August 2020 MCC — Final Round

[Sojourner Dusk]

Welcome to the MTG Nexus August 2020 MCC!

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Back in 2003, as Eighth Edition was preparing to be unveiled, WotC had decided on implementing two changes to Magic: The Gathering. The first was a new card frame. The second was replacing the word "colorless" with a new symbol: . This allowed for new... wait, I'm being told that the symbol wasn't implemented until... 2016? It was only used in casting costs for one set? Colorless mana generation and generic mana costs were confused for more than a decade? And still isn't evergreen for casting costs, which would break open design space in several directions?

This is our last attempt at this time to correct that oversight.

Main Challenge — Design a mana producing card with in its casting cost that could have appeared as a "future-shifted" card in Future Sight(2007). The card can't tap to produce mana.
Subchallenge 1: No generic mana appears in your entry. (This subchallenge will appear in every Round this month.)
Subchallenge 2: Your entry includes a non-evergreen mechanic from one of the following sets: Conflux (2009); New Phyrexia (2011); Innistrad (2011); or Fate Reforged (2015).

Clarifications

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None yet.

Deadlines
Design: 23:59 EDT 27 Aug // 03:59 UTC 28 Aug

Judging: 23:59 EDT 31 Aug // 03:59 UTC 01 Sep

Judges
@Sojourner Dusk
@slimytrout
@void_nothing


Players
@BaconCatBug
@Feyd_Ruin
@Subject16
@Lorn Asbord Schutta

[BaconCatBug]

Phyrexian Harvester
Artifact Creature — Horror (Rare)
( can be paid with either or 2 life.)
Infect (This creature deals damage to creatures in the form of -1/-1 counters and to players in the form of poison counters.)
At the beginning of your precombat main phase, put a -1/-1 counter on Phyrexian Harvester, you lose 1 life, and add .
3/4

[Feyd_Ruin]

Roxith's Purifier {C}{B/P}{B/P}
Legendary Artifact (R)
({B/P} can be paid with either {B} or 2 life.)
{B/P}, Sacrifice a creature: Add {C}{C}. Draw a card.
The furnaces of the old world were transformed by the Thane of Rot to serve a new, more gruesome purpose.

[Subject16]

Puresteel Myr CWW
Artifact Creature — Myr (R)
Metalcraft — At the beginning of your precombat main phase, if you control three or more artifacts, add C for each artifact you control. You may spend mana produced this way as though it were mana of any color to cast artifact spells or activate abilities of artifacts.
WW: Artifact creatures you control get +1/+1 until end of turn.
2/2

[Lorn Asbord Schutta]

Nihilistic Ritual
Instant (U)
You lose all unspent mana. Then, if this spell was cast from graveyard, add .
Flashback — Discard a card named Nihilistic Ritual. (You may cast this card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then exile it.)
"Fools think they found power in Void, but they only indulge in smoke of the incense of sanity. Soon they rituals will yield nothing, as to nothingness they call."
—Jodah

[Sojourner Dusk]

Entries are locked. Judges, if you please.

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BaconCatBug

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Design
(2/3) Appeal: T is confused. J can work with this. S is glad to have more Black ramp.
(1.5/3) Elegance: There is a lot to digest on this card, between two instances of reminder text and a long triggered ability.

Development
(3/3) Viability: This is the epitome of Suicide Black play mentality. Rare is fitting. As a 4 CMC or two colorless and 4 life, this feels solid.
(2.5/3) Balance: In LImited, this can give you a large advantage in the early going while also protecting you. In Constructed, this might have less appeal, depending on the other decks available to incorporate this into. It can't run away with the game without multiple card combo territory.

Creativity
(2.5/3) Uniqueness: Creatures with diminishing returns have been done before, but not often as a trade off, especially for up to four turns.
(2/3) Flavor: This follows in the tradition of Dross Harvester and Greater Harvester (honestly, why didn't we think 'Phyrexian' when we saw these in OG Mirrodin block).

Polish
(2.5/3) Quality: Please don't use colored text for the Rarity. "...phase, you lose 1 life, put a -1/-1 counter on Phyrexian Harvester, and add ." (-0.5) Based off Pox, Bitterblossom, and other cards, the life loss happens first, then effects regarding permanents happen next when the effects are included in a single sentence. Card draw happens before life loss, though.
(2/2) *Main Challenge: A future of Phyrexia is featured.
(2/2) Subchallenges: Both met.

Total: 20/25

Feyd_Ruin

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Design
(2/3) Appeal: T doesn't like to sacrifice creatures. J can find ways to exploit this. S sees card draw.
(3/3) Elegance: Clearly understood.

