March MCC Round 3
Suspicion
As is tradition by now, this month we will celebrate the latest set, in this case Murders at Karlov Manor, by exploring its mechanics and themes, as usual in this kind of MCC months.
The story continues.
EPISODE 3
Trust and distrust
After breakfast, Roy and Zonez left the young detective's house, ready for a new day of investigation.
"Where do we start investigating today, Zonez? Only two possibilities are apparently left: the culprit who hired the Gruul killer is either from the Gruul themselves or from the Selesnya because of an internal feud. So, Gruul or Selesnya? How do you feel?"
"I feel like when your dad used to take you at the Wojek department and you asked me which game I wanted to play when you were a child... 'Where do we start playing today, Zonez?' I feel old. You were a mere child then, and look at you now: an adult in the Agency... A young adult, sure, but still an adult nonetheless."
"Come on, Zonez! You're not old!"
"I am almost double your age though..."
"That doesn't mean you're 'old'! Older than me, sure, but you still have a long time in front of you!"
"Hopefully. Anyway, I know a Gruul camp not too far from here, at a ruined zone almost at the precinct border..."
"Perfect! Take us there, Zonez! We'll start with that game then!"
"Ok, Roy. Let's go back to about twenty years ago. Let's play together."
Roy and Zonez were walking towards the Gruul camp.
"You know what? You always say you've seen me grow up at the Wojek department..."
"That's true. Your dad brought you there almost every day."
"Yeah, I was thinking about that. You know a lot about my childhood, you've witnessed it yourselves, but I know little about yours."
"See the age difference between us matters?"
"No, I didn't meant that! It doesn't. But I've never known about your own childhood. You were already adults as I was born."
"See? It might not matter, but that doesn't mean it's not there."
"We can pretend it's not there. How were you as a child? What was it like to be a child a couple decades before me? Uhm... Again, it doesn't matter. Just curious!"
"I'm still technically younger than your dad though."
"True."
"Anyway, it wasn't actually that different. All the guilds had been there for millennia already, and the city was already the whole world. Sure, we had a magical Guildpact instead of a living one, and we hadn't yet had an extraplanar invasion, but everyday life was quite similar. You woke up, did your thing, and went to bed. Next day, rinse and repeat. It was quite boring in a way, you know?"
"Yeah. Boredom. I know that feeling. Every day is the same until nothing sparks your interest anymore."
"That's the main reason I joined the Legion. Each day is different when you patrol the streets. One day you catch some thief in the act and arrest them right away, another day you just talk to ordinary citizen and nothing happens, but at the end of the day you know that you did the good thing anyway by hearing and protecting them."
"How long have you been in the Boros?"
"More than two decades by now, going for the third. I joined at a very young age, younger than you are now in fact."
"Ever though about changing after that long?"
"No. I feel good in the Legion. There is a nice sense of camaderie, I like that. I've got no reason to change. Why change when you feel like you're exactly where you belong?"
"And what about staying guildless?"
"Of course that's always an option, but not one I would want to choose right now. It's like there was something attracting me to the Boros, something I can't even explain with words. Like I was feeling that I was doing the right thing."
"There are a lot of minotaurs in the Boros..."
"Yeah, but it wasn't a racial thing, there are minotaurs in other guilds too, like m—"
Roy kept walking, not realizing what just happened.
"Maybe the Izzet, the Rakdos for sure, and I guess the Gruul too? Look at the irony here, Zonez: we're going to a Gruul camp right now! Zonez? Why have you suddenly stopped talking? You don't like me anymore?"
Roy laughed at his own joke and turned back.
"Zonez! Those vines! Hold on!"
Vines had raised from the ground, enclosing Zonez fully and blocking him in place. Roy ran back to help his friend.
"One's covering your mouth! That's why you stopped talking!"
"Hmmm..."
"Let me take my knife and free your ha—"
More vines rose from the ground, this time holding Roy in place.
"Hey! These vines are thorny! They hurt!"
Roy screamed:
"Let us go, whoever you are that's doing this! Let us g—"
And another vine covered Roy's mouth as well. He and Zonez were shaking, trying to fight the apparently unbreakable vines. Little by little, Zonez managed to move in such a way to touch something he had in one of the pockets of his Boros uniform. Roy saw a dim pink light coming out from that pocket, followed after a few seconds by a greenish one. Roy understood Zonez was casting some kind of spell that didn't require speaking words out loud, as both of their mouths were still blocked by vines. Roy could only guess in his mind what that spell was. He didn't know any 'get free from vines that have suddenly appeared out of nowhere and enveloped you' spells, and he couldn't ask Zonez directly. It was clear that Zonez knew what he was trying to do though. Roy could only do one thing: trusting his friend.
