June MCC Round 1 - Otherworldly invasion

[bravelion83]

(This month's banner is my own elaboration on the art of Breach the Multiverse by Liiga Smilshkalne.)


June MCC Round 1

Otherworldly invasion

As is tradition by now, this month we will celebrate the latest set, in this case March of the Machine (plus The Aftermath), by exploring its mechanics and themes, as usual in this kind of MCC months.


Main Challenge

Choose one of the planes that have been represented in a battle card in March of the Machine. Please state your chosen plane in your submission post. This is a specific exception to the "no extra content" rule for this month.

Then design a non-battle card that shares at least one color and at least four consecutive words of rules text with the ETB effect of the battle card from MOM representing your chosen plane.

You can't use any mana symbols that go outside of your chosen battle card's colors anywhere on the card.

If you choose Ravnica, that has a colorless battle card, then your card must also be colorless and can't have any colored mana symbols on it.

Note: See clarifications for a list of the 36 battle cards in MOM and their respective colors and ETB effects.


Subchallenge 1 - The battle card from MOM representing your chosen plane is multicolored. (Beware that your choice of plane will have consequences in future rounds.)


Subchallenge 2 - Your card contains the word "Phyrexia" or "Phyrexian" anywhere on it.

Clarifications

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Main Challenge


While the letter of the challenge does NOT forbid it, the spirit of the challenge is that you make a card set on your chosen plane. Deductions in Main Challenge might come because of this.

List of planes, colors, and ETB effects

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BATTLE LIST

Plane: Ravnica
Colors: colorless
ETB effect: "exile target nonland permanent an opponent controls that isn't exactly two colors."

Plane: Belenon
Colors: W
ETB effect: "create a 2/2 white and blue Knight creature token with vigilance."

Plane: Dominaria
Colors: W
ETB effect: "you gain 4 life and you draw a card."

Plane: Gobakhan
Colors: W
ETB effect: "look at target opponent's hand. You may exile a nonland card from it. For as long as that card remains exiled, its owner may play it. A spell cast this way costs 2 more to cast."

Plane: Theros
Colors: W
ETB effect: "search your library for an Aura, God, or Demigod card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle."

Plane: Kamigawa
Colors: U
ETB effect: "tap target artifact or creature an opponent controls and put a stun counter on it."

Plane: Vryn
Colors: U
ETB effect: "draw three cards, then discard a card."

Plane: Arcavios
Colors: U
ETB effect: "search your library, graveyard, and/or outside the game for an instant or sorcery card you own, reveal it, and put it into your hand. If you search your library this way, shuffle."

Plane: Segovia
Colors: U
ETB effect: "create two 1/1 blue Kraken creature tokens with trample."

Plane: Eldraine
Colors: B
ETB effect: "target opponent discards two cards."

Plane: Ulgrotha
Colors: B
ETB effect: "it deals 3 damage to any other target and you gain 3 life."

Plane: Fiora
Colors: B
ETB effect: "choose one or both —
• Destroy all legendary creatures.
• Destroy all nonlegendary creatures."

Plane: Innistrad
Colors: B
ETB effect: "target creature an opponent controls gets -13/-13 until end of turn."

Plane: Mercadia
Colors: R
ETB effect: "you may discard a card. If you do, draw two cards."

Plane: Regatha
Colors: R
ETB effect: "it deals 4 damage to another target battle or opponent, and 1 damage to up to one target creature."

Plane: Kaldheim
Colors: R
ETB effect: "exile all cards from your hand, then draw that many cards. Until the end of your next turn, you may play cards exiled this way."

Plane: Karsus
Colors: R
ETB effect: "it deals 3 damage to each creature and each planeswalker."

Plane: Tarkir
Colors: R
ETB effect: "reveal any number of Dragon cards from your hand. When you do, Invasion of Tarkir deals X plus 2 damage to any other target, where X is the number of cards revealed this way."

Plane: Muraganda
Colors: G
ETB effect: "put a +1/+1 counter on target creature you control. Then that creature fights up to one target creature you don't control."

Plane: Zendikar
Colors: G
ETB effect: "search your library for up to two basic land cards, put them onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle."

Plane: Ikoria
Colors: G
ETB effect: "search your library and/or graveyard for a non-Human creature card with mana value X or less and put it onto the battlefield. If you search your library this way, shuffle."

Plane: Ixalan
Colors: G
ETB effect: "look at the top five cards of your library. You may reveal a permanent card from among them and put it into your hand. Pur the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order."

Plane: Shandalar
Colors: G
ETB effect: "return up to three target permanent cards from your graveyard to your hand."

Plane: New Phyrexia
Colors: WU
ETB effect: "create X 2/2 white and blue Knight creature tokens with vigilance."

Plane: Xerex
Colors: WU
ETB effect: "return up to one target creature to its owner's hand."

Plane: Amonkhet
Colors: UB
ETB effect: "each player mills three cards, then each opponent discards a card and you draw a card."

Plane: Azgol
Colors: BR
ETB effect: "target player sacrifices a creature or planeswalker and loses 1 life."

Plane: Ergamon
Colors: RG
ETB effect: "create a Treasure token. Then you may discard a card. if you do, draw a card."

Plane: Moag
Colors: GW
ETB effect: "put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control."

Plane: (New) Capenna ("Capenna" is the plane, "New Capenna" the city, and "Old Capenna" what's left of the plane outside the city)
Colors: WB
ETB effect: "you may sacrifice an artifact or creature. When you do, exile target artifact or creature an opponent controls."

Plane: Tolvada
Colors: WB
ETB effect: "return target nonbattle permanent card from your graveyard to the battlefield."

Plane: Kaladesh
Colors: UR
ETB effect: "create a 1/1 colorless Thopter artifact creature token with flying."

Plane: Lorwyn
Colors: BG
ETB effect: "destroy target non-Elf creature an opponent controls with power X or less, where X is the number of lands you control."

Plane: Kylem
Colors: RW
ETB effect: "up to two target creatures each get +2/+0 and gain vigilance and haste until end of turn."

Plane: Pyrulea
Colors: GU
ETB effect: "scry 3, then reveal the top card of your library. If it's a land or double-faced card, draw a card."

Plane: Alara
Colors: WUBRG
ETB effect: "exile cards from the top of your library until you exile two nonland cards with mana value 4 or less. You may cast one of them without paying its mana cost. Put one of them into your hand. Then, put the rest of the exiled cards on the bottom of your library in a random order."

