February CCL Signups/Round 2: Old Set of Skills

[void_nothing]

February CCL Signups/Round 2

"Old Set of Skills"


Femeref Knight, taken from EchoMtG, illustrated by Tony Roberts

Welcome to the Card Creation League! Everyone is free to participate in either or both of the first two rounds. Come join us!

Theme

It's Roots Month here at the CCL. This month will go back to the origins and earliest uses of aspects of Magic.

Challenge

Design a card with a non-deprecated, non-evergreen keyword that was first printed earlier than Invasion. Please see the clarifications for a list.

Clarifications

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• Valid abilities are rampage, cumulative upkeep, flanking, phasing, buyback, shadow, cycling, echo, horsemanship, and fading.
• Banding, bands with other, and fear are not valid for this challenge because they were meant to be the equivalent of "evergreen" (before that term was coined) and usable on any set.
• Your card must have the ability you chose inherently and not merely grant it to something else.
• Make sure to include a rarity.

Anyone can enter this second round! Your submissions are due Wednesday, February 14th, 23:59 EST.

Schedule

• Round 1 — Open to Everyone (January 30th - February 7th)
• Round 2 — Open to Everyone (February 8th - 14th)
• Rounds 1 and 2 Critiques (Due February 17th)
• Top 6 — Open to top 6 finishers (February 18th - 22nd)
• Top 6 Critiques (Due February 24th)
• Top 4 — Open to top 4 finishers (February 26th - March 2nd)
• Top 4 Critiques (Due March 4th)
• Final (March, winner determined by public poll)

[OneAndOnly]

Submittal

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Valid abilities are rampage, cumulative upkeep, flanking, phasing, buyback, shadow, cycling, echo, horsemanship, and fading.
.
Icatian Throng -- 4W
Enchantment
Cumulative Upkeep - Each opponent creates a 1/1 red Goblin creature token with menace.
2wW: Create two 2/2 white Soldier creature tokens with first strike.
"If we rally ourselves, band together, we may yet rout them!"

[AnotherAlias]

Herald of Herons
Creature - Bird Wizard (C)
Echo
When Herald of Herons' echo cost is paid, create two 1/1 blue Bird creature tokens with flying.
: Exile Herald of Herons, then return it to the battlefield under its owner's control. Activate only as a sorcery.
2/3

[marioguy3]

Reflective Sunglasses
Artifact (Rare)
Cumulative Upkeep - Exile the top card of your library.
At the beginning of each opponent's upkeep, that player reveals the top card of their library. If the revealed card is a creature card, create a 1/1 blue Wizard token. If the revealed card is a noncreature card, you and that player each draw a card.

[netn10]

It of Encroaching Dust CGU
Creature - Eldrazi (Mythic)
Devoid
Cumulative Upkeep - C
At the beginning of each player's upkeep, that player exiles a permanent for each time counter on It of Encroaching Dust, then draw that many cards, then put that many land cards from their hand onto the battlefield.
3/6

[Raptorchan]

Afterimage 2r
Enchantment - Aura (R)
Enchant creature
Echo 2r
Enchanted creature gets +2/+2 and has haste.
When you pay Afterimage's echo cost, create a token that's a copy of enchanted creature. That token gains haste. Sacrifice it at the beginning of the next end step.

[shullz]

Rabid Pteraderm 2rg
Creature — Beast (U)
Trample, haste
Whenever Rabid Pteraderm attacks, at least one creature defending player controls must block it if able.
Fading 3
Rampage X, where X is the number of fade counters on Rabid Pteraderm.
2/2

[kwanyeegor-ii]

Knight of the Thicket 1G
Creature - Spirit Knight {R}
Flanking, trample
When Knight of the Thicket enters the battlefield, it deals 3 damage to each creature with flanking.
G, Discard a card: Put a +1/+1 counter on Knight of the Thicket and it deals 1 damage to you.
3/3

[KB52665]

Trumug the Unruly RRR
Legendary Creature — Boar (R)
Riot
Menace
Rampage 2
There has yet to be a penning of the Stromgald boar that has not resulted in at least one goring.
2/2

[Komandon]

Netherworld Revenant 1BB
Creature — Shade (rare)
Cumulative Upkeep - Exile a card from your graveyard.
Shadow
B: Netherworld Revenant gains +1/+1 until end of turn.
2, Discard a card: Netherworld Revenant loses Shadow and gains deathtouch until end of turn. Any player may activate this ability.
"Oh rage! Oh despair! Oh age, my enemy!" — Pierre Corneille
0/2

[void_nothing]

Alright, that will do it for this round - please critique the six contestants above you on this list, looping to the bottom as necessary, and post a top 3.

