February MCC Round 1 - Big Damn Hero

[Raptorchan]

(Gandalf, Friend of the Shire by Dmitry Burmak)


February MCC Round 1

Big Damn Hero

Times change, and what seemed impossible yesterday is pretty much real now. So, keeping with the changes, we are making Universes Beyond MCC contest this month - here we meet characters from other universes that somehow took form of Magic cards. Magic multiverse is big - but what lies beyond its boundaries can be even bigger...


Main Challenge - Choose an IP from the following list (see Clarifications) and make a legendary creature card portraying one or more of its main or at least significant characters.
(Important: Your choice of IP stays with you for the rest of this month's contest and will affect your future designs.)

Subchallenge 1 - Your card uses "flavor words".

Subchallenge 2 - Your creature's power and/or toughness is equal to its mana value.

Clarifications

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Main Challenge

The list of IPs is limited - we decided to include big enough IPs from existing UB sets but added a few more. If a line contains two connected IPs such as LotR and Hobbit, you can use both:

1) Dungeons&Dragons (yes, it counts)
2) The Lord of the Rings / Hobbit
3) Doctor Who
4) Warhammer 40000
5) Fallout
6) Game of Thrones / Song of Ice and Fire
7) The Witcher

Your card can have two or more characters on it such as Yargle and Multani but must be a legendary creature card (at least on one of its faces if you are going DFC route).

Subchallenge 1
You can find about flavor words here. Your card can have any number of them, but at least one ability of your card must be flavored this way.

Subchallenge 2
Can be power, toughness of both. 4/4 for 4 mana counts, 4/2 or 3/4 for 4 mana too, 3/5 for 4 mana doesn't.

If you have any more questions, feel free to post them in the MCC discussion thread.
You can also check out the MCC Guidelines and FAQ.

DEADLINES

Design deadline: Monday, February 5th 2024 at 23:59 Eastern Time

Judging deadline: Saturday, February 10th 2024 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

Raptorchan
void_nothing


PLAYERS

@netn10
@Freyleyes
@shullz
@Caspernicus
@slimytrout
@Subject16
@AnotherAlias
@OneAndOnly
@KB52665
@Komandon

BRACKETS (Top 4 players from each bracket advance to Round 2)

Raptorchan

@netn10
@Freyleyes
@shullz
@Caspernicus
@slimytrout

void_nothing

@Subject16
@AnotherAlias
@OneAndOnly
@KB52665
@Komandon

[netn10]

Jaskier, Viscount of Lettenhove 1R
Creature - Human Bard (Rare)
First strike, haste
Toss a Coin to Your Witcher - Whenever Jaskier attacks, you may pay 2R and discard a card. If you do, it deals 1 damage to any target, you create a Treasure token and you draw a card.
2/2

[Freyleyes]

Emperor of Mankind 5WUBRG
Legendary Creature — Human God {M}
Human creatures you control have protection from everything you don't own.
Legion of the Imperium — Human spells you cast have cascade Human (When you cast a Human spell, exile cards from the top of your library until you exile a Human card that costs less. You may cast it without paying its mana cost. Put the exiled cards on the bottom in a random order.)
"I am no god, I only protect the Imperium."
10/10

[Subject16]

Danaerys Targaryen 3RR
Legendary Creature — Human Noble (M)
Mother of Dragons — When Danaerys Targaryen enters the battlefield, create Drogon, Rhaegal, and Viserion, three legendary 2/2 red Dragon creature tokens with flying and haste.
Dracarys — Whenever Danaerys attacks, put a +1/+1 counter on each Dragon you control. Those creatures each deal damage to target creature defending player controls.
2/2

[shullz]

Ciri, Child of the Elder Blood 2WU
Legendary Creature — Human Warrior Wizard (R)
Flash
First strike
Dimensional Travel — When Ciri, Child of the Elder Blood enters the battlefield, you may exile it. If you do, exile target spell or creature.
4/3

[AnotherAlias]

Liriel Baenre
Legendary Creature — Elf Wizard (U)
Lifelink
When Liriel Baenre enters the battlefield, exile up to one target permanent that has exiled a permanent or spell you own.
Throwing Spiders — : Liriel Baenre deals 1 damage to up to two target creatures.
2/3

[OneAndOnly]

Ja'qen H'ghar -- 1UBR
Legendary Creature - Shapeshifter Assassin {R}
Deathtouch
When Ja'qen H'ghar enters the play, you gain three coin counters. Choose a creature card name for each coin.
Valar Morghulis -- Remove a coin counter, (B/R)(B/R): Destroy target creature with the name on that coin.
A Man Has No Name -- (U/R)(U/R): Ja'qen H'ghar becomes a copy of target creature destroyed by an ability of his and keeps his abilities.
1/4