Development
(2/3) Viability: The colorless mana symbol feels tacked on, or as a replacement for . Legendary Rare feels appropriate.
(2/3) Balance: In Limited, this can be difficult to utilize properly, even with careful drafting. Constructed formats will love this with token generators as easy fodder. While abusable, it's hard to maximize while only generating colorless mana for each creature and or 2 life paid.

Creativity
(2/3) Uniqueness: Ashnod's Altar and Carnage Altar had a Greedy baby.
(2/3) Flavor: I looked up Roxith to get some perspective. The name and ability works, but mention of furnaces being used to "purify" brings some really uncomfortable notions from the 1940s to mind.

Polish
(3/3) Quality: No issues found.
(2/2) *Main Challenge: Phyrexia: still providing nightmare fuel.
(2/2) Subchallenges: Both met.

Total: 20/25

Subject16

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Design
(2.5/3) Appeal: T can get behind Myr tribal. J likes free mana. S likes free mana that can be spent as any color.
(2.5/3) Elegance: The ability can be understood, but I'm not sure why this incorporated the colored mana in the casting cost.

Development
(1.5/3) Viability: A 3 mana 2/2 that can generate 3+ free mana each turn? In White? No. This would have made sense as Blue or strictly Colorless, but not White. Given how ridiculously this scales (it's a mildly restricted Tolarian Academy), this should be Mythic.
(0.5/3) Balance: In Limited, this is a build around first pick no questions asked because of how much advantage it provides. This will likely get banned/restricted in Eternal formats due to it's comparison to TA, as Metalcraft is easier to achieve the further back you go.

Creativity
(2/3) Uniqueness: As aluded to earlier, this effect has been seen before, though rarely due to the power level. Giving the creature an outlet to spend the mana generated is unusual as well.
(1.5/3) Flavor: "Puresteel" ties back to one other card, and this feels disconnected from that.

Polish
(3/3) Quality: No issues found.
(2/2) *Main Challenge: If it's Myr, it's got to be Mirrodin.
(2/2) Subchallenges: Both met.

Total: 17.5/25

Lorn Ashbord Schutta

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Design
(1/3) Appeal: T is confused. J wants to break this. S sees an empty ritual.
(2.5/3) Elegance: It takes a moment to comprehend, but then comprehension sets in.

Development
(3/3) Viability: Colorless mana ramping? I guess. Uncommon is fine here.
(0.5/3) Balance: This is likely to be useless in Limited, due to needing multiple copies to reliably cast. In Constructed, this might find a home in Tron decks. Maybe. The degree of difficulty to utilize this card is extremely high.

Creativity
(2/3) Uniqueness: Mana Rituals have been done before, though none have ever drained your mana pool to minimize chaining ramping.
(2/3) Flavor: The name doesn't sync as well to the effect, especially given the madman ranting about Void. I get some Eldritch Moon vibes (and why didn't that set use with Emrakul and more Eldrazi?!), but it's odd that this would be a preview of a return to a world that hadn't yet been visited initially.

Polish
(2.75/3) Quality: "...was cast from a graveyard,..." (-0.25) I will admit I thought the "unspent mana" was incorrect until I checked the updated errata via Worldpurge and Mana Short. I'm going to go with the concept that the broken speech in the flavor text is intentional.
(2/2) *Main Challenge: This was a little iffy for me. It doesn't showcase a future mechanic, and while it doesn't have enough flavor to hint at the world it comes from, the entry paints sufficient mystery as to where it might take place. Not like we're ever going to Murganda.
(2/2) Subchallenges: Both met.

Total: 17.75/25

Scores

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BaconCatBug: 20
Feyd_Ruin: 20
Subject16: 17.5
LAS: 17.75

[slimytrout]

BaconCatBug

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Phyrexian Harvester
Artifact Creature — Horror (Rare)
( can be paid with either or 2 life.)
Infect (This creature deals damage to creatures in the form of -1/-1 counters and to players in the form of poison counters.)
At the beginning of your precombat main phase, put a -1/-1 counter on Phyrexian Harvester, you lose 1 life, and add .
3/4

Design
(2/3) Appeal — Johnny tends to be infect's biggest fan, and the extra mana is just gravy. Timmy likes the possibility of a 3/4 for 2 and also likes the ramp, but doesn't like that it shrinks itself constantly. Spike likes discounts and the ability to pay with life, but doesn't love that it eventually eats itself without really providing any value.
(2.5/3) Elegance — I must admit it doesn't look quite as bad in the future-shifted frame, but I still find the wacky amalgamation of wingdings to be a bit unaesthetic.

