Mirrodin if I've searched Gatherer correctly. It's two years before original Ravnica, when I started playing 15 years ago (Ravnica is already a teenager now! It absolutely doesn't feel like that to me.), so here we're talking of 17 years that we don't see such effects. I can't penalize your card too much here. Yes, the effect already exists but it's never been on a land and we haven't seen it for 17 years. If you're wondering, the Mirrodin card is Bosh, Iron Golem.
Flavor 3/3 - No problems here.
Polish
Quality 3/3 - All good.
Main Challenge 2/2 - Good.
Subchallenges 2/2 - Both met.
TOTAL 21.5/25

netn10

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Umori's Lair
Legendary Land (Rare)
T: Add C.
T: Add BG. Activate this ability only if you have a card named Umori, The Collector as your companion.

Design
Appeal 1.5/3 - Only people playing Umori as their Companion are interested in this, essentially regardless of psychographic. I don't think those people are too many over the totality of Magic players (several millions at this point I think).
Elegance 3/3 - No problems here.
Development
Viability 3/3 - Rarity was required by the challenges and it's not difficult to design a rare land that feels like one. Lands are also colorless, so if everything is fine it's useless to analyze them in the color pie.
Balance 1/3 - I don't like the requirement here. It makes this land a Wastes for anybody that doesn't play Umori as their companion, that's the majority of players. That makes this card not very playable, in any format. In limited, you have to draft Umori and this card together, which I can't see this happening a lot. In constructed, being able to play a full playset of the land makes it slightly better but still not that playable because it's way too narrow, useful only if you have Umori as companion. This doesn't change in casual or multiplayer.
Creativity
Uniqueness 2.5/3 - Companion is new, and lands caring about who is your companion aren't in Ikoria. Still, this card wouldn't exist if Ikoria had never come out. It even references an Ikoria card.
Flavor 2/3 - The only problem is the absence of flavor text where there is plenty of room for it. No problems with the card name or the card concept.
Polish
Quality 3/3 - All good. There is no precedent for such a wording, but it feel realistic enough to me.
Main Challenge 2/2 - Good.
Subchallenges 2/2 - Both met.
TOTAL 20/25

Flatline

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Hall of Remembrance
Land (R)
t: Add c.
t, Pay 1 life: Add two mana of any color. Spend this mana only to cast spells from your graveyard or activate abilities of cards in your graveyard.
Memories are often bittersweet.

Design
Appeal 2/3 - Timmy doesn't care. Both Johnny and Spike care a lot. Spike loves lands that add more than one mana and stay on the battlefield. Spike also doesn't mind paying life. Johnny could very probably build an engine based on this, and if that engine includes infinite life, then he also doesn't care about the life payment.
Elegance 3/3 - Perfect.
Development
Viability 3/3 - Rarity was required by the challenges and it's not difficult to design a rare land that feels like one. Lands are also colorless, so if everything is fine it's useless to analyze them in the color pie.
Balance 1.5/3 - Lands that can add more than one mana are always dangerous, in fact they no longer do them these days. At least, this requires things in graveyards. But we're still playing with fire. I see this as playable in all formats, but not necessarily for good reasons. I'm imagining something like a dredge deck playing this... and I don't feel good.
Creativity
Uniqueness 1/3 - The restriction is nothing new. Nor is anything else here. The most original thing here might be the flavor text, and that's saying a lot.
Flavor 3/3 - Printable as is in my opinion. Anyway, very good.
Polish
Quality 3/3 - All good.
Main Challenge 2/2 - Good.
Subchallenges 2/2 - Both met.
TOTAL 20.5/25

Legend

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Lotus Oasis
Land (R)
Lotus Oasis enters the battlefield tapped.
t: Add c.
t, Exile a Desert card from your graveyard: Add three mana of any one color.

Design
Appeal 2/3 - Timmy doesn't care. Both Johnny and Spike care a lot. Spike loves lands that add more than one mana and stay on the battlefield. Johnny could very probably build an engine based on this.
Elegance 3/3 - Hard to do better than this.
Development
Viability 3/3 - Rarity was required by the challenges and it's not difficult to design a rare land that feels like one. Lands are also colorless, so if everything is fine it's useless to analyze them in the color pie.
Balance 1.5/3 - Lands that can add more than one mana are always dangerous, in fact they no longer do them these days. At least, this requires a Desert in your graveyard. But we're still playing with fire. I see this as playable in all formats that allow Deserts, but not necessarily for good reasons. I'm imagining what this could have played like in Amonkhet block... and I don't feel good.
Creativity
Uniqueness 0.5/3 - This is just a mash-up of existing cards: Lotuses (is this the plural?) are very famous and have a long line of existence, and Deserts were in Amonkhet which is not too long ago.
Flavor 1/3 - Flavor text is missing when there is plenty of room for it. The card concept feels a little forced to me: what comes out from a Louts meeting a Desert? I don't have any problems with the name.
Polish
Quality 3/3 - All good.
Main Challenge 2/2 - Good.
Subchallenges 2/2 - Both met.
TOTAL 18/25