[KB52665]

The Night King 5sss
Legendary Snow Creature — Elder Zombie
Whenever a player sacrifices a creature, exile it with an ice counter on it.
: The Night King gains annihilator 1 until end of turn. This ability costs more to activate for each additional time it has been activated this turn beyond the first.
Boast — For each creature card in exile with an ice counter on it, you may pay {u/b/p} and discard a card. If you do, put that card onto the battlefield under your control.
8/8

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customcards/18589-ub-game-of-thron/1633 ... ight-king/

[Caspernicus]

Farmer Maggot, Hobbit-Hider 1gw
Legendary Creature — Halfling Peasant (U)
Offer Safe Passage — Halfling creatures you control can't be blocked by creatures with greater power.
Parting Gifts — Whenever one or more creatures you control deal combat damage to a player, create a Food token. (It's an artifact with ", , Sacrifice this artifact: You gain 3 life.")
"There's earth under his old feet, and clay on his fingers; wisdom in his bones, and both his eyes are open."
—Tom Bombadil
1/3

[Komandon]

Fili and Kili 3G
Legendary Creature — Dwarf Scout (uncommon)
Reach
Keen Eyesight — Whenever Fili and Kili becomes tapped, surveil 1.
Courage of Youth — 4r: Fili and Kili gains +2/+0 and first strike until end of turn. This ability cost 1 less for each different card types among the cards in your graveyard.
"'Kili at your service!' said the one. 'And Fili!' added the other; and they both swept off their blue hoods and bowed." — J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit
2/4

[slimytrout]

Ned Stark 2WW
Legendary Creature — Human Noble (R)
Hand of the King — You may look at the top card of your library any time. You may cast legendary spells from the top of your library.
Lord of Winterfell — Whenever Ned Stark or another legendary creature enters the battlefield under your control, tap up to one target creature.
"Winter is coming."
4/4

[Raptorchan]

Submissions are closed.
Judgement is coming.

[Raptorchan]

netn10

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Design
(1,5/3) Appeal - This card is a treat for Timmy, Johnny is mildly interested, Spike even less so.
(3/3) Elegance - No problems here.

Development
(3/3) Viability - Everything this card does is in the color wheel and rarity is appropriate.
(2,5/3) Balance - I see no big issues with balance here, it can be limited star, but the cost of ability most likely keeps if from being seriously used in constructed outside of maybe a couple of specific decks. This is no match for Ragavan so most likely it will see zero play in eternal formats.

Creativity
(2/3) Uniqueness - It has a combination of super common and well existing abilities. But the combination itself is fresh enough to give at least 2 points.
(2,5/3) Flavor - Vorthos in me is not very happy about the fact that you used "Jaskier" and "Viscount of Lettenhove" on the same card - I checked and from what I know, it must be either Jackier/Dandelion OR Julian Alfred Pankratz, Viscount of Lettenhove, but not something in between. Other than that, it's a perfection - the most possible evocative flavor words and overall feeling of annoyance Jaskier can create. The ability resembling Boast is also a nice catch.

Polish
(2,5/3) Quality - From what I see on multiple examples, it must be "you draw a card and create a Treasure token", two instances of "you" here are redundant.
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - Yes.
(2/2) Subchallenges - Both yes.

Total: 21/25
*An entry with 0 points here is subject to disqualification.

Freyleyes

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Design
(3/3) Appeal - Timmy loves this card just because of how splashy it is, Johnny and Spike can see a prime reanimator target first of all.
(2/3) Elegance - It adds a new level of complexity into already complex mechanic which is cascade. Protection from everything you don't own is different from protection from everything or protection from everything you don't control and needs to be understood properly as well.

Development
(3/3) Viability - It's a WUBRG card so it can do anything. Even more so, it's an enabler for a tribe that's notoriously five-colored. And of course it's a mythic.
(2/3) Balance - It has numerous issues - there is no deck, probably even in commander, that wants to hardcast it. But it can be cheated into play in numerous ways better than Progenitus or Eldrazi titans - simple because it has no usually used safety valves such as "If ~ would be put into a graveyard from anywhere, reveal Progenitus and shuffle it into its owner's library instead." Basically, it can see some play in dedicated deck and be brutal there - but it's fair from being an all-star. I also think it's a card that's not sure what exactly it wants to be - its only immediate impact is protection, but if it survives the turn, you most likely won't need its cascade ability. Perhaps...

