April CCL Round 1 - Barren Wastes

[Lorn Asbord Schutta]

April CCL Signups/Round 1
"Barren Wastes"


Banner made from Sunscorched Desert, Arid Archway and Desert, by Wizards of the Coast and Min Yum, Raymond Bonilla, Jesper Myrfors, respectively

Welcome to the Card Creation League! Everyone is free to participate in either or both of the first two rounds. Come join us!

Theme

Partially inspired by the Outlaws of Thunder Junction, it is a Desert month here at CCL. Some challenges will deal with the land type itself, while other will have more to do with the flavour of such places.

Challenge

Design a Desert land card with a colorless color identity.

Clarifications

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• Desert is a nonbasic land type; you can read more about it here.
• Your card can have other types, supertypes and subtypes, such as creature or Snow; read however the next point.
• A card has a colorless color identity if it doesn't have any colored mana in its mana cost, no colored mana symbol in its rules text, no color indicator and doesn't have any basic land type; you can read more about it here.
• Make sure to include a rarity.

Anyone can enter this first round! Your submissions are due Saturday, April 6th, 12:00 EST.

Schedule

• Round 1 — Open to Everyone (April 1st-6th)
• Round 2 — Open to Everyone (April 6th-13th)
• Rounds 1 and 2 Critiques (Due April 16th)
• Top 8 — Open to top 8 finishers (April 16th-21st)
• Top 8 Critiques (Due April 24th)
• Top 4 — Open to top 4 finishers (April 24th - 28th)
• Top 4 Critiques (Due April 30th)
• Final (June, winner determined by public poll)

For this month we will continue asking first and second round contestants to evaluate six other contestants during the critique and top 3 period, in order to increase the total number of evaluations each contestant gets.

[OneAndOnly]

Forgotten Shrine of a Forgotten King
Land - Desert {U}
T: Add C. Put a brick counter on Forgotten Shrine of a Forgotten King.
1, T, Sacrifice Forgotten Shrine of a Forgotten King: Search your library, graveyard, or hand for an colorless card with mana value equal to the number of brick counters on Forgotten Shrine of a Forgotten King. Reveal that card. You may put that card into your hand, onto the battlefield, or into the graveyard. If you searched your library this way, shuffle.

[AnotherAlias]

Dessert Desert
Artifact Land — Food Desert (C)
Indestructible
Dessert Desert enters the battlefield tapped.
: Add .
, , Sacrifice Dessert Desert: You gain 3 life and draw a card.

[KB52665]

Rust Dunes
Artifact Land — Junk Desert (U)
: Add c.
, Sacrifice Rust Dunes: Exile the top card of your library. You may play that card this turn. Activate only as a sorcery.
"Behold, the deathbed of industry."
— Ashnod

[Komandon]

Singing Dunes
Land — Desert (rare)
Singing Dunes enters the battlefield tapped.
When Singing Dunes enters the battlefield, you may untap another target land. If you do Singing Dunes deals 2 damage to you.
T: Add C.

[marioguy3]

Desert of Unknowns
Land - Desert (Rare)
Desert of Unknowns enters the battlefield tapped.
Whenever you cast a spell that targets a Desert you control, you may manifest the top card of your library.
: Add .

[kwanyeegor-ii]

Blind Eternities Expanse
Land - Desert (Rare)
T: Add C.
2, T, Pay 2 life: Choose a basic land type. For the rest of the game, Deserts you control are the chosen land type in addition to their other types.
5, T: Target creature you control gets +1/+1 and gains landwalk of one of Blind Eternities Expanse's land types until end of turn. Activate only during your turn.

[netn10]

Tantalizing Oasis
Land - Desert (Rare)
At the beginning of your upkeep, you get a madness counter. (At the beginning of your upkeep, you lose 1 life and mill a card for each madness counter you have.)
Whenever you activate an ability of a food, flip a coin. If you lose the flip, counter it.
T: Add C.
3, T: Create two Food tokens.

[void_nothing]

Barrenyard
Land - Desert (R)
T: Add C.
T: Target Deserter, Reflection, Sand, or Survivor gets +1/+0 and gains your choice of first strike, lifelink, trample, or vigilance until end of turn. Activate only as a sorcery.