Jimmy Groove

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Valley of Plenty
Land (R)
T: Add C.
Sacrifice an artifact, T: Add one mana of any color. When you cast a creature spell with this mana, it enters the battlefield with an additional +1/+1 counter on it and is an Ally in addition to its other types.
A well-paid adventurer is an effective adventurer.

Design
Appeal 2.5/3 - You might have found the way to make Timmy interested, which is quite hard with this challenge. I can easily see this card as a part of a Johnny-made engine. I think Spike doesn't like the activation cost. It requires her to play artifact, which she sometimes does but not always. Maybe artifact tokens help here, but she wants to see what Johnny come up with first.
Elegance 1/3 - This reads very badly, and the Quality mistakes are a big part of that. Fix those and you'll see elegance will also get better.
Development
Viability 3/3 - Rarity was required by the challenges and it's not difficult to design a rare land that feels like one. Lands are also colorless, so if everything is fine it's useless to analyze them in the color pie.
Balance 2.5/3 - I see no problems here. Playable in limited if there are enough artifacts in the environment. That's not a problem in constructed, where you have access at many more playable artifacts, especially in older formats. No problems in casual or multiplayer.
Creativity
Uniqueness 1.5/3 - There is something here that immediately reminded me of Cavern of Souls, even if they're completely different cards. I don't know what it is. Probably the fact that they both do something with the mana they add. Anyway, I'm making this much more of a problem than it really is. There are plenty of cards sacrificing artifacts for effects.
Flavor 2/3 - There is only one problem I can find: as this gives the Ally creature type to creatures you cast, I would have liked to see an explicit reference to Zendikar somewhere on the card. While the Ally creature type can go on creatures coming from any plane, there is a bond between Allies and Zendikar as an expectation. I don't know how well people would take Allies on another plane.
Polish
Quality 1/3 - The tap symbol should come before the non-mana component of the last ability's cost (-1 for very well known fact). "When you cast... " is wrong wording. It should be "If you spent this mana to cast a creature spell, it enters the battlefield... " (-1)
Main Challenge 2/2 - Good.
Subchallenges 2/2 - Both met.
TOTAL 17.5/25

Stankweed Imp

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River of Souls
Land (R)
River of Souls enters the battlefield tapped unless a creature died this turn.
: Add .
, Exile a creature card from a graveyard: Add or .
Those souls that fall into its waters become lost souls, beckoning others to their doom.

Design
Appeal 2/3 - Timmy doesn't care. Both Johnny and Spike care a lot. Being any graveyard and not just your own helps too for Spike.
Elegance 3/3 - Perfect.
Development
Viability 3/3 - Rarity was required by the challenges and it's not difficult to design a rare land that feels like one. Lands are also colorless, so if everything is fine it's useless to analyze them in the color pie.
Balance 2.5/3 - It's in the right colors to take advantage of the first and last ability in the best way. I see this card as very balanced, playable both in limited and constructed, especially in UB control decks. The only problem might be if Johnny finds a way to abuse this in some kind of engine. I see no problems in casual or multiplayer.
Creativity
Uniqueness 1/3 - I wrote Flavor before this. I've found the card: River of Tears. So the name isn't that original. The mechanics neither. The first line is essentially morbid. The last ability heavily reminds me of embalm or other keyworded or unkewyorded abilities that exile card from graveyards as a cost, like escape in THB, the penultimate set so still fresh in everybody's mind.
Flavor 3/3 - No problems here. I've had to check Gatherer to make sure the name didn't exist yet. That's the sign of a good name. I could have sworn it was already on a real card. Apparently, I'm getting confused by some other card.
Polish
Quality 3/3 - All good.
Main Challenge 2/2 - Good.
Subchallenges 2/2 - Both met.
TOTAL 21.5/25

Results (bold advance)

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Sojourner Dusk: 21.5
Stankweed Imp: 21.5
Flatline: 20.5
netn10: 20
Legend: 18
Jimmy Groove: 17.5

[Ryder]

Done

marioguy3

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Land of Tall
Land (Rare)
: Add .
: Add 1 mana of any color, then put a rust counter on Land of Tall. If there are 2 or more rust counters on Land of Tall, sacrifice it, then each player searches their library for a basic land card and puts it onto the battlefield, then shuffles their library.
The boldest explorers can't quite eliminate the strange feelings about this place.