Creativity
(2,5/3) Uniqueness - It resembles Progenitus a lot, but with a twist. But type-specific cascade is definetely something new and exciting.
(2,5/3) Flavor - The only issue I see here is a minor self-contradiction. Is it a god? The card type says yes but the card's flavor text says no. I consider myself versed enough in 40k lore to say that Emperor (before Golden Throne) wasn't actually a god - he got godlike powers after dying on said throne and asceding to godhood which made him comparable to gods of Chaos in terms of power level. And after all, this contradiction can simply confuse less versed players. If you wanted to really make him a God, you better use post-throne version (with defender, I guess) and call him "God-Emperor of Mankind" then, Other than that, no problems.

Polish
(2/3) Quality - I see two mistakes in reminder text, first is the lack of "nonland" (cascade still must specify it, I guess, even when we are talking about humans - hitting a land that's also a Human is still possible through some combos) and second is the lack of "your library" - it wasn't present on older Cascade cards, but the text was updated since then.
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - Yes.
(2/2) Subchallenges - Both yes.

Total: 21/25
*An entry with 0 points here is subject to disqualification.

shullz

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Design
(1,5/3) Appeal - Timmy likes this as an effective beater, Spike sees a versalite tool for his strategies. For Johnny, that's just either one-off or too straightforward.
(3/3) Elegance - It's easy to understand and not wordy.

Development
(2/3) Viability - It's an okay rare and exiling a creature is fine for white but spell exiling effect. But to exile a spell it must be bluer - all no-strings-attached unconditional counterspell effects have at least uu in their cost.
(2,5/3) Balance - It's an aggressive card that has similar precedents in the game (4 mana first strikers with power 4 and even other upsides) - but usually without flash. It's more aggressive than most unconditional exile spells and on pair with other counterspells that can get around "can't be countered" clause. So it's a viable constructed card and limited star - but probably won't make waves in any eternal formats where powerlevels drastically differ. Still, a strong and versalite card.

Creativity
(2/3) Uniqueness - Flashing first strikers isn't unprecedented, as well as exiling creatures/spells but being able to exile creature OR a spell spices it up,
(2/3) Flavor - Everything is on point here, let it be elder blood or dimensional travel (personally I think this ability can be represented through planeswalker type as well), but the only problem here - card lacks flavor text when there is definitely a room for it. Name is also fine, shortening it to Ciri here is acceptable for as long you aren't going to use her family name.

Polish
(3/3) Quality - All good.
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - Yes.
(2/2) Subchallenges - Both yes.

Total: 20/25
*An entry with 0 points here is subject to disqualification.

Caspernicus

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Design
(1/3) Appeal - Timmy can be interested in playing this but the card has rather unexciting stats for him. Same for Johnny. Spike doesn't care much.
(3/3) Elegance - Rather wordy but everything is perfectly understandable.

Development
(2,5/3) Viability - Second ability is green/white but the first ability is basically skulk - which is more blue or black. White can have a very similar ability "Can be blocked by power N or greater" but that's not exactly the same so it will cost you half of a point instead of one. Rarity is totally fine, let it be rare or uncommon.
(2/3) Balance - Rather weak card that can maybe help you in limited a bit but situative and probably not impactful enough for constructed.

Creativity
(2,5/3) Uniqueness - Both abilities were present on cards before but not very common, plus the first ability has a tribal twist and creates a different synergy with the second one.
(3/3) Flavor - Flavor text is a direct reference which is fine, both abilities make sense from a flavor perspective. Name is also fine.

Polish
(3/3) Quality - Very good, no mistakes here.
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - Yes.
(2/2) Subchallenges - Both yes.

Total: 21/25
*An entry with 0 points here is subject to disqualification.

slimytrout

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Design
(2/3) Appeal - Johnny can be interested in this, especially in the fact that legendary spells aren't limited to creatures, Timmy more yes than no, Spike doesn't care.
(3/3) Elegance - Card is perfectly understandable from the first glance, but see also Quality section.

Development
(3/3) Viability - The ability is new, but I guess if any color would have this ability, that would be white or green, so fine. Rarity is okay.
(2/3) Balance - It's a strong enough build-around card that unfortunately lacks a big immediate effect (although still taps a creature which I admit) and also lacks keywords which makes it look unexciting compared to similarly costed legends. The first ability is a big deal but can be fully used only in a dedicated deck.

