MTGNexus

so glad to see everyone migrated from salve

since formatting is weird - IIW: faeries!

Oscar Crease, the Plagiarized 2w
Legendary Creature - Human (R)
(William Gaddis, A Frolic of His Own)

Giant Peach 2G
Artifact - Vehicle Food (C)
Islandwalk
2, T, Sacrifice Giant Peach: You gain 3 life.
Crew 1
3/4

IIW: Nonblue illusions

Gunnerkrig Court is bae

Antimony Carver, Gillitie Medium 1RG
Legendary Creature - Human Shaman (R)
You may reveal the first card you draw each turn as you draw it. Whenever you reveal a non-Human creature card this way, you may pay 3. If you do, create a token that's a copy of that card except it has haste. Sacrifice it at the beginning of the next end step.
Whenever a creature you control dies, scry 1.
3/2

IIW: End the turn

#expectingmetoread

I just watched the sonic movie and it was super fun. Pretty simple plot, does no more or less than it needs to handle that plot, great fun, sonic goes fast.

Anyway entries will be judged in ~20 hours.

Jane Kamali, Justified Operative 3RW
Legendary Creature - Human Soldier (R)
Equip abilities you activate cost 2 less to activate
Jane Kamali gets +1/+1 for each equipment you control attached to a creature.
Equipped creatures you control get +1/+1 for each equipment attached to them.
"What did I tell you, Esa? The more prepared you are for a fight, the better chance to survive it."
3/3
The protagonist of The Stars Now Unclaimed, my favorite recent book series. It reads like a comic, and it constantly shifts what kind of sci fi it's aping, and it's great!

IIW: Choose a banned card from the current standard, or recent standard, and design a replacement that isn't broken (Same collector's number, color, all of that)

The Chromium Universe 8
Legendary Artifact
Indestructible
The Chromium Universe enters the battlefield with 100 Air counters on it.
Whenever a player spends mana, remove that many air counters from The Chromium Universe. If the last counter is removed this way, that player loses the game, then sacrifice The Chromium Universe.

IIW: a card left out of a recent set.

I got some of these references! All of these are getting judged as magic cards regardless of whether they're a flavor match to their story sources.

scarbo — Oscar's super useful and a nice little package. You can get back a card you don't play, or a card that was exiled for some other reason at the cost of a draw. Neat! Unclear why he can do these things for us flavor-wise.

jamblock — Honestly what the hell was up with that book? This vehicle is fine and neat though. I want more food you can pilot.

mellifluoresce — I was hoping someone would make a Gunnerkrigg Court entry! I was also hoping for a Kill Six Billion Demons entry, but one outta two ain't bad. I like this a lot. Sneaking a copy of a potentially huge creature onto the battlefield probably ought to take more work than this, but it seems OK especially since Champion of Rhonas is around. We'll fix the numbers in testing.

chetoos — A side benefit of this challenge is finding potential cool new books for the reading list. Anyway, this is an awesome take on equipment matters: the stronger Jane's companions are, the stronger she is. (Also, the stronger she is, the stronger-er she is. Shiny.)

Megiddo — Neat race to the bottom wincon. Might stall games though as both players start passing because they can't afford to do anything. (At which point one player or the other basically loses by judge ruling somebody must do something to advance the game state.)



HM: Melli b/c hell yeah Annie
Winner: chetoos

Next: Choose a banned card from the current standard, or recent standard, and design a replacement that isn't broken (Same collector's number, color, all of that)

Cards that have been banned in standard recently (from MTG Wiki):

• Current: Field of the Dead, Oko, Thief of Crowns, Once upon a Time, Veil of Summer
• 2019: Nexus of Fate (in Arena BO1)
• 2018: Attune with Aether, Rogue Refiner, Ramunap Ruins, Rampaging Ferocidon
• 2017: Emrakul, the Promised End, Smuggler's Copter, Reflector Mage, Aetherworks Marvel, Felidar Guardian

Can you believe 2017's the first year anything got banned in Standard since 2011 with Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Stoneforge Mystic? I'm impressed. I was wondering if there'd be a decent cutoff for "recent standard" but I guess six years of no bans gives us one.

chetoos wrote: ↑

4 years ago

IIW: Choose a banned card from the current standard, or recent standard, and design a replacement that isn't broken (Same collector's number, color, all of that)

I'm taking this to mean something that would fit the same slot in the file, so we'll create a whole new card but it'd have to still fit in alphabetical order with the cards either side of it, right?

awesome! Glad to have won this round, and yeah, the books are sweet. There's 3 so far, and it's also funny you mention Shiny, because when I first read them, I felt like the author watched Serenity before, during, and after each writing session

