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Rithaniel
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Post by Rithaniel » 1 year ago

bravelion83 wrote:
1 year ago
The story of the design
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The card has been designed bottom up.
The first thing was coming up with a new cumulative upkeep cost and then everything has been designed around it, starting with the colors.
It had to be monocolored with an off-color cumulative upkeep because of the challenges, so it had to be an effect that could justify that. I explored multiple options but exiling cards from graveyards was the one that I thought the most elegant and easy to design with, so I went with it.
What colors could do that? White, black, and green. Blue and red have also done that but mostly only in sets with a graveyard theme, so I excluded them.
Out of the three Abzan colors, what could I make with that cost? An anthem effect in white immediately came to my mind.
At that point I chose to put the other two colors as hybrid mana in the cumulative upkeep, but then I thought I had to care about the exiled cards in some way to justify the cumulative upkeep cost. Then I made the mental connection anthem + number of cards exiled.
At this point, the card's only other ability was "Creatures you control get +X/+X, where X is the number of cards exiled with CARDNAME." It would have certainly been more elegant, but it clearly wanted to be a rare and I felt it lacked some splashiness. I also wanted to make the card even more clearly monowhite.
I tried granting two core white abilities like vigilance (conveniently also in green) and lifelink (conveniently also in black). At this point, the non-cumulative upkeep rules text was "Creatures you control get +X/+X and have vigilance and lifelink, where X is the number of cards exiled with CARDNAME."
But then it didn't feel right to me that creatures got pumped by noncreature cards too, so the text became "Creatures you control get +X/+X and have vigilance and lifelink, where X is the number of creature cards exiled with CARDNAME."
But then I asked myself what would have happened if you didn't have any creature cards to exile to the upkeep cost, would you just have to lose your enchantment? I wanted to find a use for noncreature cards and an incentive for you to want to also exile noncreature cards. It was then that I splitted the abilities and also went from +X/+X to "+1/+1 for each" for clarity. At this point the rules text was:
Cumulative upkeep—{B/G}, Exile a card from a graveyard.
Creatures you control get +1/+1 for each creature card exiled with CARDNAME.
Creatures you control have vigilance and lifelink if there are N or more noncreature cards among cards exiled with CARDNAME.
I started thinking about the value of that N. When I considered 4, I thought "Hey, this is really similar to delirium!" So I changed that ability to make it pseudo-delirium, but I couldn't label it "delirium" because it didn't check the card types among cards in your graveyard, but among cards you exiled, which is technically quite different, but that ability was meant to evoke delirium.
Finally, I thought about constructed. I realized this card was mostly useless there unless I gave it some immediate impact, and the very first idea was letting you exile a card immediately so that you could have it immediately do something. And so the final version of the card was born. I just had to find a flavor for it.
I struggled a lot with it. At a certain point, I remembered the card Castle. It wasn't the exact same bonus, but it was still kind of an anthem effect. I still had to justify the graveyard part. I thought about the spirits of the buried rising up from the earth, infusing the tombstones and animating them, and the card could represent a bunch of these animated tombstones. The spirits represented the creature cards you exiled and the tombstones the noncreature cards. That felt good enough to me, but the castle idea for the anthem and the tombstones idea for the graveyard interaction just felt like two completely separate things to me. Was there a way to connect them?
Then a sudden memory of my childhood hit me like a flash. I've always been a big fan of the Duck side of Disney comics and such. You know, Donald Duck, Huey, Dewey and Louie, etc..., and last but not least Scrooge McDuck. I have not just read but devoured what in Italian is called "La Saga di Paperon de' Paperoni" (literally "The Saga of Scrooge McDuck", I don't know its actual English title, I have it in Italian), which is a twelve-chapter story by Don Rosa, all based on the works by Carl Barks, telling the whole life of Scrooge starting with his childhood in Scotland and ending with him in Duckburg as the richest duck in the world. I still read that from time to time. The very first chapter starts with Scrooge's father Fergus taking him to the castle of their clan and telling him of their heritage. Later in that same chapter, the now teenager Scrooge digs turf from the clan cemetery attached to the castle to sell it as burning fuel and gain a few bucks. I had the image of the young Scrooge looking at the clan castle in rememberance that takes more than half of the page clear in my mind. I thought that a cemetery attached to a clan castle was the perfect way to connect the two disjointed ideas I had, and as I thought of it, I immediately took that book from the library in my own bedroom and read again the first chapter, looking for how Don Rosa was calling that graveyard, because I didn't want to use the word "graveyard" in the card name because of its technical Magic rules meaning. It was always just called the "castle cemetery". I thought that felt like a good card name so I just went with that. As for the flavor text, it's also inspired by that story. In Disney Duck canon, Scrooge is really the last of the McDuck clan, and that's very relevant in many occasions. Scrooge doesn't have a sword, at least as far as I know, but I added that part to give it more of an adult fantasy feeling. The "spirits of your ancestors" represented the exiled creature cards and "blessing the blade of your sword" was meant to represent the granted keywords. It fit in MSE and I really liked it so I went ahead and posted it. I admit that it's not my most elegant design overall and that the flavor probably doesn't make too much sense to you if you don't know the backstory of Scrooge McDuck, but to me it was just a trip down memory lane, back to a time when I was way happier than now, and it all connected too well for me given how much I like that story. If any of you happen to also be fans of the Disney Ducks, Duckburg, and such, I strongly suggest that you check it out. It's from several years ago, maybe even a couple decades ago, so it might not be the easiest thing to find, but it's definitely worth a read if you can find it.
And that's a story of how a duck inspired the whole flavor of a card. I hope this helps answering a few questions you might have had.
You know, that's a nice story. I'm glad I read it through. I wasn't expecting to learn that the flavor was inspired by Scrooge McDuck, but, knowing that, you might have been able to earn a few points in my judgment if I had been a fellow fan of the last of the McDuck clan.