For example, all the following meet the Main Challenge:


• If I choose Ravnica, I can't make a colored card at all, but I can make a colorless card with no colored mana symbols on it that says "Gain control of a nonland permanent an opponent owns.", because the four consecutive words "nonland permanent an opponent" appear in the ETB effect of Invasion of Ravnica.

I couldn't just say "a permanent" without saying "nonland" because then the number of consecutive words shared drops below four (it would become three in this case: "permanent an opponent").


• If I choose Belenon, I can make a white card that creates "2/2 white and blue Bird creature tokens with flying", because the four consecutive words "2/2 white and blue" are found in the ETB effect of Invasion of Belenon.

"2/2" counts as a single word here. For the sake of this challenge, a "word" is any string of consecutive characters between two consecutive spaces.

That card could NOT be white-blue itself though, because Invasion of Belenon is not blue but only white, and I can't go outside of the colors of my chosen battle card.


• If I choose Dominaria, I could make a card that says "you draw a card and you lose 1 life", because the four consecutive words "you draw a card" are found in the ETB effect of Invasion of Dominaria, but I can't make my card black, which would be the obvious choice, because Invasion of Dominaria is not black (it's mono-white), which would make it quite a challenge... but if I managed to make my card mono-white too then it would count.


• If I choose Gobakhan, I can make a mono-white card that says "Spells your opponents cast cost 2 more to cast." because "2 more to cast" is found in Invasion of Gobakhan's ETB effect.

The word "costs" right before does NOT count because it's not the same word as "cost", even though they are related. Here the spelling counts, not the meaning.

The mana symbol 2 countes as a single word according to the definition given above, as it's a single character between two consecutive spaces.


• If I choose Kamigawa, I can make a mono-blue card that just says "Put a stun counter on target creature." as the consecutive words "put a stun counter on" are found in the ETB effect of Invasion of Kamigawa.

The fact that it's five consecutive words doesn't matter. The Main Challenge requires "at least" four consecutive words, it can be more. It can't be less though.


• If I choose Ulgrotha, I can't make a color-shifted black Shock, because the consecutive string "damage to any target" is interrupted by the word "other" in Invasion of Ulgrotha's ETB effect so it actually counts as three consecutive words (not enough) and then a separate one later.

Shock itself wouldn't count anyway because it goes outside the colors of the battle card.


• If I choose Amonkhet, I can make a mono-blue card that just says "Target player mills three cards." because the consecutive words "player mills three cards" are shared with Invasion of Amonkhet's ETB effect and my card is within the colors of the battle card even though it's only blue and not black. That's fine.

You can drop colors from the battle card. What you cannot do is ADDING colors that are not part of it.

In this example, where I choose Amonkhet, that has a UB battle card, I can make a mono-U card, a mono-B one, or a UB one, but I can't make a WU one or a BR one, let alone a RGW. Those three colors are out of my own reach. If I want to use them I must choose a different battle card/plane.


• If I choose Alara, I can essentially do anything with the colors of my card as long as I make a card that's actually colored. I won't be able to make a colorless card and that will be my only restriction as far as colors are concerned, but I might pay for this freedom that my choice of plane gives to me in future rounds should I advance... Players' discrection is advised. You've been warned.


I can't think of any other cases of doubt, but if you need any more explanations, don't hesitate to ask!

This month clarifications are quite perplexing.
To clarify: may I choose "enters the battlefield, put"? There is a "," here.

Yes, you can, provided it can be found in the ETB effect of a battle from MOM (I haven't checked). Punctuation doesn't count. If you understand what exactly it's looking for, it's not that difficult. It's just difficult to put it into written form, or at least that's what I found. That's why I added specific examples. I'll also add this to the clarifications spoiler.

Pretty sure there's been a misunderstanding here -- Raptorchan is considering the phrase "enters the battlefield" to be part of the ETB effect, and I don't think that was bravelion's intention.

Pretty sure there's been a misunderstanding here -- Raptorchan is considering the phrase "enters the battlefield" to be part of the ETB effect, and I don't think that was bravelion's intention.

Exactly. Only the effect of the ETB counts, which is everything that comes after the comma after the trigger condition or, when present, the intervening-if clause. The trigger condition is NOT part of the effect, which is true for all triggered abilities by the way. I've put in the clarifications spoiler the whole list of ETB effects of all the battles specifically to avoid such confusion. You can refer to that list to know which part of the ETB ability counts exactly for each battle in MOM.

Let me make another example. I'll put the trigger condition in blue and the ETB effect in green. The four consecutive words must all be in the green part for your card to pass the Main Challenge.

The phrase Raptorchan proposed does NOT count as "When this battle enters the battlefield, put (something in some zone)." Only the word "put" is part of the effect here, and the Main Challenge requires ALL the 4+ consecutive words to be part of the effect.

It WOULD count instead in a hypothetical battle which says "When this battle enters the battlefield, target creature you control gains 'Whenever a creature enters the battlefield, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature' until end of turn" for example. I don't know if there are any battles in MOM with that phrase in the effect of the ETB ability. I'm sorry, but I haven't learned the rules text of all battles in MOM by heart yet, I would have to check.

EDIT - I've checked. There are none. If you refer to Muraganda and Moag, those fall exactly into the first example I've made here, the one where only the word "put" is part of the effect, so they would NOT count. We're specifically looking at the effect here, not the whole ability. Hope this helps.

Subchallenges

I think the first one should be self-explanatory.

For Subchallenge 2, anything goes. Card name, type line, rules text, flavor text, anything. The requested word(s) can be literally put anywhere on the card.


If you have any questions, feel free to post them in the MCC discussion thread.

DEADLINES

Design deadline: Friday, June 9th 2023 at 23:59 Eastern Time

Judging deadline: Monday, March 12th 2023 at 23:59 Eastern Time


RUBRIC

MCC Rubric

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The MCC Rubric is given below, in an easily "copy and pasted" form. (Courtesy of Rithaniel.)

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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

bravelion83
void_nothing

We might or might not need more judges. If you're interested, sign up in the judge signup thread.


PLAYERS

Everyone can enter this round. Just reply to this thread posting a card that meets the Main Challenge and any number (that includes zero) of Subchallenges. Future rounds will only be open to those who advance. Come join us!