I think the standard power level pendulum is swinging back to the other side

Oko the Vagrant 2gu
Planeswalker - Oko (M)
+1: Create a 1/1 blue Faerie creature token with flying. You gain 1 life.
-2: Target artifact or creature you don't control becomes a copy of target artifact or creature you control.
-7: You get an emblem with "At the beginning of your upkeep, you may search your library for a creature card and put it onto the battlefield, then shuffle your library. Creatures you control become a copy of that creature, except they're not legendary."
(3)

IIW: faeries!

spacemonaut wrote: ↑

4 years ago

chetoos wrote: ↑

4 years ago

IIW: Choose a banned card from the current standard, or recent standard, and design a replacement that isn't broken (Same collector's number, color, all of that)

I'm taking this to mean something that would fit the same slot in the file, so we'll create a whole new card but it'd have to still fit in alphabetical order with the cards either side of it, right?

That is the idea, yep. Looking forward to the entries.

Ramunap Ruins was banned in 2018, because it was "acting as a virtual reduction to the opponent's starting life total" and it provided "a high level of inevitability in matchups that go long".

It's a desert so most of its card is already filled out for us, but we could make the bottom ability do something that's cool but doesn't have this effect.

Ramunap Remnants
Land—Desert
: Add .
, Pay 1 life: Add .
2RR, T, Sacrifice a Desert: Exile the top card of your library. You may cast that card until end of turn.


---

Ok, here's one that actually is a whole new card entry, filling the slot of Rampaging Ferocidon (coming between Otepec Huntmaster and Raptor Hatchling). I'm engaging in a dream world where R&D realised they needed tribal overlap.

Rambunctious Swashbuckler 2RR
(Art: A velociraptor in a full pirate outfit. Even has a sword, although it's not using it because it's busy biting someone instead.)
Creature — Dinosaur Pirate
Haste, menace
Enrage — Whenever Rambunctious Swashbuckler is dealt damage, put a +1/+1 counter on it and each creature you control that shares a creature type with it.
The most enthusiastic member of the crew, communicating almost exclusively through violence.
3/3


IIW: A tokenlink ability, like squirrellink.

mine was from Exhalation.

T: Add T

Ior, Ruins of Glasspool
Legendary Land (R)
Ior, Ruins of Glasspool enters the battlefield tapped.
t: Add C.
T, Pay 2 life: Add one mana of any color. If that mana was used to cast a permanent spell, it enters the battlefield with an additional +1/+1 counter, charge counter, or loyalty counter on it. (You choose which counter after the spell resolves.)

IIW: CMC 4 creatures

EDIT: I changed the cost for the second ability from 1 life to 2 life, because I realized 1 probably was too little for the advantage generated (at least in Limited).

Judging tonight or tomorrow morning, make sure you get your entries in.

Once Upon a Time 2G
Enchantment (R)
Play with the top card of your library revealed.
You may cast the top card of your library if it's a creature card that has an Adventure.
You may spend mana as though it were any color to cast Adventure instant or sorcery spells.

IIW: Halo: Combat Evolved

Smuggler's Thopter 1
Artifact - Vehicle (U)
Flying
Whenever ~ attacks or blocks, you may draw a card. If you do, discard a card.
Crew 2
1/1

IIW: echo

Oko, Trickster of Thorns 1GU
Legendary Planeswalker - Oko [MR]
+2: Each player creates a Food token. Scry 1.
-3: Sacrifice up to two Foods. For each Food sacrificed this way, draw a card and gain 1 life.
-9: You gain an emblem with "You may have creatures and artifacts you control enter the battlefield as a copy of a creature you control".
[4]

IIW:
9+ cmc non-wordy planeswalkers (that are Ultra Super-Suped-Up versions)

Welcome to MaRo's remedial class for standard power level. These cards you've designed are the first step to a standard without bans. Pray we don't need to advance to step 2. Your cards will be judged on how close they match the original card's use, the fixed power level, as well as the fun factor of the card. It's not good if you ruin a card by fixing it, after all. Closeness to original use: This is still a simic planeswalker, the abilities are all reminiscent of the old Oko while being good toned down versions. One thing I like about this one is the actual ultimate, where old oko just had the steal thing for small creatures.

Fixed power level: Definitely turned down a lot of the knobs on Broko here, but I think it's still a good midrange planeswalker.

Fun Factor: No where near as broko as Oko, but still looks interesting to play with. I'm already planning a lot of things to do with that ultimate, and I just now realized it's an upkeep triggering emblem. Oh boy.
two fixed cards for the price of one! I'll review each one independently, but it's a dirty trick to have 2 cards for one entry.
Ramunamp:
Closeness to original use: Fits with original card well, as it's still clearly part of the desert cycle, and still does something that Red likes to do. Solid here.