Also, this is just a thing that happens. You find that you have to trade elegance in a design to make it more interesting, or to balance it, or to make it have more specific effects. I think the card's balance and viability were overall strengthened by the development you put into it, but the elegance took hits, in stages. You had the additional ETB trigger, the off-color cost, the splitting of the anthem effect. Each were individual decisions. Also, individually, these decisions wouldn't make the card inelegant. It becomes inelegant when they pile on and fail to incorporate themselves into each other "smoothly." Of course, getting them to incorporate into each other this way can be quite difficult, and the next option is to simply sacrifice elegance in order to get the card you want to make.

Coming up with good flavor is always a tricky thing, though. I actually like to come up with flavor that I like and then change the design afterwards to make the flavor work better. Like, when I made Dzrak for the October MCC round 2, it had a much more complex transform ability, but then I came up with the idea that, in Dzrak's story, it becomes "the Cracked Reflection" when it incorporates an evil soul into itself, rather than preserving it in crystal. So, it became "sacrifice a creature: Transform" and then, to really hammer home the fact that it's an evil soul, it became "sacrifice a black creature." I don't think that came across in the flavor, though.
And a Few Quotes
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"Why are numbers beautiful? It's like asking why is Beethoven's Ninth Symphony beautiful. If you don't see why, someone can't tell you. I know numbers are beautiful. If they aren't beautiful, nothing is."
― Paul Erdős

“I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.”
― Stephen Jay Gould

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bravelion83
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Post by bravelion83 » 1 year ago

Round 1 for December is up.

EDIT December 1st, 2022 10:16 pm CEST - I've just added a point in the clarifications spoiler to remind everybody that both unearth and prototype are not evergreen so they need reminder text if it fits, and that repeating the permanent's type line in the prototype ability is pointless as prototype doesn't change it anyway.
Author of the MCC Guidelines and FAQ. | For my projects, including Jeff Lionheart, my murder mystery story "One pierced heart, two mindful horns", and republished articles from my series "The Lion's Lair", see Leo's content index (Last updated on March 24th 2024 - Added OPHTMH Episode 4).
After I'm done republishing my articles I want to reprise the series focusing it more on editing, wording, and templating. Suggest potential future article topics here.
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MCC - Winner (9): Oct 2014, Apr Nov 2017, Jan 2018, Apr Jun 2019, Jan Mar 2022, Apr 2023 || Host (30): Dec 2014, Apr Jul Aug Dec 2015, Mar Jul Aug Oct 2016, Feb Jul 2017, Jun Nov 2018, Feb Jul 2019 (last on MTGS), Aug 2019 (first on MTGN) Oct 2019, Jan Jun 2020 Apr Oct 2021, Feb May Sep Dec 2022, Mar Jun Sep Dec 2023, Mar 2024 || Judge (58): every month from Nov 2014 to Nov 2016 except Oct 2015, every month from Feb to Jul 2017 except Apr 2017, then Oct 2017, May Jun Nov 2018, Feb Jul 2019 (last on MTGS), every month from Aug 2019 (first on MTGN) to Feb 2020, May Jun 2020, Mar Apr Sep Oct 2021, Feb May Sep Dec 2022, Mar May Jun Sep Dec 2023, Jan Mar 2024
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DCC - Winner (3): Mar 2015 (tied with Piar), Feb Apr 2022 || Host (12): May Oct 2015, Jan 2016, Jun Sep Dec 2021, Mar Jun Sep Dec 2022, Mar Jun 2023

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Post by bravelion83 » 1 year ago