A reminder to everyone:
In the MCC, putting rarity on cards is mandatory! If you don't put a rarity on your card, expect huge deductions in both Viability AND Quality.
Please check out the MCC Guidelines and FAQ if you have the will and time. Link in my signature. Among the many things you can find there are a detailed explanation of the rubric (section 6.2) and the recommended card formatting (section 4) that you should use to format your text cards. Expect deductions in Quality otherwise.


BRACKETS

As a deviation from the guidelines, top 5 from each bracket advance this round. We will have 10 players in Round 2, divided into two brackets of 5, out of which the top 3 will advance. In Round 3 we have three pairings and we'll have a final round with three players. To me it looks like a good structure for this month given the amount of players, and the fact that a final round with three players is almost always better than one with only two in my opinion.

Choices of plane for future rounds' purposes have been noted for all players. You choose whether to take this as good or bad news.


Judge: bravelion83
Ink-Treader
kwanyeegor-ii
netn10
Raptorchan
Riria
slimytrout
Wren


Judge: void_nothing
Freyleyes
Henlock
MonoRedMage
StonerOfKruphix
Subject16
Venedrex


Jugding may begin... NOW!

[Ink-Treader]

Xerex

Vitality Spiral W
Enchantment (U)
Whenever you gain more life than the amount of build counters on Vitality Spiral, put a number of build counters on Vitality Spiral equal to the difference, then put a +1/+1 counter or a lifelink counter on up to one target creature.
2W, Sacrifice Vitality Spiral: Gain life equal to 1 plus the number of build counters on Vitality Spiral.

[Subject16]

Plane: Capenna

Fall of the Maestros 1BB
Sorcery (U)
As an additional cost to cast this spell, you may sacrifice a creature. When you do, copy this spell.
Each player sacrifices a creature or planeswalker. Incubate 3. (Create an Incubator token with three +1/+1 counters on it and "2: Transform this artifact." It transforms into a 0/0 Phyrexian artifact creature.)

[Wren]

Plane: Zendikar

Return of the Roil 3GG
Enchantment - Saga (R)
As this Saga enters and after your draw step, add a lore counter. Sacrifice after III.
I - You may sacrifice a basic land. If you do, search your library for up to two basic land cards, put them onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle.
II - Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control this turn, put a +1/+1 counter on target elemental creature or land you control.
III - Target land you control becomes an X/X green Elemental creature with reach and haste, where X is the number of lands you control.

[slimytrout]

Plane: Innistrad

Sorin, Bitter Bloodlord 3BB
Legendary Creature - Vampire Noble (M)
Menace
Whenever a Vampire you control deals combat damage to a player, put a +1/+1 counter on it, you draw a card, and you lose 1 life.
Discard a card: Vampires you control gain deathtouch until end of turn.
Even in victory over Phyrexia, Sorin never felt more defeated than the moment his spark vanished.
4/4

[Venedrex]

Plane: Lorwyn

Insidious Compleation
Enchantment (R)
When Insidious Compleation enters the battlefield, incubate X, where X is equal to the number of lands you control. (Create an Incubator token with X +1/+1 counters on it and ": Transform this artifact." It transforms into a 0/0 Phyrexian artifact creature.)
Whenever a creature you control with power 4 or greater dies, draw a card.

[Riria]

Plane: Fiora

Dario, Assassination Accountant 1BB
Legendary Creature — Human Advisor (R)
Whenever a creature becomes the target of a black instant or sorcery spell with a single target, choose one or both —
• The spell's controller discards a card.
• The creature's controller discards a card.
The bureaucracy of Paliano has a wide variety of responsibilities, ranging from merely difficult ones like stopping the Phyrexian invasion to nigh-impossible ones like disincentivizing murder among the nobility.
3/3

[StonerOfKruphix]

Plane: Kaladesh

Aetherdrone Saboteur
Creature — Vedalken Artificer (U)
When Aetherdrone Saboteur enters the battlefield, create a 1/1 colorless Thopter artifact creature token with flying.
Whenever an artifact creature you control deals damage to an opponent, a battle, or a Phyrexian, draw a card. This ability triggers only once each turn.
Ex-renegades held the invaders off with some of their new and improved guerrilla tactics.
1/3

[netn10]

Plane: Moag

Mockery of the Seasons 2W
Creature - Phyrexian Dryad (Rare)
When Mockery of the Seasons enters the battlefield, if the game isn't at winter, it becomes winter (Every two turns, spring becomes summer, then fall, then winter and goes on to spring again.) 0/5
Spring — T: Transform target Incubator token you control. 3/2
Summer — T: Put a +1/+1 counter on each Phyrexian creature you control. 2/3
Fall — T: Put a stun counter on each non-Phyrexian creature you don't control. 1/4
Winter — T: Incubate 3. 0/5

[Henlock]

I'll do Ulgrotha

Baron's Special Guest b
Enchantment - Aura (u)
Enchant creature
When enchanted creature dies, you gain 3 life and you draw two cards.
"Welcome to Castle Sengir. The Baron will be delighted by your presence." — Irini Sengir.

[Freyleyes]

Plane:
Xerex
Colors: WU
ETB effect: "return up to one target creature to its owner's hand."

Seraph of Might 1WWW
Creature — Angel {M}
Flash
Flying, first strike, vigilance, haste, protection from Eldrazi and Phyrixians.
Whenever a creature dealt damage by Seraph of Might survives combat, return that creature to its owner's hand. (The creature must be alive at the end of combat to be returned to a players hand.)
Surviving an encounter with a Seraph is not a feat of power, but rather an act of mercy.
3/5

[Raptorchan]

Plane: Alara

Alara Reunited 2wubrg
Legendary Enchantment – Saga (M)
(As this Saga enters and after your draw step, add a lore counter.)
I – Reveal the top five cards of your library. Put all multicolored cards revealed this way into your hand and the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order.
II – You may cast a multicolored spell from your hand or graveyard without paying its mana cost.
III – Exile this Saga, then return it to the battlefield transformed under your control.
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Memory of Progenitus
Legendary Enchantment Creature – Hydra Avatar (M)
Memory of Progenitus is all colors.
Wubrg: Target permanent gains protection from everything until end of turn.
10/10

[kwanyeegor-ii]

Plane: Pyrulea

Horizon Diver 1U
Creature - Bird (Rare)
Flying, ward 2
T: Put the top card of your library on the bottom of your library. You may shuffle.
2U, T: Choose a card type. Look at the bottom card of your library. If it's the chosen type, you may exile it. You may play that card from exile this turn without paying its mana cost. If you don't exile a card this way, create a Treasure token.
This beautiful species of bird is the only thing able to travel to any point on the inverted sphere of Pyrulea.
0/2

[MonoRedMage]

Kylem

Meet in the Arena 4R
Sorcery {U}
Choose one -
- Meet in the Arena deals 3 damage to each of up to two target creatures.
- Create two 1/1 white Warrior creature tokens. Creatures your team controls gain haste until end of turn. Put a +1/+1 counter on each Warrior your team controls.
"Come to Valor's Reach and see the elite heroes who defeated Phyrexia in action!" - Najeela, to her cheering fans

[bravelion83]

The round is officially closed. With this, void_nothing becomes a full judge for this month. Brackets to come in a few minutes.