Creativity
(2,5/3) Uniqueness - Surprisingly, there are no exact effects like these, although similar effects can be found here and there, but only similar ones.
(2/3) Flavor - I have two nitpicks here. On the bright side, first ability is flavorful enough to show how Stark serves as a king's hand, but the second one is questionable - despite having its flavor text as his iconic family motto, Eddard Stark doesn't have any winter-related powers, and Winterfell here is just a name of his castle, so I can't really see how being a lord of Winterfell or having other legendary creatures on his side helps him to tap opponent's creatures. Second, character's full name is Eddard Stark, and although he can be addressed as Ned, I don't think "Ned" and "Stark" really must be put on a card as his name. "Eddard Stark" or "Ned, Beloved Husband" would have been better choices I believe.

Polish
(2,5/3) Quality - Judging by the multiple precedents, like Emperor Mihail II, the first ability must be separated to two paragraphs.
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - Yes.
(2/2) Subchallenges - Both yes.

Total: 21/25
*An entry with 0 points here is subject to disqualification.

Results

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netn10 21
Freyleyes 21
caspernicus 21
slimytrout 21
shullz 20

[void_nothing]

Subject16

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Design
(2.5/3) Appeal - Definitely a big Txmmy card. Jxnny would have their usual things to do with Dragon tribal here (changelings?), and while Spike is skeptical of the fragility of the main body here, 8 power for five mana, 6 of which is flying and hasty, isn't too bad.
(2/3) Elegance - Overall quite understandable, just with a bit of tracking complexity, particularly with three otherwise-identical legendary tokens with different names.

Development
(3/3) Viability - Very red. Something this splashy and such an important character in the work they come from is definitely mythic.
(3/3) Balance - Absolutely devastating if it gets to swing one time, but that's par for the course for a five-mana legend these days and there's definitely vulnerability on opponents' turns right after this comes out. Even a Pyroclasm kind of blanks this card, so it's a real glass cannon. The ideal scenario of having all the dragon hatchling tokens survive to the next turn does lead to at least 9 damage to an opposing creature, so the removal aspect is nothing to sniff at, but again, it's not that hard to neuter this card's effectiveness if you have any kind of response.

Creativity
(2/3) Uniqueness - Does some familiarly-red things in new ways, and there's not really any cards I can make a direct comparison to.
(3/3) Flavor - Good use of flavor words, and this encapsulates Dany's character when she first starts going by "the Mother of Dragons".

Polish
(1.5/3) Quality - Missing the words (I assume?) "equal to their power" - it's not that hard to read into the intent, but again the card is incomplete. (Also, character's name is slightly misspelled.)
(1.5/2) Main Challenge (*) - While Daenerys is an obvious choice, she's also a pretty good one.
(1/2) Subchallenges - Flavor words, but no CMC=P/T.

Total: 18.5/25

AnotherAlias

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Design
(2/3) Appeal - Mostly a Spike card just for the efficiency, and half points for Txmmy for being a lifelink double pinger and Jxnny for the unusual ETB ability.
(1.5/3) Elegance - I'm actually not sure what that ETB triggered ability is supposed to mean. Does it refer to anything that exiled something you control this turn, like a Gideon Blackblade that had its -6 activated this turn? Does it exile Gelatinous Cube or Oblivion Ring, is that the intent? If so, it should say "exile up to one target permanent that has a card you own exiled with it."

Development
(1.5/3) Viability - This feels decent as an uncommon legend - maybe a bit pushed - but straight-up pinging creatures is out of color for GW even if the legend in question uses drow throwing spiders.
(2/3) Balance - Again, this card is quite pushed - even a 2/3 for two mana that could tap to ping two creatures would be very good in Limited. Everything else on this card is really just gravy.

Creativity
(1.5/3) Uniqueness - Lifelink creatures that deal direct damage are nothing new, but that ETB ability is somewhat new, although it feels like a Karmic Justice homage/variant.
(2.5/3) Flavor - I guess I'm not really sure what aspect of Liriel's story the ETB ability is supposed to represent, but otherwise, looks pretty good.

Polish
(2/3) Quality - That ETB ability needs rewording, and abilities that deal damage to multiple targets say "to each of".
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - Forgotten Realms is not a setting that really has main characters... maybe other than Elminster and Drizzt... but Liriel is a non-obvious choice who nevertheless has multiple story arcs of her own.
(2/2) Subchallenges - And done.

Total: 17/25

OneAndOnly

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Design
(3/3) Appeal - Txmmy's definitely into destroying and copying opposing creatures. Jxnny has a ton to play around with here. Spike sees some very efficient removal on a body.
(0/3) Elegance - So as worded this would probably require multiple Comprehensive Rules updates to function. Even if it did not, there are tracking/memory issues with doing things like remembering what creatures were actually destroyed by one activated ability in order for the other to function.