Design
Appeal 3/3 - Timmy likes two mana in one turn, Spike as well and enjoys the ability to pick the right moment to use it. Johnny wonders how to make it one-sided. All great.
Elegance 1.5/3 - This card definitely needs to be read several times to really understand what is going on here. Also wordy for a land. Should have gone with Vivid Meadow wording.

Development
Viability 3/3 - It's definitely Rare.
Balance 1.5/3 - It would be a solid card without the 2+ rust crazyness. With it, it just asks to be broken in some way.

Creativity
Uniqueness 2/3 - Vivid Meadow cycle meets Field of Ruin. The final effect is rather... well... unique.
Flavor 1/3 - The flavor text fits the name, but how do these two match the card's mechanics? No idea. Rust counters? I don't get it.

Polish
Quality 1.5/3 - "1" and "2" should be "one" and "two". "Each player searches their library for a basic land card, puts it onto the battlefield, then shuffles their library." would be the correct form. See Field of Ruin.
Main Challenge 2/2 - Met.
Subchallenges 2/2 - Both met.

TOTAL 17.5/25

Kypster

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Transmorphic Wastes
Land (R)
T: Add C
1, T: Destroy target nonbasic land. Transmorphic Wastes becomes a copy of that land.
I swear we're walking in circles.

Design
Appeal 2/3 - Spike wants it for power. Jxnny wants to target Dark Depths.
Elegance 3/3 - Clean and effective.

Development
Viability 0.5/3 - One-sided land destruction as early as turn 2 is against the basic rule of Magic: to be fun.
Balance 0/3 - Completely nuts. You must have missed the fact that Wasteland sacrifices itself and Thespian's Stage costs 1 more to just copy the land.

Creativity
Uniqueness 1/3 - Wasteland meets Thespian's Stage
Flavor 2/3 - Makes sense, but nothing to write home about.

Polish
Quality 2/3 - Flavor text should be a quote.
Main Challenge 2/2 - Met.
Subchallenges 1/2 - Is Rare, but none of its abilities can add colored mana.

TOTAL 13.5/25

StonerOfKruphix

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Dragon's Lair
Land (R)
T: Add C.
T: Add RRR. Activate this ability only if you control a Dragon.

Design
Appeal 2/3 - Timmy likes lots of mana, Johnny could use a Dragon to ramp into something else.
Elegance 3/3 - Perfectly clear.

Development
Viability 2.5/3 - Simple enough to be an Uncommon, it feels like it's Rare only because of power (and the subchallenge). At Uncommon it would be much better for Limited.
Balance 1.5/3 - RR would already be plenty. These lands add three mana and it's not the power level to aim for.

Creativity
Uniqueness 0.5/3 - Just a blatantly simple yet overpowered tribal land.
Flavor 1.5/3 - Name and overall mood are good, but missing flavor text leaves a glaring hole.

Polish
Quality 3/3 - No problems here.
Main Challenge 2/2 - Met.
Subchallenges 2/2 - Both met.

TOTAL 18/25

Subject16

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Radiant Geoscape
Land (Rare)
T: Add C.
Domain — 2, T: For each basic land type among lands you control, add one mana of any color a land you control of that type could produce.
It's said that no two see the same landscape.

Design
Appeal 2/3 - That's a cool land for Timmy (potential to tap for 5) and Johnny (let's put it to good use...).
Elegance 1/3 - The wording is extremely confusing on that ability. This allows you to generate GGG while controlling Temple Garden, Breeding Pool and Overgrown Tomb. I got it only after like my third pass. Should have just gone with: "For each basic land type among lands you control, add one mana of any color."

Development
Viability 3/3 - Definitely Rare, no complaints here!
Balance 3/3 - Cabal Stronghold tells me it's spot-on. High domain is much harder to achieve than high Swamp count, so 2, T activation is good.

Creativity
Uniqueness 2/3 - A rather interesting take on a scalable land.
Flavor 2.5/3 - I only don't like the fact it's not so "radiant" until you hit Domain 3. But maybe I'm just nitpicking.

Polish
Quality 3/3 - Technically correct.
Main Challenge 2/2 - Met.
Subchallenges 2/2 - Both met.

TOTAL 20.5/25

kwanyeegor-ii

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Quarry of the Conflux
Land (Rare)
Quarry of the Conflux enters the battlefield tapped.
T: Add C.
T: Add one mana of any color. Activate this ability only if you control an artifact named Manalith.
3, T, Discard a card: Create a colorless artifact token named Manalith. It has "T: Add one mana of any color."
Manaliths quickly sprang up all over New Alara.