[bravelion83]

BRACKETS

As a deviation from the guidelines, top 5 from each bracket advance this round. We will have 10 players in Round 2, divided into two brackets of 5, out of which the top 3 will advance. In Round 3 we have three pairings and we'll have a final round with three players. To me it looks like a good structure for this month given the amount of players, and the fact that a final round with three players is almost always better than one with only two in my opinion.

Choices of plane for future rounds' purposes have been noted for all players. You choose whether to take this as good or bad news.


Judge: bravelion83
Ink-Treader
kwanyeegor-ii
netn10
Raptorchan
Riria
slimytrout
Wren


Judge: void_nothing
Freyleyes
Henlock
MonoRedMage
StonerOfKruphix
Subject16
Venedrex


Jugding may begin... NOW!

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Judgments complete. All posted. I still have to check them for typos though, so I apologize as usual if there are any.

Ink-Treader

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Xerex

Vitality Spiral W
Enchantment (U)
Whenever you gain more life than the amount of build counters on Vitality Spiral, put a number of build counters on Vitality Spiral equal to the difference, then put a +1/+1 counter or a lifelink counter on up to one target creature.
2W, Sacrifice Vitality Spiral: Gain life equal to 1 plus the number of build counters on Vitality Spiral.

Design
Appeal 2/3 - Timmy loves life gain. Johnny could manipulate build counters and/or try to recur this for some kind of infinite life combo. Spike is just not interested.
Elegance 2.5/3 - Some players might have to read the triggered ability a few times before grasping what it does.
Development
Viability 3/3 - Everything is in color. This looks fine as a build-around uncommon, even if might see it better as a rare. But yes, maybe uncommon is better: it gets to be a build-around for limited and it would be a little underwhelming as a rare. No problems with the rules.
Balance 1/3 - Build-around for limited. Life gain is notoriously weak in competitive constructed formats and I don't expect this card to see any play in those. It might see some play in casual constructed though. The big problem with pushing life gain is that it slows down the game too much. I can only imagine slowing down games that are already (too in my opinion) slow, like commander ones and multiplayer in general. Commander is specifically more relevant here too, because the game is already slowed down by you starting at double your normal life total, and life gain slows it down even more. At least free-for-all starts at the normal life total of 20, but that's also already naturally slower than traditional two-player Magic though.
Creativity
Uniqueness 3/3 - It vaguely reminds me of Helix Pinnacle (keep putting counters on this until you get a reward), but the way this card works is quite unique.
Flavor 3/3 - I can see the name on a real Magic card with no problems, and it does fit well with a card all about life gain. MSE shows me there is no room for flavor text here (nine lines plus one break), so not having it was the right call.
Polish
Quality 3/3 - All good.
Main Challenge 2/2 - "up to one target creature" is five words and the rest is all good.
Subchallenges 1/2 - Invasion of Xerex is indeed multicolored but no "Phyrexia" or "Phyrexian" anywhere on the card.
TOTAL 20.5/25

kwanyeegor-ii

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Plane: Pyrulea

Horizon Diver 1U
Creature - Bird (Rare)
Flying, ward 2
T: Put the top card of your library on the bottom of your library. You may shuffle.
2U, T: Choose a card type. Look at the bottom card of your library. If it's the chosen type, you may exile it. You may play that card from exile this turn without paying its mana cost. If you don't exile a card this way, create a Treasure token.
This beautiful species of bird is the only thing able to travel to any point on the inverted sphere of Pyrulea.
0/2

Design
Appeal 3/3 - Timmy likes the physical manipulation this card requires. Johnny likes how strange this card looks and plays. Spike likes the card selection and potential card advantage on an evasive creature that's also hard to kill.
Elegance 0.5/3 - Understandable, but with big logistics issues. For the first activated ability, a lot of players will look at the top card before putting it on the bottom while they're not supposed too. This is not scry, but I can see many players processing it as if it were. For the second activated ability, no problems in looking at the bottom card of your library, you pick up your whole library in your (physical) hand and rotate the deck 180 degrees towards your eyes. That's good. But good luck not to look at the card under it, the penultimate one in your deck, as you move the bottom card into exile. It's absolutely possible to do it, but you have to remember to do it in the right way and it's an unusual way to manipulate your deck anyway. Without the "artifact, creature, etc..." reminder text, I can also see more casual players naming creature types of artifact types instead of actual card types: for example a casual player with an Elf tribal deck saying "I choose Elf" or one playing a deck with a lot of Throne of Eldraine cards going like "I choose Food."
Development
Viability 2/3 - Treasure tokens are a bend in blue, original Ixalan did that and maybe Lost Caverns will do it again as a throwback, but I remember Maro mentioning that somewhere (don't ask me where). In fact, blue mana production is usually tied to casting or activating abilities of artifacts. The mana goes towards artifacts, it doesn't come out of them in blue. It's certainly not a break though. No problems with rarity or the rules.
Balance 1/3 - The zero power really hurts here. I get that the main purpose of this card is to be tapped to its own activated ability and that it's still a blocker, but it's still a 0/2 for two mana, with evasion but only if you manage to increase this creature's power in other ways, as there is no built-in way. Remember that even if you attack and it isn't blocked, having 0 power means not dealing damage at all. The combat damage event never happens, there is no "dealing zero damage". It doesn't count for abilities that trigger whenever damage is dealt. It's hard to kill, but if I'm the opponent I'm not sure how willing I would be to waste a removal spell on a 0-power creature anyway. Maybe you could play it in limited, but I can't see it as a high pick. I just can't see it at all in competitive constructed. Maybe if it were a 2/2 (as I first read it by the way), or if casting the card for free was guaranteed, but as is, I can't see it. Maybe it could be tried out in casual. I see no problems in multiplayer.
Creativity
Uniqueness 3/3 - Caring about the bottom card of your library has only been done three times in Magic's history (Cellar Door, Grenzo, Dungeon Warden, Nicol Bolas, the Arisen), so it still feels quite new. It's a relatively unexplored area of design space.
Flavor 3/3 - Manipulating the bottom of your library while you're so used to do that with the top card and the mention of the "inverted sphere of Pyrulea" fit perfectly together to make a very flavorful card.
Polish
Quality 2.5/3 - There are two players who did it right in this bracket, so I have to take the hyphen instead of em dash into account. (-0.5)
Main Challenge 2/2 - "card of your library" is four words and the rest is all good.
Subchallenges 1/2 - Invasion of Pyrulea is indeed multicolored but no "Phyrexia" or "Phyrexian" anywhere on the card.
TOTAL 18/25