After a time that felt like centuries to Roy, he saw a female minotaur coming out from behind a tree in front of them, running towards Zonez. She had a sharpened rock in her hand, and she was waiving it for both of them to see. Roy, taking it as she wanted to threaten them, shook more and more vigorously, until, while still blocked by thorny vines, he managed to turn towards her. With a shake of his head he also managed to free his mouth for a few seconds and screamed:
"DON'T YOU DARE KILL HI—"
Another vine had covered his mouth again. Thoughts swarmed Roy's mind like a flood under no control. Pictures of his friend being dead, pictures of her killing himself right after his friend, and pictures of how he imagined the afterlife to be with his friend. In that moment, he wished to be Orzhov, at least his ghost would have been back to this world eventually. Probably. He tucked away the thought, making a mental note to remember it as an advantage of joining the Orzhov, though he didn't want to know how much it would have cost him in terms of money. That lady making him pay for each question had already been enough to him.
In the meantime, she had reached Zonez, who looked as calm as he had ever been though being blocked by vines, while the mere thought of his minotaur friend just accepting to be killed like this made him shake even more. She noticed it, and lifted a hand towards Roy, a gesture that he took as "you'll be next".
Roy might have been an Agency detective, but being a detective doesn't mean you're always right.
In fact, he might have not be more wrong.
Roy looked with surprise while that female minotaur who came out of nowhere used her sharp rock to cut the vines holding Zonez in place, thus releasing him. As soon as she cut the one that was covering his mouth, Zonez looked at Rov, still among the vines, and told him with the most soothing tone of voice he could use:
"Don't worry, friend! She's here to free us!"
Roy still couldn't reply, as vines were still covering his mouth. He had a hard time believing a Boros could lie to him in such a situation, especially when than Boros Sergeant was one of his friends that had seen him grow up in the Wojek department. Once again, he chose to do the only thing he could do in that moment: trusting his friend.
Once they had both been freed, the vines retired back under the ground. Roy still had to understand why they appeared in the first place. It was clear somebody was trying to thwart them, but who? And did it actually mean they were really onto something? Anyway, now it wasn't the right time for this kind of questions. Others had to be answered, like the ones Roy posed while looking at Zonez:
"Who is she? And what was that light I saw coming from your pocket?"
"I guess it's time for proper introductions. Roy, this is Ceztra, my sister. And Ceztra, this is Detective Royznod Biklyev of the Ravnican Agency for Magicological Investigations, or as I prefer, my friend Roy."
"Nice to meet you, Ceztra!"
"My pleasure, Detective Biklyev!"
"Just call me Roy, that's fine. I owe it to you. You saved us."
"Of course I did! We might belong to different guilds, but that doesn't erase the fact that we share our blood!"
"Show him the stone, Cez!"
"Yeah, sure! Here! Take a look at this, Roy!"
"This too", said Zonez while taking out from his pocket a little stone that looked like the twin of Ceztra's one. "Let's test your detective eye, Roy. Do you see any difference?"
"At first glance, no. Maybe if I take the time to have a better look at them..."
"I'll save you some time. No, they're supposed to be identical. It's our own private means of communication, our parting gift to each other. They are enchanted so that either of us can cast a quick spell on one of them and the other glows in response, letting its owner know their sibling needs them."
"Indeed!" Ceztra confirmed. Zonez went on:
"That's what I did. I cast the spell, and she came."
"And the colors? Do they mean something?"
"Our guilds, Roy. Pink is white and red put together, green stands for the Gruul. She's Gruul. In fact, that's how I know the camp we're going to. It belongs to her clan."
"Now I get it. I didn't know you had a sister in the Gruul."
"No need to expose your family matters when it's not needed..."
"...or when your father is the local Wojek Shift Captain I guess, he'll take care of exposing them to the whole department for you."
"Only a few in the whole department even know she exists. In fact, I'm not sure whether even your dad does. And he's my boss! Despite most of us being Ordruun in the Boros, I'm not. We are Tazgral. We have representatives in the Rakdos too. I was trying to tell you earlier that minotaurs are found in other guilds too, and we are a living example of that: I'm Boros, Cez is Gruul. I wasn't willingly hiding anything from you, Roy, don't worry."
"Okay... but do we still need to go to her camp? Can't I just talk to her right now if I want to hear from a Gruul member?"
