September MCC Round 2 - Dark recruitment

[bravelion83]

(This month's banner is my own elaboration on the art of Slimefoot's Survey by Piotr Dura.)


September MCC Round 2

Dark recruitment

As is tradition by now, this month we will celebrate the latest set, in this case Dominaria United, by exploring its mechanics and themes, as usual in this kind of MCC months.

Dominarian leaders are enlisting fighters of all genders, races, and nations to fight the Phyrexians, but the Phyrexians are also enlisting people in their own way… alright, they're not exactly asking for your willing consent though while "enlisting" you by compleating you without you even being aware of it… Have I already asked if there are any sleeper agents among us?


Main Challenge - Design a creature card with enlist.

Subchallenge 1 - There is at least one blue and/or black mana symbol anywhere on the card.

Subchallenge 2 - Your card is legendary.

Clarifications

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Main Challenge
• Two requirements: your card has the creature card type on its type line (becoming a creature by other means doesn't count), and it has to natively have enlist (granting it to others and/or itself or gaining it conditionally do NOT count).

Subchallenge 1
• All kinds of mana symbols count as long as they are blue and/or black, not just the regular blue and black mana symbols. Hybrid mana of all kinds counts, as long as there is a blue or black half. For example all the following hybrid mana symbols count: Dimir, Azorius, Izzet, Simic, Orzhov, Rakdos, Golgari, "twobrid" blue or black, traditional Phyrexian blue or black mana (it's kind of a hybrid mana where one half is "pay 2 life"), Phyrexian hybrid mana like on Tamiyo and Ajani of all the previously mentioned guild color pairs.

Subchallenge 2
• As long as your card natively has the legendary supertype, it counts. Granting it to others and/or to itself or gaining it conditionally do NOT count.


If you have any questions, post them in the MCC discussion thread.

DEADLINES

Design deadline: Tuesday, September 20rd 23:59 EDT

Judging deadline: Friday, September 23th 23:59 EDT


RUBRIC

MCC Rubric

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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.

JUDGES

bravelion83
void_nothing


PLAYERS

@CunningGabe
@haywire
@kwanyeegor-ii
@Lorn Asbord Schutta
@marioguy3
@MonoRedMage
@netn10
@slimytrout


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.
Please check out the MCC Guidelines and FAQ if you have the will and time. Link in my signature. Among the many things you can find there are a detailed explanation of the rubric (section 6.2) and the recommended card formatting (section 4) that you should use to format your text cards. Expect deductions in Quality otherwise.


BRACKETS

Judge: bravelion83
haywire
kwanyeegor-ii
MonoRedMage
netn10

Judge: void_nothing
CunningGabe
marioguy3
slimytrout

Top 2 from each bracket will advance to Round 3.

[netn10]

Phyrexian Mindbender 1U
Artifact Creature - Phyrexian Wizard (Rare)
Enlist
If a spell or an ability you control causes you to choose a creature you control, you may choose any creature instead.
"All will bow to Phyrexia, and if they don't think so, give them time and they will change their minds."
1/3

[slimytrout]

Slimefoot, Uprooted 1BG
Legendary Creature — Fungus (R)
Enlist (As this creature attacks, you may tap a nonattacking creature you control without summoning sickness. When you do, add its power to this creature's until end of turn.)
Whenever Slimefoot, Uprooted enlists a creature, you may sacrifice that creature. If you do, put a +1/+1 counter on Slimefoot and return up to one target creature card from your graveyard to your hand.
3/3

[CunningGabe]

Scion of Sheoldred 3BB
Legendary Creature - Phyrexian Human (R)
Enlist
Whenever Scion of Sheoldred enlists a creature, put a phyresis counter on that creature.
Creatures you control with phyresis counters are Phyrexians in addition to their other types.
Whenever a Phyrexian creature you control becomes tapped, target opponent loses 1 life.
2/5

[kwanyeegor-ii]