netn10

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Plane: Moag

Mockery of the Seasons 2W
Creature - Phyrexian Dryad (Rare)
When Mockery of the Seasons enters the battlefield, if the game isn't at winter, it becomes winter (Every two turns, spring becomes summer, then fall, then winter and goes on to spring again.) 0/5
Spring — T: Transform target Incubator token you control. 3/2
Summer — T: Put a +1/+1 counter on each Phyrexian creature you control. 2/3
Fall — T: Put a stun counter on each non-Phyrexian creature you don't control. 1/4
Winter — T: Incubate 3. 0/5

Design
Appeal 2.5/3 - Timmy likes the experience of a card changing its effect every two turns (aka everu turn cycle if you're playing a traditional duel). Johnny could try to find ways to manipulate the seasons if any exist in the environtment. He also can do tricks with Incubator tokens and +1/+1 and stun counters. Both Johnny and Spike like the high synergy among the season abilities, but the cycle might be a bit too slow to Spike and she also would like more control over what ability she gets. In her ideal world, you'd be free to pick whichever one you want at the beginning of each turn, but that would be a completely different mechanic.
Elegance 1/3 - The way the abilites are ordered starting at winter feels very nice, there is a high synergy there: you first create Incubator tokens, then transform them, then put +1/+1 counters on them, then put stun counters on everything else. The problem here is how this card would actually look like. I picture it with a similar frame to leveler cards (aka cards with level up mechanic from Rise of the Eldrazi, but those are already quite crowded and I'm honestly not sure one extra section would fit in the frame. Maybe if all the abilities were as short as the winter one, but I'm still not sure. The top section, the one with the ability that is always active, also has to be big enough to fit that whole triggered ability plus the reminder text, which in the ordinary M15 frame is six lines already according to MSE. Then you have to keep into account the room taken by the different P/T boxes on the right and that required by the four season abilities, which ALSO have additional P/T boxes of their own to put on the right of the card. I honestly can't see all of this fitting on a card. I also have a set with a completely different mechanic representing the four seasons but it uses a helper card similar to The Ring in LTR (my mechanic and the helper card that goes with it have actually been created long before we even saw The Ring for the first time, so it wasn't influenced by it in any way, it's just a case of parallel design. I think something like that would help a lot with the space issue here.
Development
Viability 2/3 - I think all the effects here are something white can do, even though so far stun counters have never been on a non-blue card. The only existing non-blue card that uses stun counters is Stall for Time[card] from DMU, and even that requires blue mana to put the stun counters. Rarity looks right. I don't think the rules would have any problems with this mechanic to represent seasons, even if I think the names of the seasons need to be [card=Frontier Siege]anchor words and not flavor words, so they should not be italicized. Anchor words and flavor words are very different concepts that work very differently in the rules. Actually, anchor words have their specific rule to make them work (614.12b in the MOM edition of the CR), while flavor words are like ability words (notice those are italicized as well), that is they have no rules meaning at all. As for the season mechanic, I think the cycle might a bit too slow, but it might just be me being influenced by the private custom set I'm working on right now also having a mechanic to represent the cycle of the four seasons and in my own mechanic (which I've never shown publicly yet) the cycle can be sensibly faster than here, so maybe that's why I see this as slow.
Balance 1.5/3 - This is a card that's very hard to judge without playtest. In traditional duel, as I've already said, it's very convenient that this card has you start the cycle exactly where you would want it to start anyway, and you would get the next ability on your next turn, which feels nice. Probably playable in limited, and might be tried out in Standard. In multiplayer, things can get messy and hard to track. Changing seasons every two turns means the change will happen between an opponent's turn and another opponent's turn. If the number of players is odd, it gets even worse as the season change wil shift from one turn cycle to the next. As a result, if you tap it for, say, the winter ability on your turn, it will get the spring ability on an opponent's turn, with no untap step for you in between, so it will still be tapped and you won't be able to use the new ability, which you might have wanted to do. Of course, you can insert untappers in the equation like any good Johnny would do here, but it's still way harder to track in multiplayer rather than traditional duel.
Creativity
Uniqueness 3/3 - In real Magic, there is no mechanic to represent the seasons cycle working like this. In my own multiverse, there is one, but it's very different from this one and you couldn't have known it anyway.
Flavor 3/3 - A Phyrexian twist (a "mockery") on the season cycle (represented by the mechanical cycle I mentioned at the beginning of Elegance) with a Dryad shifting from green to white, a color they are not usually found in, is very good flavor even without flavor text. Actually, I wonder where you would fit flavor text here, I see no realistic ways to do it.
Polish
Quality 2/3 - There are two players who did it right in this bracket, so I have to take the hyphen instead of em dash into account. (-0.5) A period/full stop is missing after "it becomes winter" at the end of the first ability. (-0.5)
Main Challenge 2/2 - "put a +1/+1 counter on each" in the summer effect is six words and the rest is all good.
Subchallenges 2/2 - Invasion of Moag is indeed multicolored and there is a "Phyrexian" in the summer ability as well. The summer ability alone is what allowed you to meet half of the Main Challenge and a whole Subchallenge.
TOTAL 19/25