[Lorn Asbord Schutta]

This will close this round. Please critique six contestants below you, looping if necessary, and provide a top 3 from among them.

@OneAndOnly
@AnotherAlias
@KB52665
@Komandon
@marioguy3
@kwanyeegor-ii
@netn10
@void_nothing

[netn10]

void_nothing

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Barrenyard
Land - Desert (R)
T: Add C.
T: Target Deserter, Reflection, Sand, or Survivor gets +1/+0 and gains your choice of first strike, lifelink, trample, or vigilance until end of turn. Activate only as a sorcery.

A cool callback to Swarmyard. I like the fact that the powerful effect is balanced by the fact that these creature types are under-utilized. I would love to see a set where these types are very relevant though.

OneAndOnly

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Forgotten Shrine of a Forgotten King
Land - Desert {U}
T: Add C. Put a brick counter on Forgotten Shrine of a Forgotten King.
1, T, Sacrifice Forgotten Shrine of a Forgotten King: Search your library, graveyard, or hand for an colorless card with mana value equal to the number of brick counters on Forgotten Shrine of a Forgotten King. Reveal that card. You may put that card into your hand, onto the battlefield, or into the graveyard. If you searched your library this way, shuffle.

Nice callback to a very forgotten mechanic from Amonketh, the brick counters. This card seems way too powerful, even if it was a rare or a mythic - there is no drawback to just putting 4 of these in any deck and then get a pretty much free tutor in three turns.

AnotherAlias

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Dessert Desert
Artifact Land — Food Desert (C)
Indestructible
Dessert Desert enters the battlefield tapped.
: Add .
, , Sacrifice Dessert Desert: You gain 3 life and draw a card.

Delicious flavor! Indestructable might be too much for a common, but other than that, it seems onpar with Candy Trail.

KB52665

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Rust Dunes
Artifact Land — Junk Desert (U)
: Add c.
, Sacrifice Rust Dunes: Exile the top card of your library. You may play that card this turn. Activate only as a sorcery.
"Behold, the deathbed of industry."
— Ashnod

I love combining artifact token types with stuff and the flavor text is 10/10. The card might be too good - artifact land that cycles itself for free is concerning.

Komandon

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Singing Dunes
Land — Desert (rare)
Singing Dunes enters the battlefield tapped.
When Singing Dunes enters the battlefield, you may untap another target land. If you do Singing Dunes deals 2 damage to you.
T: Add C.

Now that's a fresh idea of a etb for a land! Kinda interesting with untapping bounce lands and lands with crazy activated abilities. Might be over the top with Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx. Not sure why it's a desert though.

marioguy3

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Desert of Unknowns
Land - Desert (Rare)
Desert of Unknowns enters the battlefield tapped.
Whenever you cast a spell that targets a Desert you control, you may manifest the top card of your library.
: Add .

We don't have a lot of build around lands, and this one is very interesting. The obvious is to enchant it and other deserts with Fertile Ground-type of effects, but I can people trying some more fancy stuff such as Indestuctable and Wind Zendikon.

Top 3

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1st: marioguy3
2nd: Komandon
3rd: AnotherAlias

[Komandon]

Critiques

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Desert of Unknowns
Land - Desert (Rare)
Desert of Unknowns enters the battlefield tapped.
Whenever you cast a spell that targets a Desert you control, you may manifest the top card of your library.
: Add .

Not sure on the rarity since it comes into play tapped. Maybe if it had a ETB of scry 1. The may I guess makes it rare but if wanted to choose not to manifest they you likely would know what the top card is with another card. But I see what you see going for.

Blind Eternities Expanse
Land - Desert (Rare)
T: Add C.
2, T, Pay 2 life: Choose a basic land type. For the rest of the game, Deserts you control are the chosen land type in addition to their other types.
5, T: Target creature you control gets +1/+1 and gains landwalk of one of Blind Eternities Expanse's land types until end of turn. Activate only during your turn.

I wouldn't if the second ability would repeatable until you have all basic land types.

Tantalizing Oasis
Land - Desert (Rare)
At the beginning of your upkeep, you get a madness counter. (At the beginning of your upkeep, you lose 1 life and mill a card for each madness counter you have.)
Whenever you activate an ability of a food, flip a coin. If you lose the flip, counter it.
T: Add C.
3, T: Create two Food tokens.