Ceztra replied directly to Roy:
"If it's anything important, you might want to talk to our chief more than to me. I personally have little to no idea of what happens outside our camp. What I can do is taking you two there though!"
Roy sighed.
"Alright, I guess you also know nothing about a Selesnya hierarch having been killed..."
"About WHAT!?"
"Yeah, just take me and Zonez to your camp..."
Zonez and Ceztra were entertaining Rov with their own childhood stories as they were walking towards her camp.
"...and remember when you got your horns stuck in a wooden door, Zo? That's a good one!"
"Yeah, I guess it was funny to look at from the outside, but trust me, it wasn't very funny on the inside when you are the one who's blocked..."
Roy intervened:
"Wait! What's that figure within that fog over there? Are we supposed to pass through that?"
"Yes, our camp is that way... I was afraid we would have met him..."
"Who or what is that, Ceztra?"
"He's been going around our camp for a few days. He looks like some kind of vampire, but none of us in the camp has had the chance or will to speak to him yet. He just started appearing a few days ago. He randomly appears at the borders of our camp, stays there for a while, then he disappears, only to reappear somewhere else a few hours later."
"And you've had to pass through that mist surrounding him while coming to save me and Zonez?"
"No, I just took a different way out of our camp. We have several ways out."
"But are you sure he's a vampire?"
"They look like one if you concentrate on seeing the silhouette through the mist. I have no idea why he seems to always appear surrounded by fog."
"I know of a lot of vampires in the Dimir and some, but fewer, in the Orzhov, but I had no idea there were also Gruul ones."
"No, he's not Gruul. He's never actually entered the camp, nor we would allow him if he tried. He just sits there at the border. I've learned to just accept his presence and go on with my life."
"If he's not Gruul and he's actually a vampire, why does he stand at the border of a Gruul camp?"
"I don't know, I'm sorry."
"Well, if we have to pass through there to go to your camp, we will discover everything very soon."
They had entered the fog and that strange figure was standing before them. Zonez put his hands on the handles of his weapons while Roy began to speak:
"Would you please make us pass?"
"Blood. I can smell it! Three blooded beings, what a gift!"
"Ok, so you're indeed a vampire, probably not Dimir though."
"You're right. Where have I put proper manners? I should introduce myself first."
"Please do."
"My name is Stefan, of the Markov bloodline."
"It doesn't sound like a Ravnican name..."
"In fact I'm not from this world."
"Where are you from?"
"Innistrad."
"What's that?"
"Another world. I got here through a sequence of omenpaths. Do you know what an omenpath is?"
"Yes, we've heard them mentioned a lot in the Agency since the recent Phyrexian invasion. Anyway, I am Detective Royznod Biklyev of the Agency and these are Sergeant Zonez Namezt of the Boros Legion and his sister Ceztra Namezt of the Gruul Clans."
"Nice to drink you all... uhm, I meant, nice to meet you all."
"What was that you've just said, sorry? 'Drink'?"
"No, no, I'm sorry, it just escaped me, don't worry, I don't drink from strangers... usually..."
"Usually?"
"No, I just don't, no worries."
Ceztra whispered to Roy:
"I don't want my blood to be drank without figthing for it first!"
"Don't worry, I won't let him."
Roy turned to the vampire again:
"So, Markov you said?"
"Yes."
"And you got here using a sequence of omenpaths?"
"Yes."
"And you're not from this world."
"No. Innistrad, I've already told you."
"And why are you here on Ravnica then?"
"I heard that there have been some murders here recently, and you know, blood is a natural attraction for a vampire..."
"Those at Karlov Manor in the Tenth District?"
"Exactly. At first I mistook it as 'Markov Manor', and I went like: 'This is exciting! Murders in my own ancestral manor!' Then I remembered that it was destroyed, and I didn't know about any rebuilding. I investigated and it turned out it was planar travelers through omenpaths talking about 'Karlov' and not 'Markov' Manor. I had misheard, unfortunately. So I set up to find out where that 'Karlov' Manor was, and I learned it's here."
"Yes, but not in this district. It's in the Tenth, near the Agency's headquarters."
"In fact I'm going there."
"You've been observed around this camp for days though..."
"Yeah, I'm just stopping for some snacks before the big meal..."
Ceztra screamed to him: "We're not your snacks!"
"We'll see... Do you want to be the first?"
"No! I want you to go away from our camp!"
"Wouldn't you just let me have some appetizers?"
"No! Go to the Tenth if you want, or back to wherever your world is, but do not think about feasting in our camp!"
"Why not? Thank you for the idea!"