Raptorchan

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Plane: Alara

Alara Reunited 2wubrg
Legendary Enchantment – Saga (M)
(As this Saga enters and after your draw step, add a lore counter.)
I – Reveal the top five cards of your library. Put all multicolored cards revealed this way into your hand and the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order.
II – You may cast a multicolored spell from your hand or graveyard without paying its mana cost.
III – Exile this Saga, then return it to the battlefield transformed under your control.
-----
Memory of Progenitus
Legendary Enchantment Creature – Hydra Avatar (M)
Memory of Progenitus is all colors.
Wubrg: Target permanent gains protection from everything until end of turn.
10/10

Design
Appeal 3/3 - Timmy would do everything to get to that back face, he likes this card a lot. Johnny and Spike have card selection and free spells to enjoy, even though for different reasons (finding combo pieces for Johnny and card advantage for Spike). Both of them are more interested in the front face, while Timmy is more interested in the back face.
Elegance 2.5/3 - The text on the front face is long but still easy to understand. No problems on the back face.
Development
Viability 3/3 - No mechanical need for this to be five colors but it sure feels like a five-color card. The flavor heavily pushes in that direction, and also towards mythic rarity. I see no problems with the rules.
Balance 2/3 - I can't see a mythic five-colored card in limited. In casual constructed, sure. In competitive formats it depends on the mana base available in that format, whether it supports a five-colored casting cost or not. That back face is certainly tempting though... and also the potential card advantage from chapters one and two... As long as you're able to pay the mana cost, I see no additional problems in multiplayer.
Creativity
Uniqueness 1.5/3 - We've already seen Sagas that exile themselves and return transformed into enchantment creatures in NEO. Protection from everything isn't new either, it was on Progenitus itself. Piggybacking might help in other areas but hurts here. Caring about multicolored cards and spells isn't actually new either, there are a lot of cards that do that in multicolored sets like Ravnica and Alara blocks.
Flavor 2/3 - The mechanics of the front face would work for Ravnica too, but the back face makes this card undoubtedly from Alara. MSE shows me there would be room for up to five lines of flavor text on the back face, but here there is none.
Polish
Quality 3/3 - The Saga frame of MSE is not good for judging microtext, as it incorrectly uses different font sizes for each chapter ability. Here, for example, I'd say this is microtext according to how I see chapter one, but absolutely not if I look at chatper three. On a real card, the font size would be made constant by shifting the chapter symbols. I think the overall text would be borderline but still acceptable, and anyway I have no proof to say this card is microtext, so no deduction for that. You are one of the only two players in this bracket to use dashes correctly, so no deductions for that either. In the end, a lot of words to say that everything's good here.
Main Challenge 2/2 - In chapter one, "on the bottom of your library in a random order" is ten words and would already be ehough, but there's more. In chapter two, "without paying its mana cost" is five words. Either one would have sufficed by itself. All the rest is good.
Subchallenges 1/2 - Invasion of Alara is indeed multicolored but there is no "Phyrexia" or "Phyrexian" anywhere on the card. As I said in the clarifications about Alara, I wish you best luck for the future rounds...
TOTAL 20/25

Riria

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Plane: Fiora

Dario, Assassination Accountant 1BB
Legendary Creature — Human Advisor (R)
Whenever a creature becomes the target of a black instant or sorcery spell with a single target, choose one or both —
• The spell's controller discards a card.
• The creature's controller discards a card.
The bureaucracy of Paliano has a wide variety of responsibilities, ranging from merely difficult ones like stopping the Phyrexian invasion to nigh-impossible ones like disincentivizing murder among the nobility.
3/3

Design
Appeal 2.5/3 - Timmy likes getting rewarded for killing opposing creatures, but won't like when his opponent gets rewarded for killing Timmy's creatures. Very unusual trigger condition to work with for Johnny. Spike already likes a lot removal by itself, so she's getting rewarded for something she already likes to do. She also doesn't mind the drawback of her opponents getting rewarded too, and at the contrary, she likes the challenge that poses to her, being the one who gets the most advantage out of this.
Elegance 2.5/3 - I can see the rules text being a little confusing to less experienced players, the trigger condition is a bit convoluted and they might not understand the need for two different modes: "why doesn't this just say "that spell or creature's controller discards a card"? Answer: so that you can use it to your advantage both if you cast a removal spell on an opponent's creatures and when they cast one on yours. In the former case, you want the creature's controller (your opponent) to discard. In the latter, you want the spell's controller (still your opponent) to discard. If the wording was like that one in the question, it would be ambiguous which player gets to discard. Good job avoiding the ambiguity, but, as I said, the trigger condition is still too convoluted to be elegant, even though it has to be like that to be functional.
Development
Viability 3/3 - No problems with the color pie, rarity, or the rules.
Balance 2.5/3 - The trigger condition looks a bit too narrow but very relevant when it counts. I've already talked about the two different ways to use this card (see Elegance), and both look good enough to be considered for constructed play. It will certainly see limited play. We should also keep into account that this is a 3/3 for three mana, which is a good starting rate already. This card heavily discourages opposing removal and empowers yours, which doesn't look that fun from a casual point of view. Discarding isn't fun in casual. I see no problems in multiplayer.
Creativity
Uniqueness 3/3 - I can't remember any similar trigger conditions. The play pattern generated by this card is also quite new.
Flavor 3/3 - I'll mention the length of the name in Quality. Here I just want to prize an excellent piece of flavor text, probably one of the best ones I've ever read on a custom card.
Polish
Quality 2/3 - The name is long and its font size shinks in MSE with the three mana symbols in the mana cost. Even with only two mana symbols the font still shrinks. The only cases when it doesn't is with a single mana symbol or no symbols in the mana cost. I'll accept this as it only shrinks a little bit, not too much, and it happens on real cards sometimes too, but I felt it was worth mentioning here. The card as a whole is also NOT microtext, it's nine lines and three breaks in the M15 MSE frame, and with nine lines total you're allowed up to four breaks. You are one of the only two players in this bracket to use dashes correctly, so no deductions for that either. "The spell" and "the creature" in the modes should be "That spell" and "that creature". (-0.5 twice)
Main Challenge 2/2 - "choose one or both" is easy but it's still four words so it counts. All the rest is all good.
Subchallenges 1/2 - Invasion of Fiora is NOT multicolored but there is a "Phyrexian" in the flavor text.
TOTAL 21.5/25

slimytrout

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Plane: Innistrad

Sorin, Bitter Bloodlord 3BB
Legendary Creature - Vampire Noble (M)
Menace
Whenever a Vampire you control deals combat damage to a player, put a +1/+1 counter on it, you draw a card, and you lose 1 life.
Discard a card: Vampires you control gain deathtouch until end of turn.
Even in victory over Phyrexia, Sorin never felt more defeated than the moment his spark vanished.
4/4