@void_nothing For November Round 3, does something like "nonbasic landhome" count or does it have to be one of the four non-Island basic land types? I'm thinking about something like what Dryad Sophisticate is for landwalk.
Author of the MCC Guidelines and FAQ. | For my projects, including Jeff Lionheart, my murder mystery story "One pierced heart, two mindful horns", and republished articles from my series "The Lion's Lair", see Leo's content index (Last updated on March 24th 2024 - Added OPHTMH Episode 4).
After I'm done republishing my articles I want to reprise the series focusing it more on editing, wording, and templating. Suggest potential future article topics here.
My CCCG Resume (Updated on February 27th 2024)
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MCC - Winner (9): Oct 2014, Apr Nov 2017, Jan 2018, Apr Jun 2019, Jan Mar 2022, Apr 2023 || Host (30): Dec 2014, Apr Jul Aug Dec 2015, Mar Jul Aug Oct 2016, Feb Jul 2017, Jun Nov 2018, Feb Jul 2019 (last on MTGS), Aug 2019 (first on MTGN) Oct 2019, Jan Jun 2020 Apr Oct 2021, Feb May Sep Dec 2022, Mar Jun Sep Dec 2023, Mar 2024 || Judge (58): every month from Nov 2014 to Nov 2016 except Oct 2015, every month from Feb to Jul 2017 except Apr 2017, then Oct 2017, May Jun Nov 2018, Feb Jul 2019 (last on MTGS), every month from Aug 2019 (first on MTGN) to Feb 2020, May Jun 2020, Mar Apr Sep Oct 2021, Feb May Sep Dec 2022, Mar May Jun Sep Dec 2023, Jan Mar 2024
CCL - Winner (4): Jul 2016 (tied with Flatline), May 2017, Jul 2019 (last on MTGS), Jun 2021 (tied with slimytrout) || Host (5): Feb 2015, Mar Apr May Jun 2016
DCC - Winner (3): Mar 2015 (tied with Piar), Feb Apr 2022 || Host (12): May Oct 2015, Jan 2016, Jun Sep Dec 2021, Mar Jun Sep Dec 2022, Mar Jun 2023

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Post by void_nothing » 1 year ago

Doesn't have to refer to a basic land type at all! Just can't be islandwalk. Beyond that, you can use any version of this deprecated keyword you can think of!
Psst, check the second page of Custom Card Contests & Games! Because of the daily contests, a lot of games fall down to there.

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Post by void_nothing » 1 year ago

Been all over the place this weekend - October final judgments coming tomorrow!
Psst, check the second page of Custom Card Contests & Games! Because of the daily contests, a lot of games fall down to there.

The greatest (fake) pro wrestling on the internet - Collaborative Create-A-Booster - My random creations (updated regularly)

Important Facts: Colorless is not a color, Wastes is not a land type, Changeling is not a creature type

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Post by Rithaniel » 1 year ago

I would be okay with volunteering to host the January MCC, by the way. I have a theme in mind.
And a Few Quotes
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"Why are numbers beautiful? It's like asking why is Beethoven's Ninth Symphony beautiful. If you don't see why, someone can't tell you. I know numbers are beautiful. If they aren't beautiful, nothing is."
― Paul Erdős

“I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.”
― Stephen Jay Gould

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Post by void_nothing » 1 year ago

Rithaniel wrote:
1 year ago
I would be okay with volunteering to host the January MCC, by the way. I have a theme in mind.
It's all yours!
Psst, check the second page of Custom Card Contests & Games! Because of the daily contests, a lot of games fall down to there.

The greatest (fake) pro wrestling on the internet - Collaborative Create-A-Booster - My random creations (updated regularly)

Important Facts: Colorless is not a color, Wastes is not a land type, Changeling is not a creature type

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Post by void_nothing » 1 year ago

Subject16 wrote:
1 year ago
Lumber Breaker 7
Artifact Creature — Construct (U)
Prototype 1RG 3/2 (You may cast this spell with different mana cost, color, and size. It keeps its abilities and types.)
Whenever Lumber Breaker attacks, sacrifice a land. If you do, add X mana in any combination of R and/or G, where X is Lumber Breaker's power. Until end of turn, you don't lose this mana as steps and phases end.
3/2
@Subject16 I think you meant to put a different base p/t here!
Psst, check the second page of Custom Card Contests & Games! Because of the daily contests, a lot of games fall down to there.

The greatest (fake) pro wrestling on the internet - Collaborative Create-A-Booster - My random creations (updated regularly)

Important Facts: Colorless is not a color, Wastes is not a land type, Changeling is not a creature type

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Post by void_nothing » 1 year ago

And my final October judgments are in!
Psst, check the second page of Custom Card Contests & Games! Because of the daily contests, a lot of games fall down to there.

The greatest (fake) pro wrestling on the internet - Collaborative Create-A-Booster - My random creations (updated regularly)

Important Facts: Colorless is not a color, Wastes is not a land type, Changeling is not a creature type

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Post by slimytrout » 1 year ago

And with that, I can extend my congratulations to @Ink-Treader, winner of the October MCC!