"Because the whole camp would fight against you! And just wait for me to tell everybody in the camp, we'll be the first to attack you now that we know who you are! We would be the ones to drink your blood!"
"No, you've got it backwords. Vampires like me drink the blood of other people like you all. I can demonstrate if you want."
Zonez whispered to Roy:
"I do know some hieromancy from my Boros training... not a lot, but it could still work..."
Roy nodded to Zonez and just told him:
"Do it."
Chains made of tangible light came out of the earth from behind Stefan and grounded him. The vampire screamed:
"No! Not the chains! I'm a Markov! No chains against a Markov!"
Zonez replied with an even louder and angrier voice while still holding the magical chains:
"Not the chains? Ok, there is another option! You said a sequence of omenpaths brought you here. Take it backwards and go back to whatever world you said you're coming from!"
Ceztra added:
"Yeah, go wherever you want, but away from here, unless you think you'd survive a fight against a whole clan of angry Gruul!"
"Ok, if you insist I will move on. I hope to find more blood along the way."
"You surely will! Now go away!"
Zonez let go of the chains, understanding they weren't actually needed anymore.
"Alright. Goodbye, Detective and friends! And be thankful because I didn't drink your blood in the end. Greetings from Stefan Markov!"
Roy whispered:
"Don't worry, we won't forget your name..."
Only as the vampire was flying away Zonez let go of his weapons, and the three moved on entering the Gruul camp.
Ceztra took Rov and Zonez directly to the chief of the Gruul camp, a viashino female named Jeksta, introducing them:
"Chief Jeksta, these are my older brother Zonez from the Boros and his friend Detective Roy. They wanted to talk to you."
"Greetings to you, citizens. What brings you here in reclaimed territory from your so-called 'civilized' world?"
Roy took the floor, if you can call naked ground like that.
"There's been a murder in a public plaza a couple days ago: a Selesnya loxodon hierarch was killed in front of everybody with a poisoned arrow shoot by an archer in a Dimir cloak, also stained with presumably the same poison. I managed to take it off and under it there was a clear member of the Gruul, a human boy with a blonde crest and torn leather clothes. He successfully ran away, and the arrow is in the Agency's evidence locker, still attached to the loxodon body. I also presume that Gruul boy was running back to his own camp, and I suspect somebody might have hired him, but I've heard from most of the guilds and it looks like nobody has. Might he be someone from this camp?"
"We have humans here, but no one with a blonde crest, unless he somehow infiltrated our camp from another camp or clan. Either would be possible, it's not like we care too much about the security of our camps, like somebody else certainly would..."
"Like the Azorius?"
"For sure. Maybe others too."
"Might he have been a human boy from this camp with dyed hair?"
"Theoretically, sure. Dyed hair, tattoos, body modifications... all of those are common in our clans."
"Which dye could turn human hair to blonde?"
"Several..."
"Maybe some that are made out of flowers?"
"We want to restore Ravnica to its natural state, the one that you civilized people destroyed with your mania of building buildings over other buildings and roads over other roads, we'd never use something natural like that. We'd be more likely to use a rock brick taken from the foundations of one of your buildings, with the nice side effect of making it collapse onto itself..."
"Nice? What if there is someone inside it and they die from the building falling down right over them?"
"One more victim of civilization. Not a big deal."
"'Not a big deal'? You cause the death of somebody else you don't even know and it's 'not a big deal'?"
"Not to us. Everyone of us has already died, only to be reborn from under the earth."
"Are you implying that you are a guild of necromancers? I had no idea the Gruul had those. Sounds more like a Golgari thing..."
"No necromancers here. It's clear you know nothing about Gruul rites of passage..."
"Indeed, but that's not the real point now. And while we're speaking of death, what about poisons?"
"Yes, we have some... but we don't use them unless it's needed."
"Who decides when it's needed?"
"That's a very good question..."
"Have you ever commissioned a homicide via poison?"
"No, not once in my life. It wasn't us. But I do know some poisons..."
"Like one called 'Stain of Violets'?"
"No! Violets are flowers! I've already told you we'd never use nature like that! We want to bring back nature to Ravnica, not use it for our purposes!"
"And what are your poisons produced out of then?"
"Well, they're mainly made of..."
"Wait! I'm not sure I want to know, and anyway I know where I could probably find out. Could you shoot a poisoned arrow?"
"Not personally, but there are ones in our clan who could do that. Other Gruul clans could too, we're not the only one, you know? We're just the Ghor clan, but what you civilized people call 'the Gruul guild' is bigger than that..."
"Who could then?"
