February MCC, Round 3 - Memories of Leylines

[void_nothing]

Banner based on Culling the Weak, by Scott M. Fischer and Wizards of the Coast. Thanks to bravelion83 for the "Core Set Style" MCC Logo

February MCC, Round 3 - Memories of Leylines

Welcome to the February MCC! It's Mana Production Month here at the MCC.

Main Challenge: Design a planeswalker card that can produce mana with one or more of its loyalty abilities.
Subchallenge 1: Your card has an existing planeswalker type that is used on four or fewer cards to date
Subchallenge 2: Your card has one or more mana symbols in its text that are of a color the card is not

DEADLINES

Design deadline: Wednesday, March 22nd 23:59 EDT

Judging deadline: Saturday, March 25th 23:59 EDT

Clarifications

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Main Challenge: The card must say "Add(s) {some mana}" in the effect of one or more of its loyalty abilities.

Subchallenge 2: Yes, this is intentionally the same as the prior two rounds' subchallenge.

MCC Rubric

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The MCC Rubric is given below, in an easily "copy and pasted" form.

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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:
void_nothing

Players:
@bravelion83
@netn10
@Freyleyes
@Subject16

[bravelion83]

Narset, Ojutai Heretic 2UW
Legendary Planeswalker — Narset (M)
You may cast cards exiled with Narset, Ojutai Heretic. (You still pay their costs.)
+1: Add R. This mana can't be spent to cast spells from your hand or activate abilities of permanents you control.
-1: Target player may exile a card from their hand. If they don't, they exile the top two cards of their library.
-X: Choose target creature on the battlefield with mana value X or less or up to X target creature cards in graveyards. Exile the chosen cards.
4

[netn10]

Koth, Resistance Failed 1
Legendary Planeswalker - Koth (Mythic)
Compleated
+1: If you control less lands than each opponent, put a Sphere, Locus or an artifact land card from your hand onto the battlefield tapped.
-2: Add W for each different Sphere, Locus and artifact land you control. You lose 2 life for each mana added this way.
-5: Destroy all Mountains.
{1}

[Freyleyes]

Oko, the Ambitious GUU
Legendary Planeswalker - Oko {M}
Whenever one or more creatures attack Oko, create a Food token.
+1: Tap up to one target creature and put a stun counter on it for each loyalty counter on Oko.
-2: Add X mana in any combination of R, W and/or B, where X is the number of tapped creatures target opponent controls.
-4: All creatures lose all abilities and become green Elk creatures with base power and toughness 2/2.
{ 1 }

[void_nothing]

Just a reminder for @Subject16 to please get your entry in before midnight, if possible - if you need an extension, please let me know. To everyone else, the same reminder applies for edits: Please make sure your card is in the final form you would like it to be in by midnight!

[Subject16]

Apologies for the late submission!

Grist, Devouring Swarm 1BB
Legendary Planeswalker — Grist (M)
+1: Create a 1/1 black and green Insect creature token with Devour 1.
-2: Sacrifice a creature. If you do, add X mana in any combination of B and/or G, where X is that creature's power.
-5: Destroy target creature. Create X 1/1 black and green Insect creature tokens with Devour 1, where X is that creature's power.
3

[void_nothing]

Okay, round is closed! This is the versus round, and the pairings are the following. The winner of each of these pairings will go on to the finals:

bravelion83 vs. Subject16
netn10 vs. Freyleyes

[void_nothing]

bravelion83

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Design
(2/3) Appeal - Of the three psychographics, theft effects like this one tend to appeal to Jxnny and Spike, not to Txmmy.
(2/3) Elegance - This is a pretty easy to understand card in terms of what the point of it is, but there's also a lot of fiddly exiling from different places and a REALLY wordy +1.

Development
(1.5/3) Viability - Mythic is definitely right for a four-ability planeswalker, but I have to question whether this feels white or like Narset. The exiling from hand is DEFINITELY a black ability. I'm reminded of Ashiok or Tibalt specifically when masquerading as Valki, God of Lies.
(3/3) Balance - Sure - stealing opponents' stuff is powerful and all, as is potentially impulse drawing and recurring your own creature cards, but the +1 on this card is quite weak and it doesn't "wash" mana, meaning you have to make sure you have means to pay for all the things you exile.