Atnok, Brigand of Foriys 2BRG
Legendary Creature - Giant Rogue (Rare)
Menace
Enlist, enlist
Other creatures with enlist you control have enlist. (Multiple instances apply separately.)
Whenever one or more creatures with enlist you control deal combat damage to a player, create a Treasure token for each tapped creature you control.
3/3

[MonoRedMage]

Ulbiev, Whirlpool Commando 2UR
Legendary Creature - Merfolk Warrior {R}
Enlist
Whenever Ulbiev, Whirlpool Commando enters the battlefield or enlists a creature, you may shuffle the cards from your hand into your library, then draw that many cards.
Ulbiev, Whirlpool Commando can't be blocked as long as it's attacking alone.
2/4

[marioguy3]

Stenimana, Combatant for Seafolk
Legendary Creature - Merfolk (Rare)
Haste
Enlist (As this creature attacks, you may tap a nonattacking creature you control without summoning sickness. When you do, add its power to this creature's until end of turn.)
Other Merfolk creatures you control get +1/+1 and have haste.
: If you control an attacking creature with power four or greater, draw a card. Otherwise, scry 1.
2/4

[bravelion83]

24 hours left to the deadline and we're still missing entries from @haywire and @Lorn Asbord Schutta.

[haywire]

Garon, Defender of the Meek
Legendary Creature - Human Soldier {R}
Defender
Enlist
Garon, Defender of the Meek can attack as though he didn't have defender if a creature token entered the battlefield under your control this turn.
Whenever Garon deals combat damage to a player, put a +1/+1 counter on each creature token you control. They gain hexproof until your next turn.
, remove a +1/+1 counter from a creature you control: Put a stun counter on target tapped creature.
Though each part may be weak, selfless devotion makes the whole unbreakable.
0/4

[bravelion83]

The round is closed.

BRACKETS

Judge: bravelion83
haywire
kwanyeegor-ii
MonoRedMage
netn10

Judge: void_nothing
CunningGabe
marioguy3
slimytrout

Top 2 from each bracket will advance to Round 3.

---

Judgments complete. No time to check for typos now, so I apologize if any are there.

haywire

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Garon, Defender of the Meek
Legendary Creature - Human Soldier {R}
Defender
Enlist
Garon, Defender of the Meek can attack as though he didn't have defender if a creature token entered the battlefield under your control this turn.
Whenever Garon deals combat damage to a player, put a +1/+1 counter on each creature token you control. They gain hexproof until your next turn.
, remove a +1/+1 counter from a creature you control: Put a stun counter on target tapped creature.
Though each part may be weak, selfless devotion makes the whole unbreakable.
0/4