Worded oddly. So you active and sac the food, flip and if you lose you don't gain the 3 life. I guess it's to make up for the low cost to make food. Any deck that runs this would use food as a resource. And the name is nice.

Barrenyard
Land - Desert (R)
T: Add C.
T: Target Deserter, Reflection, Sand, or Survivor gets +1/+0 and gains your choice of first strike, lifelink, trample, or vigilance until end of turn. Activate only as a sorcery.

Odd choice of kindred. Only one that would be consistently made is Sand.

Forgotten Shrine of a Forgotten King
Land - Desert {U}
T: Add C. Put a brick counter on Forgotten Shrine of a Forgotten King.
1, T, Sacrifice Forgotten Shrine of a Forgotten King: Search your library, graveyard, or hand for an colorless card with mana value equal to the number of brick counters on Forgotten Shrine of a Forgotten King. Reveal that card. You may put that card into your hand, onto the battlefield, or into the graveyard. If you searched your library this way, shuffle.

This for an uncommon is overpowered. Pay 1 and get any land. The choice of were to put it is too. Even if it was a mythic. Most common cmc is 2-3 so would be too good any deck.

Dessert Desert
Artifact Land — Food Desert (C)
Indestructible
Dessert Desert enters the battlefield tapped.
: Add .
, , Sacrifice Dessert Desert: You gain 3 life and draw a card.

Only criticism is it being indestructible for a common.

Top 3

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1st: marioguy3
2nd: AnotherAlias
3rd: netn10

[void_nothing]

Critiques

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OneAndOnly - Name is a mouthful but quite flavorful. I like the Aether Vial-esque second activated ability here but might restrict it to nonlands only - maybe immediately popping this to tutor any land from anywhere is just too good for combos that rely on specific lands? Allowing you to put the tutored card into one of three zones is also innovative but maybe adds unnecessary complication.

AnotherAlias - Name is quite silly and feels like a playtest name, and overall this card feels like a Modern Horizons design... I'm not sure why this one has indestructible, other than to just make the card a bit stronger?

KB52665 - Simple and effective. Love the flavor text. Not sure how good the free impulse draw is... I feel like this could even be usable in eternal formats.

Komandon - Another seeming eternal-format plant, this seems primarily built to do crazy things with Scorched Ruins, but I do think it just "feels" like a Desert.

marioguy3 - Interesting stuff. Obviously the ability for a land to create free 2/2s is very powerful, to say nothing about being able to turn manifested creature cards face up, but the trigger condition is quite narrow and would require building around. Enchant lands.dek?

kwanyeegor-ii - A pretty complicated design that has a lot of tracking complexity, but I like idea of Desert typal and the flavor is actually on point with the connection to all basic land types.

Top 3

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1. KB52665
2. marioguy3
3. OneAndOnly

[marioguy3]

void_nothing: This land does quite a lot with Mutavault as a spicy synergy. The sorcery speed activation balances the surprise power well.

netn10: Lots of creativity for this land. Very good synergy with creatures that power based on artifacts you control. Forget the life gain, the tokens are the real power play.

kwanyeegor-ii: This is a neat little land that can do small, but maybe helpful things in desert decks with 1 or 2 colors.

OneandOnly: This can grab any land and any of the super powerful mana rocks at instant speed. Best land tutor ever. But it is likely too strong for most formats.

AnotherAlias: Perfect, smooth + simple flavor being well executed this round.

KB52665: This junk land is anything but junk. Very accessible exile cast might be a bit strong.

top 3:
3rd place: void_nothing
2nd place: netn10
1st place: AnotherAlias

[Lorn Asbord Schutta]

This is a bump for visibility. Remember that critiques' period is until 16th April, 12:00 EST.

[AnotherAlias]

KB52665 — I don't know. I mean, in my opinion, this should enter tapped. I'd say its a bit too strong as is.
Komandon — I don't understand what part of this is "singing", so I will just assume you meant singeing. Though, why is this even a desert (aside from the fact you need it to be for the challenge) and why does it untap lands in a flavor perspective? So is singing correct and its singing is just so esoteric that only lands like it and it's grating to everyone else? I mean, I like the effect, so, yeah.
marioguy3 — While I am unsure of the quantity of spells that can target lands you control, I am sure that this should not exist none-the-less.
kwanyeegor-ii — I like this card. I'm sorry, I don't know what to else to say about about this, I just like it.
netn10 — I don't know about this one, pal. One's got to pay , really , for two Foods that could end up being duds. And those madness counters seem more like something for a stronger card, though it may make its owner mad, capiche?
void_nothing — I like the Sand creature type, it's funny. If these ever actually become relevant types, this would be a bad idea, but, luckily, I don't think anyone really cares enough to think ahead, or sometimes even to look back. It does work with changelings, so that's an interesting thing to think about.