Development
(3/3) Viability - Colors look right, and this is definitely a rare.
(1.5/3) Balance - The creature destruction ability on this card alone is really efficient, and the copying ability just puts it over the top. Card itself doesn't need to cost any more mana, and in fact it could probably cost 1 less if the abilities had higher costs.

Creativity
(3/3) Uniqueness - The ideas behind this card are super innovative, but with current Magic templating they'd be a bit hard to implement.
(3/3) Flavor - Fully captures the flavor of the Faceless Men/Jaqen with its abilities. Very nice.

Polish
(1/3) Quality - This card plays very fast and loose with Magic templating, and non-mana costs of activated abilities go after the mana always. (Also, the character's first name does not have an apostrophe.)
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - While not the first character anyone would think of from ASOIAF, Jaqen H'ghar is pivotal to Arya's storyline.
(2/2) Subchallenges - Done!

Total: 18.5/25

KB52665

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Design
(1.5/3) Appeal - This is pretty clearly a Txmmy card, and Jxnny could at least potentially use it to loop their own sacrifices. Spike is unimpressed with an eight-mana card that requires a lot more resource investment (and waiting to attack) to do anything worth a damn.
(1/3) Elegance - So this card is very wordy - it even has a pretty long text box. You can see from the render that the textbox may not have microtext, but it's still very cramped at 10 lines. There's also the matter of it granting itself multiple instances of a triggered ability with an activated ability that increases its own cost... yeah, a lot to keep track of here. Something like It That Betrays does what this card does in a much more elegant way imo.

Development
(3/3) Viability - Mythic seems about right. UB are the colors that should be used in the abilities even though this is a colorless card. And yes, snow makes sense.
(3/3) Balance - Some players might be underwhelmed by the amount of extra mana you have to pay to this card's abilities, but it is suitably big and game-ending.

Creativity
(1.5/3) Uniqueness - As mentioned, this card is a mashup that kind of draws on several past examples such as It That Betrays and Gisa, Glorious Resurrector.
(2/3) Flavor - I kind of frown a little inside whenever I see a Phyrexian hybrid mana symbol on a card that isn't meant to be Phyrexian. I understand the desire to expand the mechanic of paying life instead of mana to other settings, but that's literally a Phyrexian symbol. Elder Zombie is a great typeline that perfectly fits him, though.

Polish
(1/3) Quality - Missing a rarity on the text card - yes, there is a mythic symbol on the render, but I have to judge the text version - and the boast ability is not formatted correctly for being boast. For multiple reasons, I'd have it be this: "X, Discard X cards: Put X creature cards in exile with ice counters on them onto the battlefield under your control. Spend only U and/or B on X."
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - Not a main POV character from ASOIAF, but basically the big bad of the whole series!
(1/2) Subchallenges - No flavor words (boast is a keyword).

Total: 16/25

Komandon

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Design
(1.5/3) Appeal - Half points from everyone. Txmmy likes an ability-stuffed card but would prefer this as a 3/4 or even 4/4. Jxnny could use the activated and triggered abilities but has better options on both fronts. Spike likes this specifically in Limited as a role-player.
(2.5/3) Elegance - Nothing hard to understand, but the activated ability cost reduction is slightly wordy and the play pattern of a blocking-based ability in reach and wanting to become tapped for the triggered ability is pulling in multiple directions.

Development
(3/3) Viability - Colors look right and this honestly works very well as an uncommon legend.
(3/3) Balance - Sure - this can be pretty dominant if you get the activated ability cost down to R, but you have to effectively have delirium for that. Nothing too objectionable for the costs imo.

Creativity
(1.5/3) Uniqueness - More or less a mashup card combining pretty old elements in a new way.
(3/3) Flavor - This works very well for me. Fili and Kili are pretty inseparable, they are the youngest, most vigorous, and most keen-eyed dwarves of Thorin's Company, and at least in the films they're portrayed as archers.

Polish
(2/3) Quality - The activated ability should say "gets +2/+0 and gains first strike" and "This ability costs 1 less to activate for each..."
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - Fili and Kili are good picks - part of an ensemble cast of protagonists, and they get more fleshed-out in the films.
(2/2) Subchallenges - And done.

Total: 20.5/25

Totals (Bold advance)

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Komandon 20.5
Subject16 18.5
OneAndOnly 18.5
AnotherAlias 17
KB52665 16