April CCL Round 2 - Dunes Dwellers

[Lorn Asbord Schutta]

April CCL Signups/Round 2
"Dunes Dwellers"


Banner made from Gilded Cerodon, Camel and Colossal Rattlewurm, by Wizards of the Coast and Matt Stewart, Sandra Everingham, Filip Burburan, respectively.

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

Theme

Partially inspired by the Outlaws of Thunder Junction, it is a Desert month here at CCL. Some challenges will deal with the land type itself, while other will have more to do with the flavour of such places.

Challenge

Design a creature card with a single creature type that mentions Desert land type in its rules text.

Clarifications

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• Creature types are those like Snake or Plant; you can read more about them here.
• Desert is a nonbasic land type; you can read more about it here.
• Your card can have other types, supertypes and subtypes, such as artifact or legendary, as long as it has only one creature type.
• Make sure to include a rarity.

Anyone can enter this second round! Your submissions are due Saturday, April 13th, 12:00 EST.

Schedule

• Round 1 — Open to Everyone (April 1st-6th)
• Round 2 — Open to Everyone (April 6th-13th)
• Rounds 1 and 2 Critiques (Due April 16th)
• Top 8 — Open to top 8 finishers (April 16th-21st)
• Top 8 Critiques (Due April 24th)
• Top 4 — Open to top 4 finishers (April 24th - 28th)
• Top 4 Critiques (Due April 30th)
• Final (June, winner determined by public poll)

For this month we will continue asking first and second round contestants to evaluate six other contestants during the critique and top 3 period, in order to increase the total number of evaluations each contestant gets.

[netn10]

Sifter of Grains 3
Artifact Creature - Dog (Rare)
T: Mill a card. If it's a Desert, repeat this process.
Whenever a Desert you control is put into a graveyard from anywhere, create a tapped artifact token at random from Treasure, Food or Junk.
"I reckon I envy that little fella. It don't sweat in the heat, ain't got no greed in its metal heart, and don't need no shut-eye. Sometimes I wake in the dead of night, and there it is, just staring at me. Makes me ponder why it ever agreed to lend us a paw..."
- Lilach, Head of Project New Frontier
2/2

[OneAndOnly]

Criteria

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Design a creature card with a single creature type that mentions Desert land type in its rules text.

Plated Armadillo -- 1GG
Creature - Armadillo {C}
Plated Armadillo gets +1/+0 as long as you control a Desert.
3/3

[void_nothing]

Rann Lion W
Creature - Cat (R)
Rann Lion has ward 2 as long as you control a Desert, lifelink as long as you control a Swamp, and vigilance as long as you control a Forest.
5W: Until end of turn, Rann Lion gains protection from mana value equal to or less than the number of Deserts you control, gets +2/+0 for each Swamp you control, and gets +0/+2 for each Forest you control.
1/2

[marioguy3]

Bloodthirsty Camel
Creature - Camel (Rare)
Haste, lifelink
Whenever Bloodthirsty Camel attacks, it deals X damage to target creature, where X is the number of Deserts you control.
Don't upset this Camel. It's power is derived from the layers of boring sand.
4/3

[AnotherAlias]

Sandstorm Whirler
Creature — Elemental (R)
Flying
When Sandstorm Whirler enters the battlefield, put a creature card from your graveyard onto the battlefield face down and tapped. It's a Desert land with ": Add " and ": Turn this permanent face up until end of turn."
4/4

[Komandon]

Angry Cactus 1GG
Creature — Plant (uncommon)
Defender, reach.
Whenever you discard or cycle a land card, if that card was a Desert, Angry Cactus loses defender and gains +1/+1 until end of turn.
Discard a land card: Angry Cactus fights target creature you don't control. You may activate this ability only once per turn.
2/2

[kwanyeegor-ii]

Orcish Hermit R
Creature - Orc (Uncommon)
Orcish Hermit can't attack unless defending player controls a Desert.
When you don't control a Desert, sacrifice Orcish Hermit.
3/2

[Henlock]

Enduring Herd 1w
Creature - Camel (u)
Protection from lands.
As long as you control three or more Deserts, Enduring Herd assigns combat damage equal to its toughness rather than its power.
Desertcycling (, Discard this card: Search your library for a desert card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle.)
0/4

[Lorn Asbord Schutta]

And the round is closed.