Design
Appeal 2.5/3 - Timmy likes almost everything here except for the base zero power. Johnny can manipulate the counters however he wants. Spike is the one most likely to appreciate the low mana cost and she has a nice challenge trying to maximize the impact of this on the battlefield.
Elegance 0.5/3 - Several problems here. First, the rules text is microtext all by itself, even if you leave out the flavor text, which only makes things even worse. Only with the rules text, it's already eleven lines and four breaks in the M15 MSE frame, which is definitely more than Animate Dead. Second, there is way too much going on here. I understand the idea is defending your tokens in as many ways as you can, but the result looks really bad from an aesthetic point of view and you also have to read it multiple times to remember all the things that this card does, despite each single element being easily understandable by itself. It's not a problem of quality, it's a problem of quantity. It's not that you can't understand what's going on, it's that there is too much going on. Third, this kinda requires you to use official printed tokens, otherwise it will be hard to represent a token that has counters on it, and... Fourth, counters of multiple different types at once potentially. Yes, it won't be common to see, but in theory you could have a token with both a +1/+1 counter and a stun counter from this, which will be even harder to represent than a token with a single counter on it. If you're not using official printed token because you don't have the specific ones you need, or because you don't like them, or for any reason, and you're totally allowed to use anything to represent token, you're not forced to use the official printed tokens by any rules in any rules document that I know of (CR, JAR, IPG, MTR)... Well, in that case, how would you represent a token that has both a +1/+1 counter and a stun counter on it? A slip of paper with two differently colored dice on it, one for each kind of counter? But what if you don't have dice of different colors? Say that the one on the left is one kind and the one on the right the other one? But then what if it's tapped? Yes, there is nothing in the rules preventing this, but I can see all kinds of logistics issues, and that's on top of the microtext thing. The only thing preventing this from being a full zero is that all the single elements are easily understandable if you take them singularly.
Development
Viability 1/3 - This card would never be printed as is. It's way too long and has all the issues I talked about in Elegance. You'd have at the very least to remove or reword one ability so that it's shorter while also removing flavor text altogether and then maybe, but you'd have to reevaluate before sending this to print. This looks like the result of the first brainstorming session: let's write down every token related effect we can think of that's in these two colors and let's put it all together. We'll refine it later! Yet here I wanted to see the card after that refinement, not before. Yes, everything is in color. Yes, rarity is the least it can be even if I could also see this at mythic, and maybe I would like it more there. Yes, it works in the rules. No, it would never be actually printed as is. And that's the problem here.
Balance 2.5/3 - Actually, I won't write much here for once. Well, by my own standards, I mean... The problems of this card are not here. I think this works as far as Balance is concerned. It looks really good in a token based deck but that's kinda obvious. It's interesting that if you choose to enlist a creature as this attacks, it doesn't have to be a token but it can be, though it can't be the same one that let Garon attack because that one will usually be still summoning sick, so you won't be able to enlist it as enlist requires the enlisted creature to not be summoning sick. The stun counters part feels a little bit unnecessary to me, and if you had to cut something, which you have to do to be able to print this in the first place (see practically the rest of this judgment), I'd start by looking there. I see no problems in limited, casual constructed, or multiplayer play, provided you can remember everything this card does. I don't know if it would see Standard play, it will probably depend on the volume of creature tokens in the environment. If there are enough of those going around anyway, maybe. Or maybe not. It's hard to judge this card from a competitive point of view.
Creativity
Uniqueness 3/3 - Caring about creature tokens feels good in this area. The closest thing I can remember is Intangible Virtue, and this this also gives a +1/+1 bonus to creature tokens it's in the form of counters rather than a static boost.
Flavor 1/3 - No problems with the flavor itself, but flavor text just doesn't fit here. The rules text is already microtext by itself, the font shrinks even more when you add this two lines of flavor text to the point where you really almost can't read it. There is no way this card would have flavor text even if it they decided to print it anyway despite the microtext problem.
Polish
Quality 2/3 - No space between card name and mana cost. (-0.5) The word "remove" in the cost of the activated ability should be capitalized. (-0.5) Not including reminder text for enlist and stun counters is definitely the right call here, there's no way there is room for those and this is a rare, so no deduction for that. Hyphen instead of em dash in the type line, but no deduction for that either.
Main Challenge 2/2 - Good.
Subchallenges 2/2 - Both met.
TOTAL 16.5/25

kwanyeegor-ii

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Atnok, Brigand of Foriys 2BRG
Legendary Creature - Giant Rogue (Rare)
Menace
Enlist, enlist
Other creatures with enlist you control have enlist. (Multiple instances apply separately.)
Whenever one or more creatures with enlist you control deal combat damage to a player, create a Treasure token for each tapped creature you control.
3/3