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Post by Ink-Treader » 1 year ago

I think this is my first MCC win, so I'm glad to have finally managed that. Was a fun set of challenges

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Post by bravelion83 » 1 year ago

Round 1 for December is closed. We have 9 submissions and I will judge solo. All players will advance except the lowest ranking one, for reasons that I've detailed in the round thread. It will take a few days but I'll try to be as fast as I can while still be as thorough as usual. I won't start until tonight. Expect more updates tomorrow.
Author of the MCC Guidelines and FAQ. | For my projects, including Jeff Lionheart, my murder mystery story "One pierced heart, two mindful horns", and republished articles from my series "The Lion's Lair", see Leo's content index (Last updated on March 24th 2024 - Added OPHTMH Episode 4).
After I'm done republishing my articles I want to reprise the series focusing it more on editing, wording, and templating. Suggest potential future article topics here.
My CCCG Resume (Updated on February 27th 2024)
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MCC - Winner (9): Oct 2014, Apr Nov 2017, Jan 2018, Apr Jun 2019, Jan Mar 2022, Apr 2023 || Host (30): Dec 2014, Apr Jul Aug Dec 2015, Mar Jul Aug Oct 2016, Feb Jul 2017, Jun Nov 2018, Feb Jul 2019 (last on MTGS), Aug 2019 (first on MTGN) Oct 2019, Jan Jun 2020 Apr Oct 2021, Feb May Sep Dec 2022, Mar Jun Sep Dec 2023, Mar 2024 || Judge (58): every month from Nov 2014 to Nov 2016 except Oct 2015, every month from Feb to Jul 2017 except Apr 2017, then Oct 2017, May Jun Nov 2018, Feb Jul 2019 (last on MTGS), every month from Aug 2019 (first on MTGN) to Feb 2020, May Jun 2020, Mar Apr Sep Oct 2021, Feb May Sep Dec 2022, Mar May Jun Sep Dec 2023, Jan Mar 2024
CCL - Winner (4): Jul 2016 (tied with Flatline), May 2017, Jul 2019 (last on MTGS), Jun 2021 (tied with slimytrout) || Host (5): Feb 2015, Mar Apr May Jun 2016
DCC - Winner (3): Mar 2015 (tied with Piar), Feb Apr 2022 || Host (12): May Oct 2015, Jan 2016, Jun Sep Dec 2021, Mar Jun Sep Dec 2022, Mar Jun 2023

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Post by Rithaniel » 1 year ago

My judgments are in for November Round 3. Apologies for being 15 hours late.
And a Few Quotes
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"Why are numbers beautiful? It's like asking why is Beethoven's Ninth Symphony beautiful. If you don't see why, someone can't tell you. I know numbers are beautiful. If they aren't beautiful, nothing is."
― Paul Erdős

“I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.”
― Stephen Jay Gould

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Post by bravelion83 » 1 year ago

void_nothing wrote:
1 year ago
I have a soft spot for "Elemental Spirit" in the typeline
I didn't come up with it myself. It has been inspired by the concept of Shum by Go_A, the Ukrainian entry for the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest, which I am a huge fan of, both the contest and the song. The song is exactly about that character, which is the (or "one of the" maybe, I'm not sure) spirit of the forest in Ukrainian folklore. I know next to nothing about Ukrainian folklore but the band explained it themselves in multiple interviews, that's how I know that. In Magic terms, for how I've understood its concept, Shum would absolutely be an Elemental Spirit. The card has been built bottom-up and I had to find a flavor for it, and that song came back to my mind and I thought that same concept could fit. Ok, I think I will need to post another installment of my design notes, just give me the time to reorganize them, translate the parts in Italian into English and I'll put them here as an edit to this post.

EDIT - Here you go.
The card (Spirit of the Woods)
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Spirit of the Woods 3GG
Creature — Elemental Spirit (R)
Reach, trample
Nonbasic landhome (This creature can't attack unless defending player controls a nonbasic land. When you control no nonbasic lands, sacrifice this creature.)
3, T: Target player mills two cards, then they exile a nonbasic land card from their graveyard. When they do, target basic land they control becomes a copy of the exiled card. (This effect lasts indefinitely.)
5/5
The challenges
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Main Challenge: Design a creature with a landhome ability that is NOT islandhome.
Subchallenge 1: Your card also has two or more current evergreen keyword abilities
Subchallenge 2: Your card is rare or mythic

Clarifications
Main Challenge: Landhome is a now-removed drawback keyword. Landhome of a particular land type means "This creature can't attack unless defending player controls a land of this type. When you control no lands of this type, sacrifice this creature." The only cards ever printed with a landhome ability had islandhome - for examples, see Manta Ray and Fifth Edition Sea Serpent. Gorilla Pack essentially has foresthome, but it was never printed on the card.
Leo's design notes
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(As usual, the text is exactly what I've written while designing the card and my comments as self-editor now that I'm posting it are in italics. Also as usual, these notes were written half in Italian and half in English, as you all probably know I can switch seamlessly from one language to the other even in the middle of a sentence, by now it just comes naturally to me. It's just my half-Italian-half-British origins showing up, just don't worry about it, also because the parts written in Italian have been translated into English here for your own convenience, again, as usual. I just cannot expect people on an English-speaking forum to know any other languages besides that. All times are Central European.)