Development
(3/3) Viability — Once again, difficult to know exactly how this slots into the color pie. But black does get mana production for a cost (life doesn't cut it), and while a -1/-1 counter isn't a heavy cost I think it probably works. Rare seems right.
(2/3) Balance — This is too strong on turn 2. Infect decks typically don't care at all about paying life, and this gives you a 2/3 attacker that also ramps you into a removal spell to clear their blocker.

Creativity
(2/3) Uniqueness — We've seen a few cards that interact with mana and -1/-1 counters (Channeler Initiate, Devoted Druid, Morselhoarder) although this is a new take on it.
(2.5/3) Flavor — A little odd that it's harvesting itself, but those Phyrexians do some f-ed up things so it's not that weird.

Polish
(3/3) Quality — All good.
(2/2) Main Challenge — Yep.
(2/2) Subchallenges — Yep yep.

Total: 21/25

Feyd_Ruin

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Roxith's Purifier {C}{B/P}{B/P}
Legendary Artifact (R)
({B/P} can be paid with either {B} or 2 life.)
{B/P}, Sacrifice a creature: Add {C}{C}. Draw a card.
The furnaces of the old world were transformed by the Thane of Rot to serve a new, more gruesome purpose.

Design
(2.5/3) Appeal — Johnny and Spike both love it, for similar-ish reasons: they want to convert creatures into other resources. Timmy doesn't like giving up his creatures, but they do like ramping.
(2.5/3) Elegance — Very simple and clean, but the same wingdings problem as most of the other entries.

Development
(3/3) Viability — Yes, this is definitely something a black rare artifact would do.
(2/3) Balance — The repeatability is dangerous, since you aren't actually limited by black mana. If the cost weren't phyrexian it would be much safer.

Creativity
(1.5/3) Uniqueness — This comes from a substantial history of black/artifact cards that do very similar things, most recently Priest of Forgotten Gods.
(3/3) Flavor — Love it.

Polish
(3/3) Quality — All good.
(2/2) Main Challenge — Yep.
(2/2) Subchallenges — Yep yep.

Total: 21.5/25

Subject16

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Puresteel Myr CWW
Artifact Creature — Myr (R)
Metalcraft — At the beginning of your precombat main phase, if you control three or more artifacts, add C for each artifact you control. You may spend mana produced this way as though it were mana of any color to cast artifact spells or activate abilities of artifacts.
WW: Artifact creatures you control get +1/+1 until end of turn.
2/2

Design
(2/3) Appeal — Johnny likes this for artifact combo decks. Timmy is interested in pumping their whole team. Spike doesn't like the look of a difficult-to-cast 2/2 for 3 mana that provides no real benefit until your next turn.
(2/3) Elegance — "As though it were mana of any color to cast artifact spells or activate abilities of artifacts" takes a couple attempts to understand (and is also wrong). Also the same unaesthetic mixed mana cost.

Development
(2/3) Viability — White definitely doesn't get ramp on this scale (3+ mana!), even if it has to jump through hoops to do so. Rare is probably right, although could see uncommon.
(2.5/3) Balance — I'm sure there are decks that want this, but it's just so vulnerable and takes so much setup to get going that I'm skeptical it would be worth it.

Creativity
(2.5/3) Uniqueness — We've had mana for metalcraft before (Mox Opal) and there's a bit of Chromatic Orrery in the "lots of colorless can be used for anything" but overall pretty fresh.
(2/3) Flavor — The myr are pretty archetypically colorless – the only one that hasn't been is Sarcomite Myr and that was meant to be shocking and Phyrexian, not "pure."

Polish
(2.5/3) Quality — It should just be "you may spend this mana as though…"
(2/2) Main Challenge — Yep.
(2/2) Subchallenges — Yep yep.

Total: 19.5/25

Lorn Asbord Schutta

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Nihilistic Ritual
Instant (U)
You lose all unspent mana. Then, if this spell was cast from graveyard, add .
Flashback — Discard a card named Nihilistic Ritual. (You may cast this card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then exile it.)
"Fools think they found power in Void, but they only indulge in smoke of the incense of sanity. Soon they rituals will yield nothing, as to nothingness they call."
—Jodah

Design
(1/3) Appeal — Johnny loves this – a spell that does nothing when you first cast it?! Spike and Timmy can't stand it for exactly that reason.
(2.5/3) Elegance — New players will be pretty confused by the fact that it does nothing when cast from your hand.

Development
(3/3) Viability — Yeah, I mean, it's really weird but I don't think there's anything wrong with it.
(2.5/3) Balance — Wow, I have not the slightest idea. The flashback is not great since you need another copy in hand, but I worry about anything that lets you cast spells from the yard. I'm going to deduct half a point because it *feels* like it would either be busted or unplayable, but I don't know which.