Design
Appeal 2/3 - Timmy likes everything about this card. Johnny could maybe do some tricks with the multiple instances of enlist. Or with the Treasures too, but he doesn't like being forced to attack to get those, he'd like to get them through more unusual means. Spike likes the challenge of maximizing the power of this creature via more enlisting, but the problem will be whether she has enough other creatures to enlist, which isn't a given to her. She likes that this is hard to block though, and that this essentially rewards you for enlisting more creatures with the most useful resource besides cards, which is mana.
Elegance 2.5/3 - Not too long and very easy to understand. I can only see one minor point of confusion: if you happen somehow to have two of these on the battlefield, do they give one of two additional instances of enlist to each other? The correct answer is just one, as it's a binary check: do you have enlist, yes or no? It doesn't ask how many instances of enlist you have, just whether you have at least one. I can see less experienced players thinking that the answer is the opposite and that they get a total of four instances of enlist on each copy while that's not the case as I've just explained. How can you do that? Well, Mirror Box is still in the current Standard... and there are also cards that turn into or make tokens that are copies of legendary permanents with the exception that the copy is not legendary, specifically to turn off the legend rule. Just use one of those.
Development
Viability 2.5/3 - Here is where my own opinion differs from the real R&D, as you all should have seen in my SNC month if you didn't know that before. They ask: can this be in this color combination? Here the answer is clearly yes, this can be Jund. Menace is black and red, enlist is in red and green and could make sense in all colors really, Treasures are meant to be mostly a red and green thing with black having some access to it but not too much. Take the sum of all this, and you get indeed Jund. At the contrary, I ask: must this be in color combination? As in: is this the minimum number of colors this can be to be in pie? And here the answer is no. Instead of the sum, take the overlap of the colors of each single element. This could even be monored. Red could do everything all by itself. Ok, you could say caring about tapped creatures might feel a little strange in monored, I concede that, but then you could add just a single color, probably green. I honestly see no need for this to be three colors. It can be as it doesn't break anything in its colors, but it doesn't have to be. Yes, my criteria is more restrictive than theirs and there are a lot of existing multicolored cards that don't fit it. But I also think this is not a problem as a judge as long as I always apply the same criteria to all the cards I judge. Again, I pointed this out several times in every round of my SNC month, so I guess you can just go look at that if you want even more info on my own point of view on this matter. I feel like I've already written enough here. No problems with rarity or the rules.
Balance 2.5/3 - Yeah, I think this is fine in this area. I really like how enlisting a creature requires tapping that creature, so that creature will count as a tapped creature and will give you a Treasure when the creature that enlisted them connects. In limited the problem will be managing to pay the three-colored mana cost, in a set specifically built to allow you to be able to do so, like SNC was for example, this wouldn't be a problem, but while DMU is definitely built to support off-color kicker costs, I still expect it to be harder environment to cast your three-colored cards. It won't be impossible, just harder than in SNC. And in Standard there are no such problems, as SNC and its fixing are still there. In older formats there are even less such problems, and the problem will turn from "can I cast this?" to "is what this does enough?", and I'm not sure about that. By the way, I notice just now that the last ability doesn't even require that the creature that connects has actually enlisted another creature this turn, just that it has the keyword. That makes it more open-ended than how I first read it, and that's nice. For example, if this attacks by itself without enlisting anything, you will still get one Treasure because it has enlist and it's tapped by the time the ability triggers and resolves because it attacked and it doesn't have vigilance. You don't need to actually enlist a creature for Atnok to do at least something. I do like this, and it does help with that problem. At least that he can do. I don't know if it will be enough, but that he can do. I see no problems in casual or multiplayer.
Creativity
Uniqueness 3/3 - Having double enlist and also turning your other creatures' enlist into double enlist is certainly unique and memorable. This card will be know as the "double enlist creature", so it will definitely have its own identity.
Flavor 3/3 - MSE shows that while a couple lines of flavor text could still technically fit without reminder text for enlist, the card does indeed look much better without it, so it's not a problem that this card doesn't have flavor text. No problems with the name, and it's quite good actually. A brigand building up a gang to go steal some treasures is very good flavor, even without flavor text. This is a perfect example of what mechanical flavor can do. You tell a story just by using the card's mechanics and you don't even need flavor text that would make the card look worse anyway. Yeah, get your full points here. It's hard for a card without flavor text to get those here, but I do feel like this card still deserves it, especially given the obstacle of text length you would have had to overcome.
Polish
Quality 1.5/3 - It should say "...creatures you control with enlist..." both in the lord ability and in the trigger of the last ability. (See for example Alela, Artful Provocateur, -0.5 twice.) All precedents for similar reminder text are about triggered abilities, none for static abilities exists, and you're right in not saying "trigger separately" because enlist itself is not a triggered ability, it's an additional cost to attack with a reflexive triggered ability nested within. But I do think it should have worded differently, especially given the precedent on Apex Devastator for cascade, which is the closest I've managed to find. The last sentence of the Devastator's reminder text says "Multiple instances of cascade each trigger separately." If you compare that with all other precedents you see that two things are constant: the keyword is mentioned ("Multiple instances of KEYWORD...") and there is always the word "each". I think this should say "Multiple instances of enlist each apply separately." (-0.5) Reminder text for enlist doesn't fit here and this is a rare, so no deduction for missing reminder text. Hyphen instead of em dash in the type line, but no deduction for that."
Main Challenge 2/2 - Good.
Subchallenges 2/2 - Both met.
TOTAL 21/25