Nonbasic landhome is my own idea. It immediately came to my mind as soon as I read the challenges, with the image of that green 2/1 with nonbasic landwalk from original Ravnica fresh in my mind. It turns out that it was actually Guildpact (Dryad Sophisticate) and that there is also an Equipment in original Zendikar (Trailblazer's Boots), but that's it.

December 3rd, 5:33 am - I've just asked to void_nothing if it would count or if it must necessarily be a basic land type. I'm waiting for an answer. Reach so that if it can't attack it can at least block better, given that blocking is the only thing it can do. For now the second evergreen keyword is vigilance, so it can attack (if it can) and then profit from reach later. I might want a tap ability that makes a land nonbasic indefinitely, in which case I like the idea that one must choose whether to attack or to use the ability to be able to attack later. In that case, vigilance should go, otherwise there is no choice. Trample might substitute it.

5:53 am - void_nothing approved. They say that it just can't be islandhome but anything else is fair game and that "doesn't have to refer to a basic land type at all". Good. Let's proceed.

6:19 am - The last ability is intentionally worded so that you can use the exiled card like an Aura on the basic land that has been targeted to try to reduce potential memory issues, so that you remember that specific land is actually that other card that "enchants" it. Self-mill can be in G, no problems with that. To check if milling other players is at least tertiary in G. I don't want colored mana in the activation cost, otherwise why worrying about the intimidate problem and then only let players who play a certain color take full advantage of the card?

The "intimidate problem" that I'm referring to here is the reason why it has been retired and its place taken by the now-specifically-keyworded menace, that is the fact that intimidate is either very good or useless depending on factors outside of your own control, specifically which colors your opponent is playing, with no middle ground. I wanted to use a universal quality for the landhome ability specifically to avoid a similar problem, with the ability being very relevant against certain colors and totally irrelevant against others depending on what your opponent is playing and not on what you are playing.

6:34 am - In the (now restored, see link)...
https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/makin ... r-pie-2021
...Mechanical Color Pie article, mill doesn't appear at all in G, and neither does self-mill, that I'm absolutely sure is G, maybe not primary, but G can absolutely self-mill. It just says that milling is primary U secondary B. I might put {U/B} in the activation cost, but again, I'd like to have no colored mana in that cost. Then I searched "target player mills" on Gatherer. A bunch of U and/or B cards, but that's obvious, only one R (who cares?), and a relevant amount of colorless artifacts. So if it can be on colorless artifacts, at worst it's a bend in G. After all, G is at least third in graveyard interactions, if not second after B (it depends on whether one considers W before of after G). Comparison: Millstone says "2, T: Target player mills 2", so I could say "3, T: Target player mills 2 with additional upside." At first the milled cards were 3, now brought down to 2 for this and also not to exaggerate with milling in G. Reflexive trigger so you can choose the land to "transform" after you have seen which land it will become. No duration because the play pattern I'd like is that if either you or your opponent only have basic lands, after activating the ability at most twice (once on you and once on your opponent) you're essentially free to attack, and also with other future physical copies of this cards that you might play later. No real room for flavor text. One line could technically fit but the card looks much worse aesthetically and I have no good one-line flavor text in mind right now. Maybe later. (No, past Leo, sorry. "Later" never came. You won't think a lot about this afterwards and you'll never find a single line that feels good to you, so you will just leave it with no flavor text. This card will have never had one.) Now the card name, mana cost, subtypes, and P/T are the only missing parts.

December 4th, 0:20 am - This was a Dinosaur at first, then a Treefolk to justify reach through its canopy, then it suddenly just hit me: this is my Shum! (See original post above if you don't know what or who that is.) The spirit of the forest! It might even be from (Proper name of a new custom plane that I have in mind here. Self-censored because I'm not ready to share it yet. This card could come from that plane flavorfully.)! I don't want to use the word "Forest" in the name though because this card has no mechanical connection to Forests in their Magic sense. "Woods" is just a synonym that looks acceptable to me. The concept of Shum is literally an Elemental Spirit in Magic, so let's just let it be what it wants to be. I don't know how many will catch the reference though... It's like Scrooge all over again (See my post from several days ago addressed to Rithaniel about his judgment of my card for the previous round, Castle Cemetery.), it was a perfect match to me but the judge didn't see it until I wrote it in the discussion thread, and I feel that this Shum will be the same... (And in fact here I am having to explain that one too in the same discussion thread... I wasn't wrong about that.) I don't know how popular the ESC ("Eurovision Song Contest" for those who might not know) is in America or anywhere outside of Europe and Australia... Anyway, to me it just fits too well to pass. If I'm out, let it be. At least, I will have no regrets. I will have done what I wanted to do, and that's enough. (I absolutely confirm this now that I am actually out by the way. No regrets and no hard feelings. I've done exactly what I wanted to do in both this round and last one. This must just be the difference between a European and an American. I'm sure I wouldn't catch or understand a lot of specifically American references too. Actually, I think I must have already missed many of those during my years in custom card communities first on Salvation and now here.) I'll just check that the card name isn't already taken and then I'll post this.

