March 2021 MCC - Judge Signup

[Venedrex]

The March MCC! Gonna post the rubric and a sample card, but I'm not sure it will be necessary if our volunteers are veterans

MCC Rubric

Show

Hide

MCC Rubric
Design
(X/3) Appeal - Do the different player psychographics (Timmy/Johhny/Spike) have a use for the card?
(X/3) Elegance - Is the card easily understandable at a glance? Do all the flavor and mechanics combined as a whole make sense?

Development
(X/3) Viability - 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?
(X/3) Balance - 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?

Creativity
(X/3) Uniqueness - 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"?
(X/3) Flavor - 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?

Polish
(X/3) Quality - Points deducted for incorrect spelling, grammar, and templating.
(X/2) Main Challenge (*) - Was the main challenge satisfied? Was it approached in a unique or interesting way? Does the card fit the intent of the challenge?
(X/2) Subchallenges - One point awarded per satisfied subchallenge condition.
Total: X/25
*An entry with 0 points here is subject to disqualification.

If you've never judged before, please take a few moments to review the card below using the Rubric (sans challenges) and post your scoring.

Timbergorge Elemental
Creature - Elemental (U)
Trample
When Timbergorge Elemental enters the battlefield, you may sacrifice a land. If you do, put two +1/+1 counters on Timbergorge Elemental.
3/3

I probably need this more than the people signing up lol

[void_nothing]

I'll be judging this month - I'm sure you'd be happy to have some help close at hand should you need it.

[bravelion83]

As I had already announced, I'm back to judging if there is need and also giving help should you need it.

I probably need this more than the people signing up lol

You can try if you want, I'm more than willing to review it again. Anyway, there are two Quality mistakes there, one minor and one very big. Are they both intentional? Who knows... Anyway, what are they?

[void_nothing]

You can try if you want, I'm more than willing to review it again. Anyway, there are two Quality mistakes there, one minor and one very big. Are they both intentional? Who knows... Anyway, what are they?

As best I can tell there's only one, but it's the big one.

Maybe I'm missing something?

[bravelion83]

I'm sure you've got the big one right. The other is a very minor mistake that often is not even penalized, but technically it's still a mistake.

[Venedrex]

My bad guys lol, I'll edit it to put in a rarity. I was in a hurry when I did this and left it out...

Ahem, I mean you passed the test *Gruffly congratulates you*

[bravelion83]

Ok, the missing rarity was the big one. The other one is still there. Really, it's just a very minor point, but still technically wrong.

[Venedrex]

Is it the name? Timbergorge instead of Timber Gorge?

[void_nothing]

No, Magic's not exactly averse to making new compound words lol. What bravelion is referring to, I now understand is the en instead of the em dash in the typeline. The en is the one that looks like this - the one that's on the regular QWERTY keyboard layout. The em, meanwhile, is this one — which is closer to what's on a real card. I personally never penalize using the en dash because I do it myself and I would estimate at least 95% of custom designers on this board do. After all it's infinitely easier to just use the one that's an actual key, rather than copy and pasting or even using a keyboard shortcut. But again, it's "incorrect".

[Venedrex]

Oh thanks, that makes sense.

[bravelion83]

What bravelion is referring to, I now understand is the en instead of the em dash in the typeline.

Exactly, that was the minor point. Anyway, I also don't penalize for that if it's still a single dash. Double dashes is where I start deducting points.

If anybody is interested, in WIndows (and if you have a numeric pad) it's ALT+0151 that gives this: —. This is the closest dash to the one used on real cards, and at least in the MCC but I would argue in any contest really, the goal of the recommended formatting for text cards is resembling a real magic card as close as possible.