@OneAndOnly
@AnotherAlias
@marioguy3
@netn10
@Raptorchan
@shullz
@kwanyeegor-ii
@KB52665
@Komandon

[OneAndOnly]

Crits

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Herald of Herons
Creature - Bird Wizard (C)
Echo
When Herald of Herons' echo cost is paid, create two 1/1 blue Bird creature tokens with flying.
: Exile Herald of Herons, then return it to the battlefield under its owner's control. Activate only as a sorcery.
2/3

"Echo 0" is, to me, one of the weirdest abilities. You're almost never going to want to not pay the cost and sacrifice your own permanent; if that were the case, you'd almost rather phrase this as Evoke (or, since it should only trigger once, Foretell or Forecast.) The self-blink ability is nifty for re-setting the echo cost as well as saving itself.

As a Bird Wizard, it feels like it should have flying itself.

"Herald" and "echo" suggest some fund wordplay, but it doesn't quite click.

Reflective Sunglasses
Artifact (Rare)
Cumulative Upkeep - Exile the top card of your library.
At the beginning of each opponent's upkeep, that player reveals the top card of their library. If the revealed card is a creature card, create a 1/1 blue Wizard token. If the revealed card is a noncreature card, you and that player each draw a card.

Thought Lash has a similar drawback, but much less fun. (It's one of the quickest ways to remove your library from the game.

In 1v1 MtG, this is barely fair -- you're only gaining if your opponent is showing all creatures ... and even then, their probably drawing better creatures than vanilla Wizards ... and even then, the cards you're exiling hopefully also have better value.

It improves in multiplayer -- the more opponents you have, the better -- but it still feels a little weak.

I'm not certain what the card name has to do with the mechanics of the card. I envision the Wizards being created all having mirrored sunglasses and neo-Kamigawa swag.

It of Encroaching Dust CGU
Creature - Eldrazi (Mythic)
Devoid
Cumulative Upkeep - C
At the beginning of each player's upkeep, that player exiles a permanent for each time counter on It of Encroaching Dust, then draw that many cards, then put that many land cards from their hand onto the battlefield.
3/6

As a vanilla creature -- 3MV for a 3/6 with a drawback -- it seems almost fair. The "cumulative annihilator" is a neat twist, but it can become very oppressive very quickly. The card draw / play a land bit helps offset that, but I'd have to play it to see how well-balanced it actually is. Putting three or four lands into play sounds like it would help players recover quickly, but I'm not certain players would actually be drawing that many lands ... and if they are, they're not drawing actual gas.

One small, but important note; cumulative upkeep puts age counters on permanents, not time counters! But I know what you meant.

Afterimage 2r
Enchantment - Aura (R)
Enchant creature
Echo 2r
Enchanted creature gets +2/+2 and has haste.
When you pay Afterimage's echo cost, create a token that's a copy of enchanted creature. That token gains haste. Sacrifice it at the beginning of the next end step.

This feels very cool and very well thought-through. It's like a one-shot Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker or Heat Shimmer. It might be a little confusing that the copy doesn't get +2/+2 or haste, but that's small potatos.

Rabid Pteraderm 2rg
Creature — Beast (U)
Trample, haste
Whenever Rabid Pteraderm attacks, at least one creature defending player controls must block it if able.
Fading 3
Rampage X, where X is the number of fade counters on Rabid Pteraderm.
2/2

Hello, fellow upside-downer!

4MV for a 2/2 -- even with Rampage waiting in the wings -- is a little weak. I think you really want provoke or a full-on Lure effect with this guy, otherwise it'll just be chump-blocked (single creatures don't trigger rampage) until it's small enough to tame.

Knight of the Thicket 1G
Creature - Spirit Knight {R}
Flanking, trample
When Knight of the Thicket enters the battlefield, it deals 3 damage to each creature with flanking.
G, Discard a card: Put a +1/+1 counter on Knight of the Thicket and it deals 1 damage to you.
3/3

Green often gets to deal direct damage to creatures with flying. Dealing damage directly to creatures with flanking feels like a typo! And green was never big on flanking, either. As a (W/B) card, maybe?

Trumug the Unruly RRR
Legendary Creature — Boar (R)
Riot
Menace
Rampage 2
There has yet to be a penning of the Stromgald boar that has not resulted in at least one goring.
2/2

Well, that's nice and simple! Menace and rampage is a nice combo, though I think it was ultimately superseded by "<name> gets +1/+1 for each creature blocking it."

Netherworld Revenant 1BB
Creature — Shade (rare)
Cumulative Upkeep - Exile a card from your graveyard.
Shadow
B: Netherworld Revenant gains +1/+1 until end of turn.
2, Discard a card: Netherworld Revenant loses Shadow and gains deathtouch until end of turn. Any player may activate this ability.
"Oh rage! Oh despair! Oh age, my enemy!" — Pierre Corneille
0/2

Shadow might be a bit much. The ability to switch it out for deathtouch seems a little ?, especially granting that ability to an opponent. I feel like a little less on the card, and a little more flavor text would really benefit this card.