@netn10
@OneAndOnly
@void_nothing
@marioguy3
@AnotherAlias
@Komandon
@kwanyeegor-ii
@Henlock

Please critique six contestants from the list above you, looping if necessary, and also provide top 3 from among them. The critique period is until 16th April, 12:00 EST.

[netn10]

Henlock

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Enduring Herd 1w
Creature - Camel (u)
Protection from lands.
As long as you control three or more Deserts, Enduring Herd assigns combat damage equal to its toughness rather than its power.
Desertcycling (, Discard this card: Search your library for a desert card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle.)
0/4

That's a top-down camel design alright. Protection from lands is the literal Camel! Desertcycling makes sense, and the ability to be defensive and cyclable at first and then be aggresseive is neat.

kwanyeegor-ii

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Orcish Hermit R
Creature - Orc (Uncommon)
Orcish Hermit can't attack unless defending player controls a Desert.
When you don't control a Desert, sacrifice Orcish Hermit.
3/2

Very simple and generic. Makes me imagine some alterantive reality where Amonketh's mono red standard was a little bit more interesting if this card was in there.

Komadon

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Angry Cactus 1GG
Creature — Plant (uncommon)
Defender, reach.
Whenever you discard or cycle a land card, if that card was a Desert, Angry Cactus loses defender and gains +1/+1 until end of turn.
Discard a land card: Angry Cactus fights target creature you don't control. You may activate this ability only once per turn.
2/2

This card falls somewhere between uncommon and rare. The activated ability might be too oppressive, but then again, Wicked Wolf was very good without being too oppressive, and your card doesn't gain indestructible. I'd suggest adding a mana cost to that ability. Repeatable fights tied to lands are pretty interesting. The name is quite generic.

AnotherAlias

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Sandstorm Whirler
Creature — Elemental (R)
Flying
When Sandstorm Whirler enters the battlefield, put a creature card from your graveyard onto the battlefield face down and tapped. It's a Desert land with ": Add " and ": Turn this permanent face up until end of turn."
4/4

I love this. Reanimation is a bend in green but you managed an interesting way to make it make sense. Honestly I can see this as a green/blue hybrid card which makes it even more interesting to me. Really neat way to ramp and reanimate in mono green.

marioguy3

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Bloodthirsty Camel
Creature - Camel (Rare)
Haste, lifelink
Whenever Bloodthirsty Camel attacks, it deals X damage to target creature, where X is the number of Deserts you control.
Don't upset this Camel. It's power is derived from the layers of boring sand.
4/3

Powerhouse in limited and the flavor text is nice. B/R deserts matter makes sense. Noncombat damage with lifelink is neat, and haste really puts it on another level.

void_nothing

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Rann Lion W
Creature - Cat (R)
Rann Lion has ward 2 as long as you control a Desert, lifelink as long as you control a Swamp, and vigilance as long as you control a Forest.
5W: Until end of turn, Rann Lion gains protection from mana value equal to or less than the number of Deserts you control, gets +2/+0 for each Swamp you control, and gets +0/+2 for each Forest you control.
1/2

Pretty neat idea for a "three-color" mana card - it doesn't care about Plains but about deserts. This doesn't look that powerful for constructed unless you can reliably get all three types on turn 2, and even then, this card needs some auras, equipment, etc. The activated ability is expensive, but it makes sense - the lion gets more of the same from its lands.

Top 3

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1st: AnotherAlias
2nd: Henlock
3rd: void_nothing

[OneAndOnly]

Reviews WIP

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Rann Lion W
Creature - Cat (R)
Rann Lion has ward 2 as long as you control a Desert, lifelink as long as you control a Swamp, and vigilance as long as you control a Forest.
5W: Until end of turn, Rann Lion gains protection from mana value equal to or less than the number of Deserts you control, gets +2/+0 for each Swamp you control, and gets +0/+2 for each Forest you control.
1/2

Cute; I want to make this a parallel to Kird Ape. WotC likes little guys with late-game abilities (to make them more useful at all stages of the game) but I'm more ambivalent toward them.

6MV is a lot for a boost, even though you could activate it multiple times. Assuming a 2/2/2 split, it's effectively +4/+4 for 6MV ... but I feel like it'd be pretty rare to be playing a WBGC deck and land an even split. Overall the effect seems tiresome to calculate, which I guess is a different form of griefing your opponent.

