CCL August, Signups/Round 1: Magic of the Kami

[void_nothing]

CCL August Signups/Round 1

"Magic of the Kami"


Footsteps of the Goryo, taken from echomtg, by Chippy and Wizards of the Coast

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

Theme

It's Maligned Mechanics Month here at the CCL. We will be seeing how best to fix mechanical themes that were not very successful.

Challenge

Design an Arcane instant or sorcery card with a splice ability.

Clarifications

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• This can be any version of splice: The original splice onto Arcane, the newer splice onto instant or sorcery from Modern Horizons, or something altogether different.
• Make sure to include a rarity.

Anyone can enter this first round! Your submissions are due Sunday, August 8th, 23:59 EST.

Schedule

• Round 1 — Open to Everyone (August 1st-8th)
• Round 2 — Open to Everyone (August 9th-16th)
• Rounds 1 and 2 Critiques (Due August 18th)
• Top 8 — Open to top 8 finishers (August 19th–22nd)
• Top 8 Critiques (Due August 24th)
• Top 4 — Open to top 4 finishers (August 25th–28th)
• Top 4 Critiques (Due August 30th)
• Final (September, winner determined by public poll)

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

[void_nothing]

Bump.

[bravelion83]

Violent Lightning 2R
Sorcery - Arcane (U)
Violent Lightning deals 3 damage to any target.
Splice onto red instant 3R (As you cast a red instant spell, you may reveal this card from your hand and pay its splice cost. If you do, add this card's effects to that spell.)

[RaikouRider]

Kami's Insight U
Instant - Arcane {U}
Scry 2, then create a Clue token.
Splice onto Arcane 2U (As you cast an Arcane spell, you may reveal this card from your hand and pay its splice cost. If you do, add this card's effects to that spell.)

[netn10]

Enchant Lightning RWB
Instant - Arcane (Rare)
Deathtouch, lifelink
Enchant Lightning deals 3 damage to any target.
Splice onto instant 2RWB

[slimytrout]

Reconsider U
Instant - Arcane (U)
Scry 1.
Rebound (If you cast this spell from your hand, exile it as it resolves. At the beginning of your next upkeep, you may cast this card from exile without paying its mana cost.)
Splice onto Arcane UU (As you cast an Arcane spell, you may reveal this card from your hand and pay its splice cost. If you do, add this card's effects to that spell.)

[Ink-Treader]

Undeniable Madness U
Sorcery - Arcane (R)
Split second (As long as this spell is on the stack, players can't cast spells or activate abilities that aren't mana abilities.)
Each player draws a card, then each opponent discards a card.
Splice onto sorcery 1U

[Henlock]

Bountiful Beyond 1gww
Sorcery - Arcane(r)
If this spell's name is Bountiful Beyond, create a white 1/1 Spirit creature token with flying and put a +1/+1 counter on it.
Populate and proliferate.
Splice onto instant or sorcery 1gw (As you cast an instant or sorcery spell, you may reveal this card from your hand and pay its splice cost. If you do, add this card's effects to that spell.)

[Subject16]

Scholarly Pursuits
Sorcery — Arcane (Uncommon)
Splice onto Lesson 1 (As you cast a Lesson spell, you may reveal this card from your hand and pay its splice cost. If you do, add this card's effects to that spell.)
Learn (You may reveal a Lesson card you own from outside the game and put it into your hand, or discard a card to draw a card.)
"For every answer, ten more questions."
—Quintorius, Lorehold mage-student

[void_nothing]

Extending this round for another day.

[kwanyeegor-ii]

Gifts of the Oni 1B
Instant - Arcane (Uncommon)
Target creature gets +1/-1 until end of turn.
Target creature gets +1/-1 until end of turn.
Splice onto Arcane 2B

[void_nothing]

Okay, I'm closing this round. Please critique each other contestant and provide a top 3. The second round will come very soon!

[bravelion83]

Critiques (done)

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Kami's Insight U
Instant - Arcane {U}
Scry 2, then create a Clue token.
Splice onto Arcane 2U (As you cast an Arcane spell, you may reveal this card from your hand and pay its splice cost. If you do, add this card's effects to that spell.)

Nice, simple, and elegant. The power level could be relevant, an easy comparison is Preordain, banned in Modern. This card trades having to pay two mana to draw the card (downside) with the splice ability (upside). Strong start.

Enchant Lightning RWB
Instant - Arcane (Rare)
Deathtouch, lifelink
Enchant Lightning deals 3 damage to any target.
Splice onto instant 2RWB

This is similar to my own submission, and I thought of changing my card when I first saw this posted, but then I decided against it considering that the only thing our cards have in common is dealing three damage to any target. Mine is monored, has a technically different splice ability and it doesn't have the keywords. It's nice to see these keywords on a non-permanent spell, there is precedent but it's something we see rarely today. Too rarely in my opinion. There only one thing I don't like here: the name, that feels like the enchant ability of an enchantment, which this is not. Reminder text for splice is missing.