Creativity
(1.5/3) Uniqueness - The biggest unique aspect is being able to play cards from any player, which is cool, but I find clear inspo from the aforementioned planeswalker cards.
(2/3) Flavor - Again, this doesn't really feel fully like Narset's slate of abilities - maybe if you use the -1 to exile from the top of your library or -X to exile your own creature cards from the 'yard they do. Also odd that someone who still holds on to being Jeskai can use her red mana producing ability to "betray" other red players.

Polish
(2.5/3) Quality - Symbols in the mana cost are reversed.
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - Looks good.
(2/2) Subchallenges - And done.

Total: 18.5/25

netn10

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Design
(1/3) Appeal - This is a really Jxnny-focused card. Utility for Spike is limited and Txmmy is wondering why you'd want to blow up lands of a color you're in.
(1.5/3) Elegance - Did you mean for this to start with 3 loyalty and go down to 1 if you use compleated? As it stands, if you cast this by paying life for the {W/P} it will die immediately upon hitting the battlefield without some kind of outside effect, which is certainly confusing. Besides that, the first two loyalty abilities are somewhat wordy.

Development
(2.5/3) Viability - I very much understand what the white mana is doing here in terms of flavor (servitude to Norn), but it still feels off - the only white bit is the land catch-up ability. Otherwise, it all looks good as both a "reversed" Phyrexianized Koth and as a red 'walker.
(3/3) Balance - I don't have any issues here just because of how niche this card is. The use cases are highly specific to say the least - see my earlier comment about focus on Jxnny.

Creativity
(2.5/3) Uniqueness - No specific new ground being broken, but wow this is a DIFFERENT kind of planeswalker.
(3/3) Flavor - The flavor is where this card really succeeds. I very much see it as a twisted Koth.

Polish
(2/3) Quality - That +1 should say "fewer lands" and the -2 should say "each different name among…"
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - Done.
(1/2) Subchallenges - Koth is a planeswalker type with few printings, but this card is white and has white symbols in its text, so it does not pass the other subchallenge.

Total: 18.5/25

Freyleyes

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Design
(2.5/3) Appeal - Primarily a Jxnny and Spike card, but Txmmy can certainly appreciate the Food and mana.
(1.5/3) Elegance - Multiple sources of potential complication here, including a variable amount of mana being added in several colors, a triggered ability that creates a Food token, and permanently overwriting creatures.

Development
(3/3) Viability - Fits the colors, fits the rarity, fits as Oko.
(2.5/3) Balance - Even with a (low-loyalty) ultimate that's basically a wrath effect, I feel like 1 starting loyalty pushes this towards underpowered or underwhelming, particularly with the double-blue requirement making it more difficult to cast.

Creativity
(2.5/3) Uniqueness - Nothing groundbreaking on its own, but several rather unexplored ideas here.
(3/3) Flavor - Sure - I like the name paired with the mana ability, as if Oko's ambition is to master the other colors as well.

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

Total: 22/25

Subject16

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Design
(2.5/3) Appeal - Txmmy and Jxnny have lots of "ins" here, although maybe this isn't QUITE efficient enough for Spike.
(2.5/3) Elegance - Abilities that stack a bunch of counters on tokens are always a bit iffy, and

Development
(3/3) Viability - Fitting with the color, rarity, and subtype.
(3/3) Balance - Sure, this looks like it's in the right place and definitely fits aristocrats-type decks.

Creativity
(1.5/3) Uniqueness - Certainly nothing that's all that new of a concept, but tokens with devour are certainly interesting.
(3/3) Flavor - Yup, the name and abilities definitely fit Grist.

Polish
(2.5/3) Quality - Devour should actually not be capitalized here.
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - Done.
(2/2) Subchallenges - And done.

Total: 22/25

[void_nothing]

And our finalists are Freyleyes and Subject16 - round to come soon!