Bloodthirsty Camel
Creature - Camel (Rare)
Haste, lifelink
Whenever Bloodthirsty Camel attacks, it deals X damage to target creature, where X is the number of Deserts you control.
Don't upset this Camel. It's power is derived from the layers of boring sand.
4/3

BR seems like an odd color combination for this card; lifelink works just as well in white, which the original Camel was. The "firstest strike" also feels more at home in WR than BR.

Sandstorm Whirler
Creature — Elemental (R)
Flying
When Sandstorm Whirler enters the battlefield, put a creature card from your graveyard onto the battlefield face down and tapped. It's a Desert land with ": Add " and ": Turn this permanent face up until end of turn."
4/4

Turning a card face-up for a duration isn't done in normal MtG. It's entirely feasible, and might make for interesting gameplay. I seem to recall around the time of Legions that WotC (or at least, Maro) was opposed to creatures that could un-morph repeatedly; maybe it was to prevent repetitive game states, or to keep the thrill of discovery, or prevent potential misplays.

The cost and effect are all right, but it doesn't feel very green. Effects since Regrowth in Alpha return a card to the hand, not the battlefield, which is usually white or black.

Angry Cactus 1GG
Creature — Plant (uncommon)
Defender, reach.
Whenever you discard or cycle a land card, if that card was a Desert, Angry Cactus loses defender and gains +1/+1 until end of turn.
Discard a land card: Angry Cactus fights target creature you don't control. You may activate this ability only once per turn.
2/2

Hurray for cactusfolk! They seem suddenly iconic.

Free fights (especially with a bonus) seems a little over-the-top, even if it's mandatory. I'd expect something like cholla's ability to stick to anything and everything and reproduce like a spiky green rabbit.

Orcish Hermit R
Creature - Orc (Uncommon)
Orcish Hermit can't attack unless defending player controls a Desert.
When you don't control a Desert, sacrifice Orcish Hermit.
3/2

This feels like a weird throwback to landhome, which WotC discontinued long, long ago. I always felt it was flavorful, but honestly, the flavor doesn't quite hit here. I know there are some who prefer the isolated lifestyle (John the Baptist, Obi Wan Kenobi, others) so the card is crying out for some added flavor text.

Enduring Herd 1w
Creature - Camel (u)
Protection from lands.
As long as you control three or more Deserts, Enduring Herd assigns combat damage equal to its toughness rather than its power.
Desertcycling (, Discard this card: Search your library for a desert card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle.)
0/4

Some small typos -- the period at the end of the protection ability, not capitalizing Desert in the cycling ability.

It's okay, but not exciting. I wish the Doran ability hadn't been done and re-done as often as it has been,

Sifter of Grains 3
Artifact Creature - Dog (Rare)
T: Mill a card. If it's a Desert, repeat this process.
Whenever a Desert you control is put into a graveyard from anywhere, create a tapped artifact token at random from Treasure, Food or Junk.
"I reckon I envy that little fella. It don't sweat in the heat, ain't got no greed in its metal heart, and don't need no shut-eye. Sometimes I wake in the dead of night, and there it is, just staring at me. Makes me ponder why it ever agreed to lend us a paw..."
- Lilach, Head of Project New Frontier
2/2

Rankings

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1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
HM: void_nothing

[marioguy3]

void_nothing: I think this can be a decent creature. There's a lot of text on it, especially the activated ability. I like the static boosts though, and the protection itself can win a game.

OneandOnly: Seemingly basic card; flavor text on it could add to the lore. I like the name though, and the 4/3 for 3 in limited is decently strong.

netn10: I love the design of this creature. It speaks "build around-build with" card. The name is a 10/10 pun.

Henlock: I like the flexibility of the desert-cycling ability. Strong defender in limited until you get the deserts flowing; the aggression will spike (like a cactus) from there.

kwanyeegor-ii: A 3/2 turn one is very much possible. If there is a way to give opponents deserts easily, this would be strong.

Komandon: The angriest cactus Magic has ever invented. The fighting ability is super strong, but the flavor of a cactus fighting a bird in the air is odd (although I just noticed it at least has reach). It stretches its power far and wide.

Top 3:

3rd place: Komandon
2nd place: Henlock
1st place: netn10

[kwanyeegor-ii]

Just top 3 this time

t3

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1 netn10
2 anotheralias
3 marioguy3

[Lorn Asbord Schutta]

@OneAndOnly
@void_nothing
@AnotherAlias
@Komandon
@Henlock

Less then 24 hours left for critiques and top 3. If you find yourself with no time for critiques, give at least top 3.