Design
Appeal 3/3 - Big, relevant, and flavorful creature for Timmy. Maybe Johnny could use the triggered ability to dig for combo pieces and the free discard ability for graveyard shenanigans. Spike mostly likes the "draw a card and lose 1 life" part on a relevant and evasive body.
Elegance 3/3 - No problems here.
Development
Viability 3/3 - No problems with the color pie, rarity, or the rules.
Balance 3/3 - Limited bomb, and I can also easily see this card in constructed formats. In Standard it's a very nice threat, in older formats, where it gets to interact with things like madness (also conveniently in Shadows over Innistrad), the free discard might become very relevant. I see no problems in casual or multiplayer.
Creativity
Uniqueness 1/3 - Vampire tribal is something we always see whenever we return to Innistrad, and sometimes in other places too, like Ixalan for example. The card as a whole package is technically new but no single elements are.
Flavor 3/3 - No problems here. I feel like this card would be perfect for Sorin as a desparked planeswalker.
Polish
Quality 2.5/3 - There are two players who did it right in this bracket, so I have to take the hyphen instead of em dash into account. (-0.5) Normally there would be no comma between "you draw a card" and "and you lose 1 life", but it's also true that there are no precedents for those to be the last two actions in a list. Usually they are a single effect, either as the only effect of a spell or an ability on its own line. Honestly, that being the case, it actually reads better with the comma here rather than without, as it's a list of sequential actions. Given all of this, I'll make no deduction for that. A piece of trivia: in Italian, the Oxford comma is ALWAYS wrong. To any stranger who might be learning Italian: I'm proud that wou want to learn my own native language, but remember that, especially in written Italian. For example, in Italian the effect of the first triggered ability of this card would be translated as "metti un segnalino +1/+1 su di esso, pesca una carta e perdi un punto vita." Notice the lack of comma right before "e" (the English "and"). If you write "pesca una carta, e perdi un punto vita" is wrong. Italian grammar does not admit what in English is called the Oxford comma, ever. It just doesn't exist as a concept in Italian.
Main Challenge 2/2 - "until end of turn" is another easy one but it's still four words so it counts. Maybe I should have increased the number... I thought four was the right balance between not too easy and not too hard, but apparently it was a little too much on the easy side... Anyway, all the rest is good as well.
Subchallenges 1/2 - Invasion of Innistrad is NOT multicolored but there is a "Phyrexia" in the flavor text.
TOTAL 21.5/25

Wren

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Plane: Zendikar

Return of the Roil 3GG
Enchantment - Saga (R)
As this Saga enters and after your draw step, add a lore counter. Sacrifice after III.
I - You may sacrifice a basic land. If you do, search your library for up to two basic land cards, put them onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle.
II - Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control this turn, put a +1/+1 counter on target elemental creature or land you control.
III - Target land you control becomes an X/X green Elemental creature with reach and haste, where X is the number of lands you control.

Design
Appeal 2/3 - Getting more lands and animating them are both things Timmy likes to do. Johnny would really like to be able to get any land with chapter one, it would open so much potential for combos. At least, the other chapters don't require the land to be basic, maybe he can do something with those... Spike likes Harrow, but at three mana, not five... She also likes turning useless lands into Elementals (that are NOT lands anymore by the way) if she's mana flooded.
Elegance 2.5/3 - The text is quite long but still easy enough to understand.
Development
Viability 2/3 - No problems with the color pie or rarity. In the rules, chapter three causes the land not to be a land anymore but only a creature, because the text "It's still a land" or "in addition to its other types" is missing. That effect also has no duration, so it will last indefinitely. In other words, the targeted land will be only a creature and not a land, so it will lose its abilities it had, in particular the mana abilities, so you won't be able to tap it for mana anymore because it's no longer a land. I can see this confusing a lot of players, even some experienced ones, and all because the simple sentence "It's still a land" is missing at the end.
Balance 2.5/3 - Playable in limited: it gives you ramp in the beginning and then an additional body later. Five mana for this might be a little too much for constructed formats, but ramp decks could consider this. I see no particular problems in casual or multiplayer.
Creativity
Uniqueness 1/3 - Sagas don't feel new anymore by themselves, we've seen them many times by now. The chapter abilities are all tweaks on well-known effects.
Flavor 3/3 - "Return" of the Roil? Has it ever gone away? I don't think so, but let me check the Wiki just to be sure... *checks* Ok, apparently it did and I missed it: "Directly after the defeat of the Eldrazi, it seemed to be gone. But then it slowly began to return." Good thing I checked! No problems then. Anyway, the mechanics fit well with the concept of the Roil. Sagas never have flavor text, so no problems with that either.
Polish
Quality 1/3 - There are two players who did it right in this bracket, so I have to take the hyphen instead of em dash into account, especially the one in the type line. (-0.5) The reminder text for Sagas (the first line) should be within round parenthesis (like this). -1 for serious mistake because reminder text being within parenthesis is a very well-known and fundamental concept in Magic templating. In chapter two, "Elemental" should be capitalized as it's a creature type. (-0.5) Interestingly, you do it right in chapter three. I guess it was just an oversight in chapter two then.
Main Challenge 2/2 - The whole "if you do" effect in chapter one is literally the same as the ETB of the Zendikar battle card and is way more than four words. All the rest is good as well.
Subchallenges 0/2 - Invasion of Zendikar is NOT multicolored and there is no "Phyrexia" or "Phyrexian" anywhere on the card.
TOTAL 16/25

Results (bold advance)

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Riria 21.5
slimytrout 21.5
Ink-Treader 20.5
Raptorchan 20
netn10 19
kwanyeegor-ii 18
Wren 16

[void_nothing]

Freyleyes

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Design
(2/3) Appeal - Neither Txmmy nor Spike would normally be all that enthusiastic about playing a 3-power creature for four mana, but ultimately this is just so good at combat that both of them would play this card. Jxnny has less interest.
(1.5/3) Elegance - This card is basically understandable, but wow is that a lot of keywords. This card also suffers from the slight conceptual inelegance of a first striker with toughness greater than power.