Design
Appeal 2/3 - Spike likes the option to turn unwanted cards into ramp. Johnny sees a way to turn lands into artifacts....
Elegance 2.5/3 - A bit wordy, but overall clear enough.

Development
Viability 3/3 - Solid Rare, all good.
Balance 3/3 - Since its ramp ability comes online on turn 4, I'm fairly certain it's safe. Which means, full score!

Creativity
Uniqueness 2.5/3 - Not revolutionary, but definitely something new. Approved.
Flavor 3/3 - It's quite pleasing to my inner Vorthos that this taps for any color only after you've created a Manalith. Definitely warrants the additional rules text. Nice work there.

Polish
Quality 2.5/3 - The name is not in bold.
Main Challenge 2/2 - Met.
Subchallenges 2/2 - Both met.

TOTAL 22.5/25

Rithaniel

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Pyramids of Snagoth
Land R
: Add .
, : Add one mana of any color to your mana pool.
2: Until end of turn, Pyramids of Snagoth becomes a 3/3 Spirit creature that is all colors. It's still a land.

Design
Appeal 1.5/3 - Spike likes manlands. Jenny's interested in the "all colors" part.
Elegance 2.5/3 - A bit clogged, but overall ok.

Development
Viability 3/3 - Rare works well here.
Balance 2/3 - This is Unknown Shores with an additional, relatively strong ability. Its "manpower" is comparable to that of Treetop Village - already slightly over the top.

Creativity
Uniqueness 1/3 - That "all colors" part is definitely uncommon. Other than that, known stuff put together in a not-so-unique way.
Flavor 2.5/3 - Everything holds. Solid.

Polish
Quality 2/3 - "to your mana pool" is obsoleted.
Main Challenge 2/2 - Met.
Subchallenges 2/2 - Both met.

TOTAL 18.5/25

Results (bold advance)

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kwanyeegor-ii - 22.5
Subject16 - 20.5
Rithaniel - 18.5
StonerOfKruphix - 18
marioguy3 - 17.5
Kypster - 13.5

[void_nothing]

RaikouRider

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Design
(2/3) Appeal - Mostly a Jxnny/Spike card for the fast ramp of limited-usage mana. Txmmy doesn't care as much.
(3/3) Elegance - A pretty simple card that provides a "difficult" puzzle that still has many answers (activated abilities being the most obvious one).

Development
(3/3) Viability - Rare is where this should be.
(2/3) Balance - A lot of potential. There are plenty of strong abilities this mana can be used on. Not ETBing tapped makes this even stronger.

Creativity
(1/3) Uniqueness - There are many, many "spend this mana only" producers out there, and this is Thran Turbine as a land.
(1.5/3) Flavor - The name is fine, and connects to the abilities in kind of an abstract way, but it's a crime not to have flavor text when your rules text is so short and elegant.

Polish
(3/3) Quality - Looks good.
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - Done.
(1/2) Subchallenges - Makes colorless mana only.

Total: 18.5/25

slimytrout

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Design
(2/3) Appeal - Who likes graveyard combo decks? Why, Jxnny and Spike!
(3/3) Elegance - Very easy to understand, very elegant.

Development
(3/3) Viability - Rare is where this goes, being a non-ETBT any-color land.
(3/3) Balance - Can't find fault here; it's unrestricted mana but you have to fuel it and set it up yourself.

Creativity
(1.5/3) Uniqueness - Not "non-unique" so much in a real-Magic sense but this is the kind of card every custom Magic designer has already made. It's just such an intuitive design. It also can hardly be said to break real new ground.
(3/3) Flavor - This looks good.

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

Total: 22.5/25

Lorn Asbord Schutta

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Design
(3/3) Appeal - Hey, who doesn't wanna dig a free artifact out of their land?
(2.5/3) Elegance - Pretty wordy and gives you a couple things to track, but the whole card concept is super easy to understand.

Development
(3/3) Viability - This is definitely a rare.
(2/3) Balance - Most likely a bit too strong, as you'll always play it in a deck where you'll hit an artifact and thus have immediate mana of any color, but the way that mana ability is worded limits the combo potential.

Creativity
(3/3) Uniqueness - I really enjoy this - it's similar to the hideaway lands while still being its whole own unique thing.
(3/3) Flavor - Really nice flavor that ties in with the story of Urza block.

Polish
(0.5/3) Quality - Several grammar and punctuation issues, plus seemingly random line breaks.
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - Good.
(2/2) Subchallenges - And done.