"Sneaking unseen into a public plaza to shoot a poisoned arrow... Sounds more like those cowards of the Slitz clan rather than us... We prefer mass attacks and things like that..."
"The Slitz clan... Where can I find them?"
"Yeah, those cowards! Good luck with them... There are several Slitz camp hidden around here, I'm sure Ceztra could take you to one of them whenever you want. Just don't ask me to come too, let them boil in their own cowardry..."
"Could you, Ceztra?"
"Yeah, why not? Right now?"
But chief Jeksta spoke again:
"I'd prefer if you stayed here now, there are things to do here in the camp... I can't pretend you civilized people know about what it takes for real survival."
"Sure, chief. My brother here can contact me later and I'll take them there."
"Good, Ceztra. Let me know when he does and if there are no pressing matters here I'll send you to them. Are you two good with this agreement? Is it a civilized enough way to do things for you?"
Roy replied:
"Yeah, no problem. One more reason for you to stay with me, Zonez!"
"Indeed. Yes, I can contact my sister at any time."
For chief Jeksta the 'civilized' conversation had already gone too long:
"We agree then. Thank you for your visit to our clan in the ruins. You can go now."
"Good. Let's go, Zonez! Goodbye, Ceztra!"
"'Bye, Cez!"
"Let me know when you need me, Zo! 'Bye, Zo! Roy too!"
Roy and Zonez left the Ghor clan camp, hoping not to encounter any more vines or vampires from other worlds on their way back.
After going back to the 'civilized world', as chief Jeksta would say, and having a quick lunch at Roy's house, it was already afternoon.
"I'm only missing one possibility to check: the Selesnya internal feud. You're still with me, Zonez, aren't you?"
"Of course. By now I'd say I'm in this too, and in too deep... Where do we go?"
"I think the nearest vernadi is the one at Mavozen Park... Do you know of any other ones nearby?"
"No, I was also thinking of Mavozen Park... About half an hour of walking from here."
"Yeah! Let's go there then!"
Mavozen Park was essentially the lung of the neighborhood. It was the largest unbuilt piece of land in a long distance, probably in the whole District. It was an oasis of peace where everybody was welcome to relax or reconnect with nature after a long day of work in the busy city. It had been built a long time ago by an unlikely alliance of the Selesnya, the Simic, and the Golgari, and obviously funded by the Orzhov, but at an unusually low interest rate by their standards given the public interest of the project. The park was open all day to everyone, except for an enclosed area around the tree that had been planted in its exact centre, that was ordinarily accessible only to Selesnya members, and that was the area inhabited by the local vernadi. Roy and Zonez found an entrance to the reserved area guarded by a Selesnya Sagittar. Roy told him:
"Hey, your bow reminds me of something..."
The Sagittar didn't react with a single muscle. Some guards were supposed to just stay there as statues, impassible and unbreakable, and this one might have been one of them. Zonez took care of that:
"Hello, I'm Sergeant Zonez Namezt of the Boros Legion, and this is Detective Royznod Biklyev of the Ravnican Agency of Magicological Investigations. As a guild official, I'd like to request access to the restricted area for both of us for a case Detective Biklyev is working on with my assistance."
"Hello to you, Sergeant. Please wait here while I go to ask for permission inside."
No, it wasn't one of those guards. He just hadn't been impressed by Roy's half-joke.
"Sorry, Roy. A formal approach is better in some situations."
"No apologies, Zonez! As long as you manage to get us in, that's good. Whatever works!"
After a few minutes, the Sagittar came back.
"I wasn't able to obtain access to our voda's room, but I did find a hierarch who is willing to talk with you. Please follow me."
"A hierarch! — Roy thought — A colleague of the victim. This is gonna be interesting!"
"Hello to you both. I'm Zelya. Who's the detective?"
"It's me. He is Sergeant Namezt."
As if it hadn't been immediately clear just by looking at Roy's casual dressing and Zonez's official Boros uniform...
"Good! Please have a seat!"
"Thank you."
"I assume you're here to ask us questions."
"Of course."
"Please go ahead."
"Are you aware of a loxodon colleague of yours having been shot with a poisoned arrow at his heart a few days ago?"
"We were afraid something like that had happened when we didn't see Katel coming back here. Poor Katel."
"Was that his name?"
"If he was the one preaching in the main plaza about half an hour from here, then yes. He lived here with us."
Roy thought:
"Finally that body has a name. That's already good progress."
Then he reprised:
"So you didn't know about his death?"
"We all knew something had to have happened to him when he didn't come back that night, but we didn't know an arrow had killed him. We were just hoping that he had decided to take a tour of the whole District to spread the word of Mat'Selesnya or something like that and that he would have been back eventually."