Ranks

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1. RaptorChan's AfterImage
2. KB2665's Trumug the Unruly
3. Komandon's Netherworld Revenant
4.. shullz' Rabid Pteraderm
5. kwanyeegor-ii's Knight of the Thicket
6. netn10's It of Encroaching Dust
n/a AnotherAlias' Herald of Herons
n/a marioguy3's Reflective Sunglasses

[shullz]

crits

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Afterimage 2r
Enchantment - Aura (R)
Enchant creature
Echo 2r
Enchanted creature gets +2/+2 and has haste.
When you pay Afterimage's echo cost, create a token that's a copy of enchanted creature. That token gains haste. Sacrifice it at the beginning of the next end step.

We had Kiki-Jigi as creature, we had it as a saga, now we get it as a saga. The effect has a relatively high ceiling, but the price is fair, maybe even on the expensive side. I think this would be a fun card.

It of Encroaching Dust CGU
Creature - Eldrazi (Mythic)
Devoid
Cumulative Upkeep - C
At the beginning of each player's upkeep, that player exiles a permanent for each time counter on It of Encroaching Dust, then draw that many cards, then put that many land cards from their hand onto the battlefield.
3/6

Well this escalates quickly. Everybody gets a piece of cake here, so it's a fair card. Well at least if you don't sacrifice it before the end of your turn. 4 mana for a 3/6 blocker/attacker AND a card draw AND maybe an additional land AND an exile removal for any permanent including lands is pretty overpowered. And having a sac outlet should be doable, even without black.

Reflective Sunglasses
Artifact (Rare)
Cumulative Upkeep - Exile the top card of your library.
At the beginning of each opponent's upkeep, that player reveals the top card of their library. If the revealed card is a creature card, create a 1/1 blue Wizard token. If the revealed card is a noncreature card, you and that player each draw a card.

That's some sunglasses even Urza would be envious of. The card draw is parallel, so no card advantage, but it's cheap enough you can drop it early and generate a lot of board presence over the game. Not to forget the ton of information this card gives you.

Herald of Herons
Creature - Bird Wizard (C)
Echo
When Herald of Herons' echo cost is paid, create two 1/1 blue Bird creature tokens with flying.
: Exile Herald of Herons, then return it to the battlefield under its owner's control. Activate only as a sorcery.
2/3

I like your idea of using echo as a delayed trigger instead of an additional cost. Getting 4/5 on three bodies for just 3 mana still feels a bit too powerful for a common. Also it seems a bit weird that it is a bird, but doesn't have flying. (But maybe this

Icatian Throng -- 4W
Enchantment
Cumulative Upkeep - Each opponent creates a 1/1 red Goblin creature token with menace.
2wW: Create two 2/2 white Soldier creature tokens with first strike.
"If we rally ourselves, band together, we may yet rout them!"

Having your opponents gain something is a nice spin on the cumulate upkeep mechanic, but I think this card is far too weak. You have to pay 9 mana and give your opponents a creature each to create two Soldiers. I don't see why you would pay so much for so little payoff.
Also you forgot to include a rarity.

Netherworld Revenant 1BB
Creature — Shade (rare)
Cumulative Upkeep - Exile a card from your graveyard.
Shadow
B: Netherworld Revenant gains +1/+1 until end of turn.
2, Discard a card: Netherworld Revenant loses Shadow and gains deathtouch until end of turn. Any player may activate this ability.
"Oh rage! Oh despair! Oh age, my enemy!" — Pierre Corneille
0/2

A shade with shadow! Why did nobody think of this before? This card will eat a lot of your mana to do anything, but by being almost unblockable this mana can convert pretty well into direct damage. The second activated ability makes this seem like a risky investment at first glance, but you can just pump this creature after blockers are declared. Still instant speed spot removal is this creature's worst enemy, as with every other of these buffable creatures. Still it's a more worthwhile than a lot of other creatures with this type of effect.

Top 3

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1. marioguy3
2. Komandon
3. Raptorchan

[Raptorchan]

Crits

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OneAndOnly
That's an interesting card, but it's tough to evaluate from the first glance. My gut tells me that drawback is not big enough because you can sacrifice it at any time.
AnotherAlias
A bird that doesn't fly? Well. The card seems to be on the strong side, because the only other card with echo 0 I can think of (Shah of Naar Isle) has it as a form of drawback where you keep your creature alive by giving your opponents some advantage. Your card has only upsides.
marioguy3
Seems like a fun and fair old school card. Nothing more to say here.
netn10
Another card that's hard to evaluate but it feels a bit too defensive and definetely affects the game too much for its relatively low cost. Personally, I don't like it.
KB52665
A nice ball of hate you have here. Feels almost balanced and it's hard to tell what can go wrong with it. Red card is red,
Komandon
The card is rather on a weaker side and has two drawbacks (2,5 if we count Shadow) but flavorful and I like it.