Top 3:
3rd: Komandon
2nd: kwanyeegor-ii
1st: void_nothing

[kwanyeegor-ii]

Quick top 3

t3

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1 Komandon
2 kb52665
3 void_nothing

[Lorn Asbord Schutta]

@OneAndOnly
@KB52665

Less then 24 hours left for critiques and top 3. If you find yourself with no time for critiques, give at least top 3.

[KB52665]

Top 3

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1. Marioguy3
2. Void_nothing
3. AnotherAlias

I couldn't vote for Singing Dunes, but that was my favorite overall. But great work everyone!

[OneAndOnly]

Reviews

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Dessert Desert
Artifact Land — Food Desert (C)
Indestructible
Dessert Desert enters the battlefield tapped.
: Add .
, , Sacrifice Dessert Desert: You gain 3 life and draw a card.

The name makes me think it wants to be in an Un set, but the ability is pretty straightforward. Indestructibility seems at odds with the self-sacrifice ability, and makes me want to animate it instead.

Rust Dunes
Artifact Land — Junk Desert (U)
: Add c.
, Sacrifice Rust Dunes: Exile the top card of your library. You may play that card this turn. Activate only as a sorcery.
"Behold, the deathbed of industry."
— Ashnod

This is so much like the above card it's eerie. More likely to end up as a card, but eerie nonetheless.

Singing Dunes
Land — Desert (rare)
Singing Dunes enters the battlefield tapped.
When Singing Dunes enters the battlefield, you may untap another target land. If you do Singing Dunes deals 2 damage to you.
T: Add C.

Mini-Rishidan Port ... but why? I'd probably phrase this as, "When Rishidan Dunes enters, you may pay two life. If you do, tap target land" which at least seems like a weird twist on shocklands.

Desert of Unknowns
Land - Desert (Rare)
Desert of Unknowns enters the battlefield tapped.
Whenever you cast a spell that targets a Desert you control, you may manifest the top card of your library.
: Add .

I like this.

Blind Eternities Expanse
Land - Desert (Rare)
T: Add C.
2, T, Pay 2 life: Choose a basic land type. For the rest of the game, Deserts you control are the chosen land type in addition to their other types.
5, T: Target creature you control gets +1/+1 and gains landwalk of one of Blind Eternities Expanse's land types until end of turn. Activate only during your turn.

The "for the rest of the game" is bound to be a logistical nightmare, especially in tournament situations (how's a judge to know?) The landwalk ability feels kinda meh in comparison.

Tantalizing Oasis
Land - Desert (Rare)
At the beginning of your upkeep, you get a madness counter. (At the beginning of your upkeep, you lose 1 life and mill a card for each madness counter you have.)
Whenever you activate an ability of a food, flip a coin. If you lose the flip, counter it.
T: Add C.
3, T: Create two Food tokens.

I was expecting rad counters and a Mad Max, post-nuclear holocaust vibe. Madness counters feel like they should be an ability counter, since, after all, there's an ability called madness, even though it wouldn't really work with counters.

Both Food-related abilities are weird.

Barrenyard
Land - Desert (R)
T: Add C.
T: Target Deserter, Reflection, Sand, or Survivor gets +1/+0 and gains your choice of first strike, lifelink, trample, or vigilance until end of turn. Activate only as a sorcery.

"Desert"er, eh?

I hate batching.

Ratings

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1. marioguy3 Desert of Unknowns
2. KB2665 Rust Dunes
3. Dessert Desert
4. Singing Dunes
5. Tantalizing Oasis
6. Blind Eternities Expanse
HM. void_nothing Barrenyard

[Lorn Asbord Schutta]

The critiques period and therefore signups ends now. Thanks to all contestants for their submissions and judgements.
The top 8 will be announced soon.