Total: 21/25

haywire

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Design
(3/3) Appeal - Txmmy loves this inherently, Jxnny would build around it, Spike just wants to abuse it with fetchlands.
(2.5/3) Elegance - Triggered ability is a bit of a mouthful and could take oddly long to resolve at a multiplayer table, especially if you take a small amount of time to decide on the color of mana.

Development
(3/3) Viability - Definitely a rare, and the colors produced and Jund association fit.
(2/3) Balance - The aforementioned fetch lands make this possibly a bit too good - if it even goes off twice in a game this card is incredibly strong.

Creativity
(3/3) Uniqueness - Really, really different stuff. Kudos.
(3/3) Flavor - This makes sense on Jund and the flavor text is good; actually goes a long way to explaining why the former shard has its own sarlacc now.

Polish
(2.5/3) Quality - Adding three different colors of mana requires a serial comma (see Arcane Sanctum and friends).
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - Done.
(2/2) Subchallenges - And done.

Total: 23/25

Phyrexian Editor

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Design
(1/3) Appeal - Primarily a Jxnny card, with maybe some slight Spike appeal, although Spike would just play an efficient mana accel artifact if they wanted to pay mana to produce mana.
(1.5/3) Elegance - This card has both incredibly elegant and incredibly inelegant aspects. While everyone would inherently know what the land type counters did, there's also no reminder text on this, and subtype counters feel like something R&D wouldn't touch, because that would theoretically restrict the naming of counter types (is Dragon's Hoard a Gold token? You and I know that, but people would ask this rules question for a long time). There doesn't seem to be that much design space for land type counters (although who knows? Maybe a small theme could be made out of them). There are also some memory issues here, which could be made easier in a real set with easily distinguishable counters like Ikoria's punchout keyword counters.

Development
(2.5/3) Viability - While this card could easily be rare I feel like it could just as easily be seen at uncommon, especially if it's in a "basic land types matter" themed set.
(2.5/3) Balance - Maybe a bit underpowered if anything? Unless you just want a Coalition Victory combo piece, with the amount of mana you have to pump into this to get two-plus colors, you might rather have Rupture Spire most of the time.

Creativity
(2.5/3) Uniqueness - While there's plenty of precedent for giving lands new land types, it's never been done like this before.
(3/3) Flavor - I have to give you kudos for this because the name and flavor text are really well-written.

Polish
(3/3) Quality - Fine
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - Looks good.
(1/2) Subchallenges - While this card giving itself basic land types would let it add colored mana, it doesn't have the ability to add that mana inherently.

Total: 19/25

Ink-Treader

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Design
(3/3) Appeal - All-rounder! Txmmy, Jxnny, and Spike both enjoy the sheer amount of mana they could get out of this card.
(2/3) Elegance - Pretty wordy card in general, especially with the flavor text; that may be a bit of cramped text box.

Development
(3/3) Viability - This card's a rare for sure.
(1/3) Balance - Untapping whenever one of your nontoken creatures dies is clearly very very very strong, but requiring exile as the cost for both the untap and the colored mana generation is an elegant but effective power limiter.

Creativity
(2.5/3) Uniqueness - No specific one piece of precedent but this feels like a remix of several existing ideas.
(2.5/3) Flavor - This looks good; flavor text is a bit boilerplate though.

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

Total: 21/25

Henlock

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Design
(3/3) Appeal - It's a high-quality mana source... with a strange restriction... associated with creatures smashing face. Spike, Jxnny, and Txmmy all would sign on.
(3/3) Elegance - Pretty elegant stuff, with my only possible qualm being confusion about when you lose the mana by new players - but that's easily answered by the rules.

Development
(3/3) Viability - Very much a rare and very much associated with RW.
(1.5/3) Balance - While producing two colored mana with no ETBtapped is incredibly strong, requiring a creature that's able to go into combat and restricting the mana to effectively combat tricks only limits this a lot.

Creativity
(2.5/3) Uniqueness - The general concept is not all that unique but I don't think there has ever been a combat-only-mana land before.
(3/3) Flavor - Looking good!

Polish
(2.5/3) Quality - First ability accidentally uses a semicolon instead of a colon to set the cost off.
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - Done.
(2/2) Subchallenges - And done.

Total: 22.5/25

Totals (Bold advance)

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haywire 23
slimytrout 22.5
Henlock 22.5
Lorn Asbord Schutta 21
Ink-Treader 21
Phyrexian Editor 19
RaikouRider 18.5

Seriously great entries this round. I wish I could have advanced everyone and in fact 5 people are advancing due to a tie for 4th place.