Reconsider U
Instant - Arcane (U)
Scry 1.
Rebound (If you cast this spell from your hand, exile it as it resolves. At the beginning of your next upkeep, you may cast this card from exile without paying its mana cost.)
Splice onto Arcane UU (As you cast an Arcane spell, you may reveal this card from your hand and pay its splice cost. If you do, add this card's effects to that spell.)

Another pair of cards that feel similar, this and RaikouRider's. They both scry, though for a different amount, and have the same splice ability. Rebound makes this very different though, and being able to give rebound to any spell is very relevant. It's probably good that the splice ability only hits Arcane spells, also because it makes sure that rebound doesn't just go on any non-permanent spell. Rebound doesn't go on permanents. I don't even know what it would do on a permanent.

Undeniable Madness U
Sorcery - Arcane (R)
Split second (As long as this spell is on the stack, players can't cast spells or activate abilities that aren't mana abilities.)
Each player draws a card, then each opponent discards a card.
Splice onto sorcery 1U

The most relevant interaction I see here is giving split second to any sorcery, which is at the very least strong and scary at worst, in my opinion. I feel like this card is less cohesive than the others I've reviewed so far, but it's just a feeling. The abilities feel like separate things, three ones that just happen to be together with no real synergy, but it might easily just be me though. Reminder text for splice is missing.

Bountiful Beyond 1gww
Sorcery - Arcane(r)
If this spell's name is Bountiful Beyond, create a white 1/1 Spirit creature token with flying and put a +1/+1 counter on it.
Populate and proliferate.
Splice onto instant or sorcery 1gw (As you cast an instant or sorcery spell, you may reveal this card from your hand and pay its splice cost. If you do, add this card's effects to that spell.)

At first I wondered why to check the name of the spell, then I understood it's to prevent the first ability from having its effect when spliced on another spell. Original, that's for sure, but a bit unintuitive in my opinion. Why have a splice spell where a part of it doesn't work when spliced? I feel like this is a thing that's there just for the sake of novelty. The rest of the card is fine, I would have just included reminder text for the keywords.

Scholarly Pursuits
Sorcery — Arcane (Uncommon)
Splice onto Lesson 1 (As you cast a Lesson spell, you may reveal this card from your hand and pay its splice cost. If you do, add this card's effects to that spell.)
Learn (You may reveal a Lesson card you own from outside the game and put it into your hand, or discard a card to draw a card.)
"For every answer, ten more questions."
—Quintorius, Lorehold mage-student

I think I'm in love with this card. It makes you learn from any lesson, which is a very flavorful thing to do. It feels at home in Lorehold, and has very good (and true) flavor text, by my favorite character in Strixhaven. Seriously, I can't say anything bad about this card. Excellent job.

Gifts of the Oni 1B
Instant - Arcane (Uncommon)
Target creature gets +1/-1 until end of turn.
Target creature gets +1/-1 until end of turn.
Splice onto Arcane 2B

We've already seen similar cards, where an ability giving a P/T bonus is repeated as is multiple times so you can choose different targets, or the same target, every time. I can't remember the names of those cards, I think one was in a Ravnica set in Selesnya, maybe another one in Alara? If you have enough mana, this can potentially remove any targetable creature by splicing multiple times, and then maybe casting it for good measure. Elegant and with interesting implications. Reminder text for splice is missing.

Very difficult choice this round, I wish I could vote for everybody.

Top 3

1st place: Subject16
2nd place: slimytrout
3rd place: RaikouRider

[slimytrout]

bravelion83

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Splice onto red instant is new, but the effect is hardly revolutionary, and the cost is substantial -- unless you're in a format where Lightning Bolt is legal, you're going to be paying a lot of mana to cast a spell and also splice. I can definitely imagine this getting printed, but it doesn't really excite me.

RaikouRider

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Feels a little tame, and not exactly doing anything revolutionary. Much more useful as a cheap arcane spell to splice onto than as something you want to repeatedly splice.

netn10

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The name is... bad. An instant spell should not have "enchant" in the name unless it has something to do with enchantments, which this does not. The effect is quite cool though -- giving your other damage spells deathtouch and lifelink is fun! I do worry that it's *very* pushed, especially since it can be spliced onto any instant -- this plus Dual Shot is a 6-mana triple kill spell (plus gain 5 life), plus you get to keep the Lightning.

Ink-Treader

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Split second is a cool choice, although it is a little bit of an "unfun" mechanic for a lot of people, since it prevents any interaction with it. I'm sure there are crazy things you can do with this since it can be used on any sorcery, although split second probably won't matter against a lot of your opponents.

Henlock

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So for 4 mana you get at least a 2/2 flier and a 1/1 flier, which is strong but hardly busted. If you're splicing it, you don't get any upfront value but you do get to repeatedly p&p. The real next level move is splicing this onto another copy of itself -- it's an expensive play at 7 mana, but the base effect is a 3/3 flier, a 2/2 flier, and two 1/1 fliers, and then you still get to cast the second one next turn. The limiting effect is a bit clunky, but I can see why it helps with balance.