"Then I have to give you bad news: he won't be back, ever."
Zelya repeated in mourning:
"Poor Katel..."
Roy reprised:
"Was there some disagreement between him and somebody else in the Conclave?"
"It's true that while we should always stay united, some disagreements inevitably arise. It happens in any family."
"Something that might cause somebody in the family, as you've just called it, to want him to be dead?"
"For the will and sake of Mat'Selesnya, no!"
She said it with an almost scandalized tone, like if only thinking that might have been the case was already an offense.
"Not even something trivial like just how to take care of your garden or such?"
"No! We strictly follow the Nature Act! There is a whole section on the cure and preservation of public gardens! Look, we have a copy right here! Look at this one: article 3-quater! What does it say? Read it yourself!"
"'All the green areas and parks open to the public are to be built, kept, and maintained according to the following criteria: the grass is to be cleaned two times each day and to be mowed once every three days...' Yeah, I know how this goes, it's not the first time I read it."
Zonez thought:
"It shows that document has been written by some very zealous Azorius..."
Roy went on:
"'...and for every seven oaks planted there should also be nine red maples, eleven cypresses and thirteen poplars...'"
"Once, then Prime Speaker Zegana came here and she even congratulated us for how well we keep this park and these gardens!"
"And you're proud of that?"
"Yes, very much! If even guildleaders notice the quality of our work here, it must mean something!"
"Sure, but I'm not very interested in good gardening right now... How about we go back to talk about... What was his name... About your colleague?"
"Katel. Poor Katel..."
"Yeah, him."
"What more can I say about him if he's no longer with us? Not even our Doruvati can bring him back now..."
"So nothing that could justify some member of the Conclave to want to get rid of him?"
"No, at least as far as we know, I and all others in the Selesnya, I can feel it through my connection to this central tree..."
"I guess I can get rid of my hypothesis about your guild as well then... Well, thank you anyway."
"You're welcome! Enjoy the rest of our park!"
"Another time maybe... Now let's go back home, Zonez."
Night had fallen in the city. Roy and his housemate shared a single bedroom with two beds in it, one belonging to Roy and one to his housemate. They also had a room for guests in their house, with its own bed, ordinarily empty. On the first night that Zonez spent at Roy's house, Roy had jokingly, but maybe not so much, threatened his housemate to kick him out of the house if he didn't go to sleep in the guest's bed so that Zonez could sleep in his bed instead of him in their shared room. Roy's housemate had a bitter laugh, and accepted. "Just for a few days though, only until you manage to crack this case", Roy's housemate had replied. Every night, but especially this night, while Roy was in his own bed, Zonez in Roy's housemate's bed in the same room, and Roy's housemate in the guest's bed, Roy couldn't help but keep thinking about the case of the fallen hierarch.
"I don't know what to think anymore, Zonez. Ten guilds and a lot of guildless people are in this city. Eleven groups total, if you want to count the guildless as a fake eleventh guild, and all of them got excluded, one way or another..."
From Roy's housemate's bed, Zonez replied:
"Somebody either could or should have known but somehow doesn't, or is outright lying. A lot of lies, rumors, and fake news circle around in the streets... I can tell you for sure, I usually spend every day patroling those streets..."
"And not just the Dimir..."
"No. Everybody can lie. Unfortunately."
"I know... Yeah, somebody must be lying, but who?"
"I don't know... I only know that it's time to sleep, Roy. We'll have to think about that tomorrow."
"Yeah, you're right. 'Night, Zonez!"
"Goodnight to you, Roy."
Before falling asleep, Roy thought:
"Tomorrow will be the good day, I can feel it! Just wait one night. Tomorrow."
(Please don't make any custom cards for the characters from this story of mine. They all already have one, and you'll see all of them in the final episode next round.)
Main Challenge - Design an instant or sorcery card that suspects one or more creatures as part of its resolution.
Subchallenge 1 - Your card's color identity is given by the sum of exactly one between black and red (not both!) plus exactly one or two (not all three) among green, white, and blue. The result will be either a two- or three-colored color identity. (All of the challenge is spelled out here, but if this is not clear enough to you, please see clarifications.)
Subchallenge 2 - Choose one or both —
• At least one of the creatures your card suspects is required to be controlled by an opponent (usually worded as "suspect target creature an opponent controls"). (0.5 points)
• Your card also gives a positive bonus in power and/or toughness to all the creatures it suspects. (0.5 points)
There are only two requirements that your card must meet at the same time:
• Be an instant or sorcery, aka having the instant or sorcery card type on its type line. It can have any additional supertypes, card types, and subtypes.