TOP

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1) marioguy3
2) KB52665
3) Komandon

[Komandon]

Critiques

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Herald of Herons
Creature - Bird Wizard (C)
Echo
When Herald of Herons' echo cost is paid, create two 1/1 blue Bird creature tokens with flying.
: Exile Herald of Herons, then return it to the battlefield under its owner's control. Activate only as a sorcery.
2/3

I definitely don't see this as a common and likely not an uncommon. The echo cost being zero combined with the self blinking I see as over powered. Some downsides even if mystic would make sense. Or extra hoops to go thru

A nonflying bird I don't have an issue with. Besides since 9 non-un birds don't have flying. None are blue but what if your creature is a penguin or a bird aliens like those that raised Samus from Metroid or the Shi'ar in Marvel.

It of Encroaching Dust CGU
Creature - Eldrazi (Mythic)
Devoid
Cumulative Upkeep - C
At the beginning of each player's upkeep, that player exiles a permanent for each time counter on It of Encroaching Dust, then draw that many cards, then put that many land cards from their hand onto the battlefield.
3/6

A upside for cumulative upkeep I think but seems to have too many things happening. Beside being over powered it would slow the game down too much.

Rabid Pteraderm 2rg
Creature — Beast (U)
Trample, haste
Whenever Rabid Pteraderm attacks, at least one creature defending player controls must block it if able.
Fading 3
Rampage X, where X is the number of fade counters on Rabid Pteraderm.
2/2

I miss rampage. This seems well balanced for its multiple abilities.

Trumug the Unruly RRR
Legendary Creature — Boar (R)
Riot
Menace
Rampage 2
There has yet to be a penning of the Stromgald boar that has not resulted in at least one goring.
2/2

Menace and rampage. Yeah legendary and rare makes sense. Riot added seems fair.

Valid abilities are rampage, cumulative upkeep, flanking, phasing, buyback, shadow, cycling, echo, horsemanship, and fading.
.
Icatian Throng -- 4W
Enchantment
Cumulative Upkeep - Each opponent creates a 1/1 red Goblin creature token with menace.
2wW: Create two 2/2 white Soldier creature tokens with first strike.
"If we rally ourselves, band together, we may yet rout them!"

Reminds me of the hunted cycle from Ravinca: City of Guilds.

Reflective Sunglasses
Artifact (Rare)
Cumulative Upkeep - Exile the top card of your library.
At the beginning of each opponent's upkeep, that player reveals the top card of their library. If the revealed card is a creature card, create a 1/1 blue Wizard token. If the revealed card is a noncreature card, you and that player each draw a card.

If it was mill instead of exile that would be overpowered but exiled makes this fair. Semi group hug. For the costs is fair too.

Top 3

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1st: shullz
2nd: marioguy3
3rd: KB52665

[KB52665]

Critiques

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AnotherAlias
Interesting use of the Echo cost with blink!
marioguy3
It's a weird card, but it's a unique grouphugger for sure. I'd give it a playtest for sure. Could be fun.
netn10
The type of counter should be age. I also think the power level is far too high for the cost, even with CU.
Raptorchan
I love the Kikijikiness of this one! Fun card.
shullz
Seems like an awful lot on an uncommon, but I do think it's fair. Interesting combination of effects.
kwanyeegor-ii
As written, it kills itself on entry, but I get what you were going for. Should be "each other creature with flanking."

Top3

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1. Raptorchan
2. Shullz
3. AnotherAlias

[marioguy3]

AnotherAlias: This feels like an uncommon to me. The echo cost being zero is an even choice. The flicker being sorcery speed works well with simplifying the card.

OneandOnly: This really feels like a card that would be made in the time period. A ton of mana investment to get a couple tokens, plus the opponent are making tokens themselves!

Komandon: I like this design. Shadow is a cool ability, and I like creative cumulative upkeep costs like this one.

KB52665: If there was a way of making rampage playable, this would be it because of the flexibility riot provides.

kwanyeegor-ii: Such a random Flanking hate card, yet it destroys itself unless you pay both mana and a life point. Presuming this survives, it will end games quickly one way or the other.

shullz: Quite a lot of power attached to this card, which makes sense given the fragility of fading.

Top 3:
3rd place: shullz
2nd place: OneandOnly
1st place: Komandon

[void_nothing]

And our top 6 contestants are:

Raptorchan
Komandon
marioguy3
shullz
netn10
OneAndOnly

Round soon to follow.