0:30 am - No, the name is not taken. I'm posting this right now.

(And this is the end. I made no edits to the card or the notes after this point.)
And there you have it. Now I'll go back to judging my own MCC. I apologize for the delay, I'm doing as fast as I can compatibly with my own real life.
Author of the MCC Guidelines and FAQ. | For my projects, including Jeff Lionheart, my murder mystery story "One pierced heart, two mindful horns", and republished articles from my series "The Lion's Lair", see Leo's content index (Last updated on March 24th 2024 - Added OPHTMH Episode 4).
After I'm done republishing my articles I want to reprise the series focusing it more on editing, wording, and templating. Suggest potential future article topics here.
My CCCG Resume (Updated on February 27th 2024)
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MCC - Winner (9): Oct 2014, Apr Nov 2017, Jan 2018, Apr Jun 2019, Jan Mar 2022, Apr 2023 || Host (30): Dec 2014, Apr Jul Aug Dec 2015, Mar Jul Aug Oct 2016, Feb Jul 2017, Jun Nov 2018, Feb Jul 2019 (last on MTGS), Aug 2019 (first on MTGN) Oct 2019, Jan Jun 2020 Apr Oct 2021, Feb May Sep Dec 2022, Mar Jun Sep Dec 2023, Mar 2024 || Judge (58): every month from Nov 2014 to Nov 2016 except Oct 2015, every month from Feb to Jul 2017 except Apr 2017, then Oct 2017, May Jun Nov 2018, Feb Jul 2019 (last on MTGS), every month from Aug 2019 (first on MTGN) to Feb 2020, May Jun 2020, Mar Apr Sep Oct 2021, Feb May Sep Dec 2022, Mar May Jun Sep Dec 2023, Jan Mar 2024
CCL - Winner (4): Jul 2016 (tied with Flatline), May 2017, Jul 2019 (last on MTGS), Jun 2021 (tied with slimytrout) || Host (5): Feb 2015, Mar Apr May Jun 2016
DCC - Winner (3): Mar 2015 (tied with Piar), Feb Apr 2022 || Host (12): May Oct 2015, Jan 2016, Jun Sep Dec 2021, Mar Jun Sep Dec 2022, Mar Jun 2023

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bravelion83
MKM MCC going on now
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Post by bravelion83 » 1 year ago

Judgments for December Round 1 have been compleated... ehm, sorry, I meant completed. Of course I meant just that... Anyway, Round 2 is also up. You might notice some similarities... Every choice has consequences, and now we all have to deal with them...
Author of the MCC Guidelines and FAQ. | For my projects, including Jeff Lionheart, my murder mystery story "One pierced heart, two mindful horns", and republished articles from my series "The Lion's Lair", see Leo's content index (Last updated on March 24th 2024 - Added OPHTMH Episode 4).
After I'm done republishing my articles I want to reprise the series focusing it more on editing, wording, and templating. Suggest potential future article topics here.
My CCCG Resume (Updated on February 27th 2024)
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MCC - Winner (9): Oct 2014, Apr Nov 2017, Jan 2018, Apr Jun 2019, Jan Mar 2022, Apr 2023 || Host (30): Dec 2014, Apr Jul Aug Dec 2015, Mar Jul Aug Oct 2016, Feb Jul 2017, Jun Nov 2018, Feb Jul 2019 (last on MTGS), Aug 2019 (first on MTGN) Oct 2019, Jan Jun 2020 Apr Oct 2021, Feb May Sep Dec 2022, Mar Jun Sep Dec 2023, Mar 2024 || Judge (58): every month from Nov 2014 to Nov 2016 except Oct 2015, every month from Feb to Jul 2017 except Apr 2017, then Oct 2017, May Jun Nov 2018, Feb Jul 2019 (last on MTGS), every month from Aug 2019 (first on MTGN) to Feb 2020, May Jun 2020, Mar Apr Sep Oct 2021, Feb May Sep Dec 2022, Mar May Jun Sep Dec 2023, Jan Mar 2024
CCL - Winner (4): Jul 2016 (tied with Flatline), May 2017, Jul 2019 (last on MTGS), Jun 2021 (tied with slimytrout) || Host (5): Feb 2015, Mar Apr May Jun 2016
DCC - Winner (3): Mar 2015 (tied with Piar), Feb Apr 2022 || Host (12): May Oct 2015, Jan 2016, Jun Sep Dec 2021, Mar Jun Sep Dec 2022, Mar Jun 2023

slimytrout
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Post by slimytrout » 1 year ago

bravelion83 wrote:
1 year ago
I didn't expect nor I had planned a 7/1 split, but here we are.
In my case at least I thought about going against the grain and choosing unearth (I like to have my card stand out a bit from the rest if possible), but there were two considerations that were strong enough to push me to choose prototype:

1) Fewer existing cards means more unexplored design space (~20 existing prototype cards vs. ~60 existing unearth cards)
2) Easier to satisfy subchallenge 1, since prototype leans into having an expensive base creature with a cheaper prototype cost, while unearth typically wants to go on cheaper creatures so they can die more easily (this is born out by the fact that 18/20 existing prototype cards meet subchallenge 1, while only 8/60 existing unearth cards do)

Not sure if you care about this at all, but just thought I'd let you know from a player's perspective why it turned out this way.