• It suspects one or more creatures on resolution. Who controls those creatures doesn't matter for the Main Challenge.
That's all. Should be understandable enough.
From the discussion thread:
bravelion83 wrote: ↑1 month agoIf your spell creates a creature token and then, after the token has been created, suspects it, then I would say that it's a typical case of letter vs. spirit of the challenge. The letter is met: when you get to suspect something, the token is already on the battlefied so you do suspect a creature, though one that you've just created during an earlier step of the resolution of the same spell. The spirit though is that your spell suspects creatures that were already on the battlefield before that spell was cast. If I were to judge a card that creates a token and then suspects that same token, I would probably deduct some points in Main Challenge for spirit of the challenge not met, but if all you care about is the letter of the challenge, that would be satisfied. Essentially the creature(s) you suspect have to be on the battlefield in the moment you suspect them. Hope this helps.Komandon wrote: ↑1 month ago@bravelion83 as part of the resolution for the making a creature suspected does it have to on the battlefield already such as reanimating, cloaking, make a token and it's suspected etc. Such as the create a 1/1 Skeleton token, +2/+2 and haste until end of turn. It's suspected. (Not that phrasing. I know it's not formatted or gramme correct. Just a quick example that came to mind)
bravelion83 wrote: ↑1 month agoYou can still do that. If you have a strong design that earns you more that what you may be losing in Main Challenge, you'll end up gaining points. It's the same reasoning as for the Subchallenges. What you cannot do is get a zero in Main Challenge, because that's a DQ, but if you have, for example, a 1.5/2 in Main Challenge you might make up for it in other areas of the rubric. In the end, it's your choice, and it's a strategic one. What I'm saying is that the intent of the Main Challenge is to suspect creatures that are already on the battlefield, but as long as you meet the two requirements (instant or sorcery, and using suspect) the letter of the challenge is met and you're not DQ'ed, which I believe is the most important thing from the point of view of a player.
Subchallenge 1
Probably the hardest one to understand from this set of challenges, so let me try to break it down for you.
• First of all, we care about color identity and not simple color, so mana symbols in the text box count too.
• The five colors of Magic have been divided into two groups:
- Group 1: black and red
- Group 2: green, white, and blue
To pass this subchallenge, your card's color identity must be made up by the sum of exactly one color from group 1 and either one or two colors from group 2.
• If you use both colors in group 1 in your color identity, this Subchallenge is automatically failed, regardless of how many colors you use from group 2.
• If you use all three colors in group 2 in your color identity, this Subchallenge is automatically failed, regardless of how many colors you use from group 1.
• The result will be a two-colored color identity if you pick one color from group 1 and one color from group 2, or a three-colored color identity if you pick one color from group 1 and two colors from group 2. A monocolored color identity automatically fails this Subchallenge, as does a colorless, four- or five-colored one.
• The spirit of this Subchallenge is to force you to expand the suspect mechanic to new mechanical space outside the black-red aggro archetype in MKM, while also not pushing it too far away from those colors, which are the most obvious ones given what the suspect mechanic does.
Subchallenge 2, mode 1
• Your card can suspect any number of creatures to meet the Main Challenge, and those creatures can be controlled by different players. This Subchallenge mode is met if at least one of the creatures that get suspected is required to be controlled by an opponent.
• It can also be the case that more than one or even all the creatures that get suspected are controlled by an opponent. In that case, this Subchallenge mode is met as well. One creature controlled by an opponent is enough.
• If a suspected creature can be controlled by an opponent but also by you (the most common case of this is if the controller of that suspected creature is not specified), then that creature does NOT count towards this Subchallenge mode. You're not allowed to ever control that creature for it to count.
• Notice that it says "controlled" and not "owned" by an opponent. It could be a creature you own that one of your opponents has taken control of.