[Komandon]

Critiques

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Sifter of Grains 3
Artifact Creature - Dog (Rare)
T: Mill a card. If it's a Desert, repeat this process.
Whenever a Desert you control is put into a graveyard from anywhere, create a tapped artifact token at random from Treasure, Food or Junk.
"I reckon I envy that little fella. It don't sweat in the heat, ain't got no greed in its metal heart, and don't need no shut-eye. Sometimes I wake in the dead of night, and there it is, just staring at me. Makes me ponder why it ever agreed to lend us a paw..."
- Lilach, Head of Project New Frontier
2/2

Makes sense. Junk makes more sense than clues. I like the favor text.

Criteria

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Design a creature card with a single creature type that mentions Desert land type in its rules text.

Plated Armadillo -- 1GG
Creature - Armadillo {C}
Plated Armadillo gets +1/+0 as long as you control a Desert.
3/3

I see an armadillo getting a defense boost.

Rann Lion W
Creature - Cat (R)
Rann Lion has ward 2 as long as you control a Desert, lifelink as long as you control a Swamp, and vigilance as long as you control a Forest.
5W: Until end of turn, Rann Lion gains protection from mana value equal to or less than the number of Deserts you control, gets +2/+0 for each Swamp you control, and gets +0/+2 for each Forest you control.
1/2

I looked up Rann so I understand the name. The abilities/text seem too much not so much the power level.

Bloodthirsty Camel
Creature - Camel (Rare)
Haste, lifelink
Whenever Bloodthirsty Camel attacks, it deals X damage to target creature, where X is the number of Deserts you control.
Don't upset this Camel. It's power is derived from the layers of boring sand.
4/3

Was thinking white since the ability seems more boros to me but white has access to too many was to abusive life gain so the black makes sense for only a powering a down an an already powerful card.

Sandstorm Whirler
Creature — Elemental (R)
Flying
When Sandstorm Whirler enters the battlefield, put a creature card from your graveyard onto the battlefield face down and tapped. It's a Desert land with ": Add " and ": Turn this permanent face up until end of turn."
4/4

For a rules part the facedown aspect I see as a problem. Other cards have creatures face up and just lose all abilities and/or types. The added ability wouldn't be an issue. Just it being confused with morph, manifest, cloak and disguise. If the goal is to abuse those Abilene it would make it over powered. Such as a powerful morph that you can't target except by what can target lands unless it's flipped for that one turn. In older cards could be very hard to stop repeating counter spell ability or destruction.

Enduring Herd 1w
Creature - Camel (u)
Protection from lands.
As long as you control three or more Deserts, Enduring Herd assigns combat damage equal to its toughness rather than its power.
Desertcycling (, Discard this card: Search your library for a desert card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle.)
0/4

I am old enough to remember seeing Desert Nomads. With the cards since then that can become creatures this is a nice improvement even if it didn't have the desertcycling ability.

Top 3

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1st: Henlock
2nd: netn10
3rd: marioguy3

[AnotherAlias]

Top 3:
3rd: marioguy3
2nd: Henlock
1st: void_nothing

[Henlock]

Quick Crits

@OneAndOnly -Ok draft common. common 3/3's for 3 are popular nowadays but this feels like a small upgrade to Trained Armodon

@void_nothing Odd to care about deserts and basic land types. The activation is rather expensive, but I always liked small creatures that can pack a punch in the late game. I'm not sure you meant it to be unblockable by tokens if you have no deserts.

@marioguy3 I think this is a very powerful and aggressive rare. Kind of the pushed version of Rakdos Ragemutt

@AnotherAlias This is interesting. First, I thought that as it required a creature card to be used you would need to show it, but morph and disguise are checked at end of game if any doubt. I would use some kind of tracking counter on this.

@Komandon I am worried that repeated fighting can be a bit too oppressive in limited for an uncommon. Sure it is costly and the buff is not permanent, and it is pretty tame while not fighting.

@kwanyeegor-ii Oh, deserthome. Of course, this is likely to be premium uncommon in a limited environment such as Outlaw's. Harder to make work anywhere else.

Top 3

1. Marioguy
2. AnotherAlias
3. void_nothing

[Lorn Asbord Schutta]

The critiques period and therefore signups ends now. Thanks to all contestants for their submissions and judgements.
The top 8 are as follows:
marioguy3
AnotherAlias
netn10
Henlock
void_nothing
Komandon
KB52665
kwanyeegor-ii
Congratulations! Round 3 will be posted in a moment.