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void_nothing
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Post by void_nothing » 1 year ago

I just had a prototype cycle from other contests and games I entered to complete. :P
Psst, check the second page of Custom Card Contests & Games! Because of the daily contests, a lot of games fall down to there.

The greatest (fake) pro wrestling on the internet - Collaborative Create-A-Booster - My random creations (updated regularly)

Important Facts: Colorless is not a color, Wastes is not a land type, Changeling is not a creature type

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bravelion83
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Post by bravelion83 » 1 year ago

I wasn't putting the blame on anyone, don't misunderstand me, it's just how things turned out. No worries. I thought I had a neat twist for the first two rounds and I was slightly disappointed to see it mostly failing, that's all.

@slimytrout It's true that I didn't think about checking how many existing unearth cards fit Subchallenge 2 (I guess that's the one you were referring to), I only checked prototype cards to set the mana value threshold, and in fact I even went to the point of making a spreadsheet to see which mana value best separated the mana value and the prototype cost on existing prototype cards. I set it at 6 specifically because of that. Thank you for your feedback. I'll keep it in mind as something to think about should I do something similar in the future, given that I have all the intention to keep hosting set-themed MCCs for every set for the foreseeable future. I might rewatch the ONE first look from a few days ago to see if it gives me any inspiration for... well, probably March I guess given the dates for that set?

Well, everybody except @marioguy3, have fun designing unearth cards this round! Just pretend I did Round 1 prototype and Round 2 unearth and have fun! I'm looking forward to see what you all come up with!

EDIT You know what? I'll share that spreadsheet right here. The orange cells are where the prototype costs and the normal mana value overlap, and that's where I wanted to put the MV threshold.
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Author of the MCC Guidelines and FAQ. | For my projects, including Jeff Lionheart, my murder mystery story "One pierced heart, two mindful horns", and republished articles from my series "The Lion's Lair", see Leo's content index (Last updated on March 24th 2024 - Added OPHTMH Episode 4).
After I'm done republishing my articles I want to reprise the series focusing it more on editing, wording, and templating. Suggest potential future article topics here.
My CCCG Resume (Updated on February 27th 2024)
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Blue = MTGSalvation Green = MTGNexus
MCC - Winner (9): Oct 2014, Apr Nov 2017, Jan 2018, Apr Jun 2019, Jan Mar 2022, Apr 2023 || Host (30): Dec 2014, Apr Jul Aug Dec 2015, Mar Jul Aug Oct 2016, Feb Jul 2017, Jun Nov 2018, Feb Jul 2019 (last on MTGS), Aug 2019 (first on MTGN) Oct 2019, Jan Jun 2020 Apr Oct 2021, Feb May Sep Dec 2022, Mar Jun Sep Dec 2023, Mar 2024 || Judge (58): every month from Nov 2014 to Nov 2016 except Oct 2015, every month from Feb to Jul 2017 except Apr 2017, then Oct 2017, May Jun Nov 2018, Feb Jul 2019 (last on MTGS), every month from Aug 2019 (first on MTGN) to Feb 2020, May Jun 2020, Mar Apr Sep Oct 2021, Feb May Sep Dec 2022, Mar May Jun Sep Dec 2023, Jan Mar 2024
CCL - Winner (4): Jul 2016 (tied with Flatline), May 2017, Jul 2019 (last on MTGS), Jun 2021 (tied with slimytrout) || Host (5): Feb 2015, Mar Apr May Jun 2016
DCC - Winner (3): Mar 2015 (tied with Piar), Feb Apr 2022 || Host (12): May Oct 2015, Jan 2016, Jun Sep Dec 2021, Mar Jun Sep Dec 2022, Mar Jun 2023

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Post by marioguy3 » 1 year ago

It feels so strange being the outlier, but then again I am up for the challenge.
The summer is hot. The sum of sun and hot equals summer.