Subject16

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Now this is fun! A definite MH card (combining two different instant and sorcery subtypes is a bit strange -- this card definitely suffered from the requirement that the card itself be Arcane). But very cool to allow you to keep stringing together lessons if you can afford to pay 2 more for each one.

kwanyeegor-ii

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If you spliced this onto a targeted spell, it would be quite a lot of targets to keep track of. A bit clunky to see repeated text like that, but does allow you to give one creature +2/-2. I think it might have been more elegant as a "choose one: target creature gets +2/-2 or two target creatures each get +1/-1," but that's a minor quibble. Ultimately, it's not doing anything super new, but is very functional.

T3

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1. Subject16
2. Ink-Treader
3. Henlock

[void_nothing]

Giving this a bump for critiques.

[kwanyeegor-ii]

crits

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Violent Lightning 2R
Sorcery - Arcane (U)
Violent Lightning deals 3 damage to any target.
Splice onto red instant 3R (As you cast a red instant spell, you may reveal this card from your hand and pay its splice cost. If you do, add this card's effects to that spell.)

obv damage is a pretty generic effect. I don't understand why this car is a sorcery but splices only onto instants

Kami's Insight U
Instant - Arcane {U}
Scry 2, then create a Clue token.
Splice onto Arcane 2U (As you cast an Arcane spell, you may reveal this card from your hand and pay its splice cost. If you do, add this card's effects to that spell.)

Really nicely balanced effect bc the card draw requires extra mana... clues don't seem like a Kamigawa mechanic tho

Enchant Lightning RWB
Instant - Arcane (Rare)
Deathtouch, lifelink
Enchant Lightning deals 3 damage to any target.
Splice onto instant 2RWB

Whoa nice, this is interesting design space... base card might be too strong but i love this spliced onto Fault Line lol

Reconsider U
Instant - Arcane (U)
Scry 1.
Rebound (If you cast this spell from your hand, exile it as it resolves. At the beginning of your next upkeep, you may cast this card from exile without paying its mana cost.)
Splice onto Arcane UU (As you cast an Arcane spell, you may reveal this card from your hand and pay its splice cost. If you do, add this card's effects to that spell.)

Kind of a combo of the past 2 cards lol, both scry and adding a keyword to a spell. Rebound for 2 mana might be too strong

Undeniable Madness U
Sorcery - Arcane (R)
Split second (As long as this spell is on the stack, players can't cast spells or activate abilities that aren't mana abilities.)
Each player draws a card, then each opponent discards a card.
Splice onto sorcery 1U

Another keyword adder lol. Split second is very strong, at least this is for sorceries only

Bountiful Beyond 1gww
Sorcery - Arcane(r)
If this spell's name is Bountiful Beyond, create a white 1/1 Spirit creature token with flying and put a +1/+1 counter on it.
Populate and proliferate.
Splice onto instant or sorcery 1gw (As you cast an instant or sorcery spell, you may reveal this card from your hand and pay its splice cost. If you do, add this card's effects to that spell.)

Hmm being more powerful if cast and not spliced is interesting. I like the whole design really

Scholarly Pursuits
Sorcery — Arcane (Uncommon)
Splice onto Lesson 1 (As you cast a Lesson spell, you may reveal this card from your hand and pay its splice cost. If you do, add this card's effects to that spell.)
Learn (You may reveal a Lesson card you own from outside the game and put it into your hand, or discard a card to draw a card.)
"For every answer, ten more questions."
—Quintorius, Lorehold mage-student

Pretty parasitic design. Learning infinitely seems like it could get broken or at least too consistent

Top 3

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1 henlock
2 ink-treader
3 netn10

[Ink-Treader]

bravelion83

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A sorcery that only splices onto instants is intriguing. I do think this could have been an instant itself. The splice cost is high, but fair considering how strong Lightning Bolt is.

RaikouRider

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Feels like it sits between Opt and Preordain, and seems quite solid even without the splice. Splicing only onto Arcane is limiting, but the card is good enough on its own that it doesn't feel too bad.

netn10

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Name feels rather flavorless, but it's a fine escalation of Lightning Helix. Splice is high, but reasonable considering how annoying a repeatable 6 life point swing + potential removal is.

slimytrout

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Underwhelming at base, but potentially a lot of fun with the right Arcane spell.

Henlock

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Certainly one way to push some power into the base effect without making the splice too strong. a 3/3 and a 1/1 flier is alright as a base. Can definitely escalate beyond. but keywords that require something else to function properly does feel safe for splicing.

Subject16

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This is a very cute card. Base is quite weak, but the splice is reasonable enough.

kwanyeegor-ii

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Potentially a 2 for one that can be stapled to any Arcane, but again, Arcane is a pretty potent limitation. Base effect is solid enough.

Top 3

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1. RaikouRider
2. Henlock
3. Subject16

[Henlock]

just top

1. subject16
2 Kwanyegor
3. slimytrout

[RaikouRider]

Sadly can only do top 3s as this has been a very busy week.
1) Henlock
2) Ink-Treader
3) Subject16