Fixed Power level: Still provides advantage in the late game, but now the advantage is greatly reduced. you're spending 5 mana to draw a card in red that you have to use that turn. You may have fixed it too far in the other direction. Maybe allow the card to still be used until the end of your next turn, or reduce the mana.

Fun Factor: As said in the last section, less fun than the old card just because you're likely not going to be able to use the card you draw unless you're super flooded. This was a red deck that regularly went to 5 mana, you must recall, and this doesn't really work in that kind of deck.


Rambunctious Raptor:
Closeness to original use: Aside from the menace, not terribly close, and the abilities don't totally fit in either of its tribes. Dinosaurs had counters, but mostly from white, and pirates only as etb raid triggers. The biggest user of counters was the river heralds, so this doesn't fully work. Additionally, the original card was supposed to counter copy cat decks, and this doesn't do anything like that.

Fixed Power Level: This part you're really good in, since this is an appropriately costed rare that has a very exciting ability and interesting synergies.

Fun Factor: Very fun to play, and inspires a lot of fun gameplay stories Now this is an interesting card idea, but I'm not sure how well it works, or if it would see print at all. Let's get into it.
Closeness to original use: Field of the dead was a go over the top card, designed to add a level of inevitability to a deck running it. This just makes your cards better for payment of life, which is an interesting idea, but I think it's a little far from the original concept.

Fixed Power Level: As with the ramunamp remnants earlier, this maybe goes too far in the other direction, not necessarily being underpowered, but just by not providing a lot to work with.

Fun Factor: Lots going against this card, especially when compared to field of the dead. it's a lot less interesting of an ability, and Wotc doesn't like to print legendary lands, citing that they feel bad when drawn in multiples.
The only card that changes a card's type that it's remaking. I don't really think that's a bad thing, but it's still an interesting idea.
Closeness to original use: Not terribly close. The old Once was used to add consistency to decks, acting as a sort of ancient stirrings, while this is a future sight variant. A good one, don't get me wrong, but it's not quite the same idea.

Fixed Power Level: Definitely a good power level. I'd maybe add in a cost reduction on adventures, but I like the way that it plays together. One note from a design perspective is that cards that let you play from the top don't reveal anymore, they just let you look.

Fun Factor: This is another very good use of the top down idea of starting a story, but instead, you're sending out everyone on adventures as the way you begin to tell your story. I like it.
And the one that stuck the closest to the original card. I'm glad you didn't make it blue, since it would have changed the collector's number.

Closeness to original use: Definitely close, as it's the same card, just reduced in power. I'd have preferred a fully new card that just played in similar space. Also, you downshifted the rarity, that would change the set too, so gotta knock you points for that as well.

Fixed Power Level: Definitely fixed, you turned down the knob and now it's much more in line. Still good card selection, but 1 toughness means it's not blocking for long

Fun Factor: Losing a power on the crew seems really bad, I'd have liked a neutral crew cost at least for this, but you really wanted to tone this down.

Judging:
I'm just glad to get to judge one of these again, but now I need to actually say who won, that's less fun for me, but oh well.

HM: Spacemonaut and Melliflouresce. Spacemonaut, you had two designs that combined had the right mix I was looking for, but individually just missed the mark. Melli, your take on a story's beginning was exciting, but it just wasn't quite there.

Winner: Scarbo, and Oko! Each loyalty ability does what the original's was supposed to do (token and lifegain, threat reduction, powerful ultimate) but more in line with reasonable power levels. This planeswalker looks exciting for midrange decks, I'd be honored to play it into a fry a hundred times.

Next: Faeries!

o wow! you guys i either wanna see some strong tribal effects or solid efficiency, like delver really should have been a faerie

Spellsnap Sprite 1u
Creature — Faerie Wizard (U)
Flash
Flying
When Spellsnap Sprite enters the battlefield, return target noncreature spell to its owner's hand.
"Do it again so I can see!"
1/1

IIW: Popular Mechanics.

Quicksilver Thief 2U
Creature - Faerie Rogue (R)
Flash
Flying
When Quicksilver Thief enters the battlefield, look at the top X cards of target player's library, where X is the number of Faeries you control, exile one of them, then put the rest on the bottom of that library in a random order. During any turn you attacked with a Faerie, you may cast that card and you may spend mana as though it were mana of any color to cast that spell.
1/2

IIW: Halo: Combat Evolved

Tiller of Temptation 1UU
Creature - Faerie Wizard (R)
Flying
When Tiller of Temptation enters the battlefield, gain control of target creature or planeswalker if its converted mana cost is less than or equal to the number of Faeries you control. (This effect lasts indefinitely.)
2/1

IIW: Goblins