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Rithaniel
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Post by Rithaniel » 1 year ago

void_nothing wrote:
1 year ago
Alright, that'll do it! @Rithaniel let us judge.
It has been done.
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"Why are numbers beautiful? It's like asking why is Beethoven's Ninth Symphony beautiful. If you don't see why, someone can't tell you. I know numbers are beautiful. If they aren't beautiful, nothing is."
― Paul Erdős

“I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.”
― Stephen Jay Gould

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Lorn Asbord Schutta
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Post by Lorn Asbord Schutta » 1 year ago

@Rithaniel you gave me an additional half a point in tally.
Also regarding kwanyeegor-ii's submission, while "each player draws a card" are indeed mostly colorless or blue, is it really that out of white's pie section, when we had recently a number of cards that make you and target opponent each draw a card?

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Rithaniel
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Post by Rithaniel » 1 year ago

Lorn Asbord Schutta wrote:
1 year ago
@Rithaniel you gave me an additional half a point in tally.
Also regarding kwanyeegor-ii's submission, while "each player draws a card" are indeed mostly colorless or blue, is it really that out of white's pie section, when we had recently a number of cards that make you and target opponent each draw a card?
Fair points. I'll revisit my judgements in a little bit.

Edit: Scores have been updated. The gap narrowed from 3 points to 1.5 points.
And a Few Quotes
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"Why are numbers beautiful? It's like asking why is Beethoven's Ninth Symphony beautiful. If you don't see why, someone can't tell you. I know numbers are beautiful. If they aren't beautiful, nothing is."
― Paul Erdős

“I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.”
― Stephen Jay Gould

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void_nothing
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Post by void_nothing » 1 year ago

My November final judgments will be in before Christmas - excited to crown a winner for this unusual theme month!
Psst, check the second page of Custom Card Contests & Games! Because of the daily contests, a lot of games fall down to there.

The greatest (fake) pro wrestling on the internet - Collaborative Create-A-Booster - My random creations (updated regularly)

Important Facts: Colorless is not a color, Wastes is not a land type, Changeling is not a creature type

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bravelion83
MKM MCC going on now
Posts: 4038
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Post by bravelion83 » 1 year ago

My judgments for December Round 2 are done. Sorry for the delay. Round 3 will be up later tonight.

EDIT Round 3 is up. I still have to write the clarifications but I thought to put it out there as soon as possible. I will add the clarifications as I write them later tonight. In the meantime, if you have any questions, feel free to post them right here.

EDIT December 27th 8 a.m. CEST - Clarifications have now been written.
Last edited by bravelion83 1 year ago, edited 1 time in total.
Author of the MCC Guidelines and FAQ. | For my projects, including Jeff Lionheart, my murder mystery story "One pierced heart, two mindful horns", and republished articles from my series "The Lion's Lair", see Leo's content index (Last updated on March 24th 2024 - Added OPHTMH Episode 4).
After I'm done republishing my articles I want to reprise the series focusing it more on editing, wording, and templating. Suggest potential future article topics here.
My CCCG Resume (Updated on February 27th 2024)
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Blue = MTGSalvation Green = MTGNexus
MCC - Winner (9): Oct 2014, Apr Nov 2017, Jan 2018, Apr Jun 2019, Jan Mar 2022, Apr 2023 || Host (30): Dec 2014, Apr Jul Aug Dec 2015, Mar Jul Aug Oct 2016, Feb Jul 2017, Jun Nov 2018, Feb Jul 2019 (last on MTGS), Aug 2019 (first on MTGN) Oct 2019, Jan Jun 2020 Apr Oct 2021, Feb May Sep Dec 2022, Mar Jun Sep Dec 2023, Mar 2024 || Judge (58): every month from Nov 2014 to Nov 2016 except Oct 2015, every month from Feb to Jul 2017 except Apr 2017, then Oct 2017, May Jun Nov 2018, Feb Jul 2019 (last on MTGS), every month from Aug 2019 (first on MTGN) to Feb 2020, May Jun 2020, Mar Apr Sep Oct 2021, Feb May Sep Dec 2022, Mar May Jun Sep Dec 2023, Jan Mar 2024
CCL - Winner (4): Jul 2016 (tied with Flatline), May 2017, Jul 2019 (last on MTGS), Jun 2021 (tied with slimytrout) || Host (5): Feb 2015, Mar Apr May Jun 2016
DCC - Winner (3): Mar 2015 (tied with Piar), Feb Apr 2022 || Host (12): May Oct 2015, Jan 2016, Jun Sep Dec 2021, Mar Jun Sep Dec 2022, Mar Jun 2023

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Rithaniel
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Post by Rithaniel » 1 year ago

Congratulations to @Lorn Asbord Schutta for winning the November MCC!

It was a long, difficult month, and we saw some really interesting designs throughout. In the end, with Apsuchoclast, Collapsing Maelstrom, Territorial Yeti, and Donatien, Anarchic Marquis, Lorn came out on top.
And a Few Quotes
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"Why are numbers beautiful? It's like asking why is Beethoven's Ninth Symphony beautiful. If you don't see why, someone can't tell you. I know numbers are beautiful. If they aren't beautiful, nothing is."
― Paul Erdős

“I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.”
― Stephen Jay Gould

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