Development
(2/3) Viability - Haste is very much not a white ability - Akroma, Angel of Wrath is not good precedent lol. Arguably, that "bouncetouch" ability isn't white, either. As a drawback - something like "If a creature dealt damage by this creature this turn would die, return it to its owner's hand instead" - I think it would be white, but as it is, it comes off as blue.
(2/3) Balance - I daresay this is too much for four mana. Yes, 3 power is not great, but flash, all those keywords, and the ability to bounce larger creatures for a tempo loss - it's a lot.

Creativity
(1.5/3) Uniqueness - Basically similar to a lot of other white, high-rarity keyword salad creatures. The Baneslayer Angel-ish clause and the bouncetouch are new features.
(3/3) Flavor - I really do have to commend that flavor text. It justifies the card's abilities and gives a real sense of awe.

Polish
(1.5/3) Quality - It's spelled "Phyrexians" and there should not be a period at the end of the evergreen keyword line. "Player's" in the reminder text is missing an apostrophe. "Survives combat" is new templating but I don't think it's needed at all: "Whenever Seraph of Might deals damage to a creature, return that creature to its owner's hand. (Return it only if it's on the battlefield.)
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - Done.
(2/2) Subchallenges - And done.

Total: 17.5/25

Henlock

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Design
(1.5/3) Appeal - This is primarily a Jxnny card. It's a bit low-impact for Txmmy; Spike is usually not much for Auras but that is plenty of value for one mana and in an Aristocrats deck, something like Drivnod, Carnage Dominus, or simply one that's going to use removal on opposing creatures anyway, they'd consider it.
(3/3) Elegance - Sure, what is there to say against this card in elegance terms?

Development
(3/3) Viability - Sure, definitely feels like a black uncommon.
(3/3) Balance - This obsoletes a... very old, rather forgotten card (more on that below) but I don't think this is going to break ANY formats.

Creativity
(1/3) Uniqueness - This is a Bequeathal-plus, in arguably a more appropriate color. Nothing wrong with that type of design, mind! A cool way to have done this might have been BB to draw three cards and gain 3 life on the creature's death.
(3/3) Flavor - Delightfully devious. I would not accept the Baron's invitation in the best of times.

Polish
(2.5/3) Quality - There shouldn't be a period at the end of that flavor text quote attribution.
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - And done.
(0/2) Subchallenges - Neither.

Total: 19/25

MonoRedMage

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Design
(3/3) Appeal - Specifically for a Battlebond-ish team environment, everyone likes this: Txmmy for the token swarming and +1/+1, Jxnny for doing interesting boosting things to the whole team (after all, multiple decks could have different +1/+1 counter synergies), and Spike for the flexibility and possible 2 for 1 removal.
(2.5/3) Elegance - Second mode is a bit wordy, but otherwise this looks good.

Development
(3/3) Viability - Sure, feels like a red uncommon and a good one to draft too.
(3/3) Balance - Neither of these modes is inappropriate for five mana. They could both sway the game, but neither would take it over on its own. About what this needs to be.

Creativity
(1.5/3) Uniqueness - Basically a mashup of two old effects - it IS a modal card - but in a new way. That first mode is Jagged Lightning - a hopelessly obscure card - but the second one is much more innovative.
(3/3) Flavor - Wow, I like this!

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

Total: 23/25

StonerOfKruphix

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Design
(1.5/3) Appeal - Mostly a Jxnny/Spike draft card; it's a bit underscaled for Txmmy and not as good as it could be in Constructed either.
(3/3) Elegance - Very understandable.

Development
(3/3) Viability - Sure, looks like an uncommon - specifically an uncommon UR signpost for an artifact creatures theme. You could argue for the color besides blue to be anything, I think, but red makes sense for a Ghirapur renegade flavor theme.
(3/3) Balance - This card plays it quite safe I think. Still playable, but not going to turn heads either.

Creativity
(1.5/3) Uniqueness - Although we've seen plenty of, well, Artificers that make Thopter tokens and creatures that draw you cards when a certain kind of creature deals damage, this is a new kind of mashup, particularly with the "damage a Phyrexian" clause.
(3/3) Flavor - Very flavorful... especially with that clause I just mentioned above!

Polish
(2.5/3) Quality - That triggered ability could say "opponent, battle, or Phyrexian" - no need for all of those indefinite articles.
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - Done.
(2/2) Subchallenges - And done.

Total: 21.5/25

Subject16

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Design
(2/3) Appeal - Not much of a Txmmy card, but Jxnny and Spike both have reasons to like this.
(2.5/3) Elegance - The reflexive trigger in that optional additional cost has slightly unintuitive function: It creates a copy of the spell that goes off no matter whether or not the original resolves and that in actuality resolves first.

Development
(3/3) Viability - Sure, a fine black uncommon.
(3/3) Balance - The ideal time to cast this is I guess when you control only one creature you're willing to sacrifice and everyone else controls multiple creatures/planeswalkers? Can be powerful, but it's situational for sure. Largely restricted to Aristocrats shells I think.

Creativity
(2/3) Uniqueness - Presents multiple new twists on the old forced-sacrifice effect. I like that this presents a nonrestricted version of casualty on a Maestros-themed card: feels very much like a card printed for a certain setting that's in a core set or not in a full set on that setting, these days.
(3/3) Flavor - Knowing the backstory of MOM, the name says it all, really. Flavor text would have been nice but also is not needed and the card is somewhat wordy.

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

Total: 22.5/25

Venedrex

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Design
(3/3) Appeal - Yes, Txmmy, Jxnny, and Spike can all get behind this card, particularly in Limited, for their own reasons.
(3/3) Elegance - I see no issues here.

Development
(3/3) Viability - Definitely BG, definitely rare.
(3/3) Balance - The ETB effect is half a Glistening Dawn, but it's really just gravy: This card is meant to replace your heavy hitters and does a good enough job of that.

Creativity
(1/3) Uniqueness - As mentioned above, "Incubate X, where X is the number of lands you control" is already a thing. This is basically a mashup card, which is a totally valid form of design, mind.
(2.5/3) Flavor - Not sure what makes this form of compleation more insidious than the horrible usual form lol, but otherwise the name rolls off the tongue and is fitting with the effects.

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

Total: 22.5/25

Totals (Bold advance)

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MonoRedMage 23
Subject16 22.5
Venedrex 22.5
StonerOfKruphix 21.5
Henlock 19
Freyleyes 17.5