• From the discussion thread:
bravelion83 wrote: ↑1 month agoI guess you're actually talking about Subchallenge 2 mode 1, Subchallenge 1 is the one about color identity. The answer is that a spell that says nothing but "Suspect all creatures." does NOT meet Subchallenge 2 mode 1. The key point here is that "if the opponent has a creature" that I've underlined in your quote. Nothing in that Subchallenge mode allows you to assume that. For that mode to be met, the end result must be that "at least one" (see the text of that Subchallenge mode) creature an opponent controls ends up being suspected. But if that underlined "if" condition is not true, aka the opponent has no creatures, then zero creatures an opponent controls end up being suspected and zero is NOT "at least one", so that Subchallenge mode is NOT met. Essentially you have to ask yourself: does this spell require (as in not just "maybe potentially include", but "always necessarily results in") "at least one" (and zero is not that) creature among those it suspects to be controlled by an opponent? The answer must be "yes, always" and not just "yes, but... maybe... sometimes... only if some condition is true... it depends..." Hope this helps. Adding this to the clarifications.haywire wrote: ↑1 month ago@bravelion83 for subchallenge 1, would a card that suspects all creatures count? The de facto result is that if the opponent controls a creature, it will become suspected, which is the same de facto result as a spell that specifically suspects a creature an opponent controls; in both cases, if the opponent has a creature, it is suspected, and if the opponent doesn't have a creature, then there's nothing to suspect.
bravelion83 wrote: ↑1 month agoYes, exactly. Perfect reasoning, you've got it. Notice that if you change that to "Choose target creature an opponent controls. Suspect that creature", with you making the choice and explicitly targeting the creature, then it meets that Subchallenge mode as you can't even cast it if your opponent has no creatures because of how targeting works. Something like that is what you have to do if you want to meet that Subchallenge mode.haywire wrote: ↑1 month ago@bravelion83 would a spell that says "Target opponent chooses a creature they control. Suspect that creature" similarly fail subchallenge 2-1 (which is the one I was referencing, thank you for understanding my mistype), since it fails if that player doesn't control a creature?
Subchallenge 2, mode 2
• Both temporary bonuses like "+2/+2 until end of turn" and permanent bonuses like "put two +1/+1 counters" count. Negative bonuses like "-1/-1 until end of turn" or "put a -1/-1 counter" do NOT count. The bonus must be positive.
• +0/+N and +N/+0 are also positive bonuses and DO count for this Subchallenge mode.
• -0/-N and -N/-0 are both considered negative bonuses and do NOT count for this Subchallenge mode.
• +N/+M is always considered a positive bonus regardless of the values of N and M, and DOES count for this Subchallenge mode.
• -N/-M is always considered a negative bonus regardless of the values of N and M, and does NOT count for this Subchallenge mode.
• If both N and M are different from zero and from each other, then +N/-M and -N/+M are considered positive bonuses (and consequently count for this Subchallenge mode) if the greater number in absolute value between N and M is the positive one, the one with the + sign, or, in other words, if the sum N+M is positive. Examples:
Positive: +2/-1, +4/-2, -3/+5. (These count.)
Negative: -2/+1, -4/+2, +3/-5. (These do NOT count.)
• +N/-N and -N/+N, where the bonus to power and the bonus to toughness are equal in absolute value but have opposite signs, do NOT count as positive bonuses overall, as the sum here is zero. Here, "positive" means "greater than zero", excluding the number zero itself. In this case, this Subchallenge mode is NOT met.
• ALL the creatures your spell suspects must receive some kind of positive bonus. If even just one of the suspected creatures does not receive a positive bonus, then this Subchallenge mode is NOT met.
• Different suspected creatures CAN receive different bonuses as long as all the bonuses are positive and each of the suspected creatures receives one such bonus.
• This Subchallenge mode doesn't care about the controller(s) of the suspected creatures at all. That's the first mode.
• From the discussion thread:
bravelion83 wrote: ↑1 month agoThis has been in the clarifications since I first posted the round thread: as long as the bonus is positive, both of those count.Literally everything that gives a positive bonus to power and/or toughness counts.or would a boost a role token or similar count. While not a counter would boost the P/T.No problem, these additional clarifications might be useful to other players too even if you end up making something different.Using these as gages incase I while researching find a mechanic or boost that while not listed in the question may be similar. Likely won't but looking just in case.
If you have any more questions, feel free to post them in the MCC discussion thread.
DEADLINES
Design deadline: Wednesday, March 20th 2024 at 23:59 Eastern Time
Judging deadline: Saturday, March 23rd 2024 at 23:59 Eastern Time
RUBRIC
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
Ink-Treader
PLAYERS
Total scores of the first two rounds:
slimytrout: 22.5 + 23 = 45.5
Subject16: 23 + 21.5 = 44.5
Lorn Asbord Schutta: 22 + 22 = 44
haywire: 20.5 + 21 = 41.5
Caspernicus: 21 + 20 = 41
Komandon: 19 + 21.5 = 40.5
This means that we already know the pairings. This round (the versus round) will be:
@slimytrout vs. @Komandon
@Subject16 vs. @Caspernicus
@Lorn Asbord Schutta vs. @haywire
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.