Creativity
(2.5/3) Uniqueness — Obviously drawing on a long line of rituals, as well as cards that are better when cast from the graveyard, but definitely feels like a very novel take.
(2.5/3) Flavor — Flavor text is pretty weird, which fits with the card and with Jodah, but it's also kind of stilted, which doesn't.

Polish
(2.5/3) Quality — Some minor typos in the flavor text.
(2/2) Main Challenge — Yep.
(2/2) Subchallenges — Generic mana.

Total: 20.5/25

Results

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Feyd_Ruin: 21.5
BaconCatBug: 21
Lorn Asbord Schutta: 20.5
Subject16: 19.5

[void_nothing]

BaconCatBug

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Design
(1.5/3) Appeal - Primarily a Jxnny puzzle. Txmmy doesn't like their creatures shrinking no matter how much it accelerates their mana. Spike might like the ramp but it's rather fragile and unreliable, and doesn't last very long...
(2.5/3) Elegance - That triggered ability is a bit long-winded.

Development
(2/3) Viability - Fast mana is more red than black these days, and also this is reminiscent of Magus of the Vineyard - In a New Phyrexia/Future Sight context this seems more red or green than black.
(2/3) Balance - Rather swingy to put it mildly: Either this card accelerating you to BBBBB on turn three or somesuch results in a game-ending sequence, or you wind up just losing a bunch of life and watching your creature die.

Creativity
(1.5/3) Uniqueness - Reminiscent of a remix of a lot of existing things - plenty of creatures shrink every turn and plenty of others make mana. In a weird way this is kinda like Devoted Druid.
(1/3) Flavor - "Phyrexian Harvester" is a generic name already, but it doesn't make sense for this card - it feels like it's harvesting itself, which imo doesn't make sense for even Phyrexia.

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

Total: 17.5/25

Feyd_Ruin

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Design
(2/3) Appeal - Primarily a Jxnny/Spike card for hopefully obvious reasons.
(3/3) Elegance - Hard to argue with this one.

Development
(3/3) Viability - Definitely black, rare, and legendary I'd say.
(2/3) Balance - Undoubtedly VERY strong, but the mana or life payment involved here in addition to the creature sacrifice gates this from being truly broken.

Creativity
(1/3) Uniqueness - Ashnod's Altar plus the innumerable sac-creatures-to-draw variants.
(3/3) Flavor - Love that deep reference to an underrated Steel Thane.

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

Total: 21/25

Subject16

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Design
(3/3) Appeal - All-rounder - Txmmy likes the mass pump, Jxnny likes the funky stuff with artifact mana bleaching, Spike likes the Tolarian Academy of it all.
(2/3) Elegance - That metalcraft ability is a bit busy and does a whole lot of things with multiple variables.

Development
(1.5/3) Viability - This card feels like it has to be at least partially blue - that's the color of artifact mana, after all, and white has never really gotten anything like that - and feels more mythic than rare given the explosivity of it and the flavor of Mirrodin Pure(?).
(1.5/3) Balance - That metalcraft ability is crazy strong - see the card I compared it to in the Appeal section - and the cheap mass pump is just icing on the cake.

Creativity
(2/3) Uniqueness - Some interesting ideas here for sure even if other parts were derivative.
(2.5/3) Flavor - May not have been room for much but I would have liked short flavor text for contextualization.

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

Total: 19.5/25

Lorn Asbord Schutta

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Design
(1.5/3) Appeal - The bizarreness and unreliability of this card, even though it produces lots and lots of C in multiples, makes it appeal primarily to Jxnny; Spike would be all over it if it were more consistent. Txmmy doesn't see the point./
(2.5/3) Elegance - Elegant in how puzzling it is at first. Yet still puzzling. That didn't make a lot of sense, huh?

Development
(2.5/3) Viability - This card is so strange it feels like it SHOULD be rare, but relying on multiple copies makes uncommon more sensible.
(2/3) Balance - The definition of a swingy card - this is a dead card if it's one copy and an engine for nine free mana with four. The first part with emptying the mana is an interesting balancing factor, though - it's a good thing you can't actually build up to CCCCCCCCC with just copies of this card!

Creativity
(2/3) Uniqueness - It has plenty of unique conditions attached but ultimately this card is "just" a ritual.
(3/3) Flavor - Spot-on.

Polish
(2.5/3) Quality - "Soon their rituals..."
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - Done.
(2/2) Subchallenges - And done.

Total: 20/25