MonoRedMage

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Ulbiev, Whirlpool Commando 2UR
Legendary Creature - Merfolk Warrior {R}
Enlist
Whenever Ulbiev, Whirlpool Commando enters the battlefield or enlists a creature, you may shuffle the cards from your hand into your library, then draw that many cards.
Ulbiev, Whirlpool Commando can't be blocked as long as it's attacking alone.
2/4

Design
Appeal 2.5/3 - Timmy likes the thrill of wheel effects and being able to attack without worrying about annoying blockers. Johnny could maybe use the wheel effect somehow, even though he's much more likely to do it repeatedly by blinking this and exploiting the ETB trigger rather than by enlisting a creature, remember than enlisting a creature requires attacking and Johnny might or might not want to do that, depending on the exact details of his combo. Spike would like it much more if it said something like "that many cards plus one" or something like that that allowed her to get actual card advantage from that ability. She also usually doesn't like that much 2/4s for four mana, even though yes, this can be bigger, but at the cost of giving up another creature's attack. She probably doesn't mind this in limited, but I think she would want more for constructed.
Elegance 3/3 - I see no problems here. Very easy to understand.
Development
Viability 3/3 - If you allow me a joke, you have indeed to put red in every card you design, even when the challenges ask for other colors red is always there! I've noticed it by now, both here and in other contests. You are indeed a red mage at heart! And don't misunderstand me, there is absolutely no shame in that! And by the way, I am also part red, though definitely not monored, so I do understand you. I identify myself as primary white and secondary red and blue, first monowhite then Boros then Jeskai. Philosophically the Boros are the closest to me, and I think that's also a very well-known fact around here by now. I mean, just look at my avatar! Ok, I'm digressing as usual... but I'm allowing myself the luxury of doing that because I see no problems here to report. The wheel effect is the red part here (wheel effects are generally red, his particular version has only be printed on blue cards so far but I think it's just because you shuffle the cards into your library instead of discarding them, at its core it's still a red effect, I give up what I have now for something unknown), while unblockability is the blue part. This does absolutely feel like a rare, and I can't see any problems with the rules. Get your full points here from a fellow still-red-but-not-monored mage!
Balance 3/3 - The base ETB version (Whirlpool Rider) costs two mana and can wheel only on ETB. This can also do it repeatedly by enlisting creatures, and it also has additional abilities, so a two-mana increase in mana value does feel appropriate to me. Wheeling being optional feels really good here, it allows you the option of keeping your current hand if you have cards you need there. Nice synergy between enlist and the last ability, it might be attacking alone but if it enlisted a creature, the total power is still the same as if both creatures attacked separately but with the difference that now the damage is unblockable. Certainly playable in limited. In competitive constructed the immediate impact of being able to wheel on ETB helps, but the lack of haste does not. I see no problems in casual or multiplayer.
Creativity
Uniqueness 1.5/3 - Except for triggering on enlisting too as well as on ETB, there are existing precedents for anything else here.
Flavor 2.5/3 - Without the reminder text for enlist, you could have had one or maybe even two lines of flavor text according to MSE. The name and mechanical flavor are absolutely good though, it all makes complete sense together. Name, creature types, the wheel effect being represented as a magical whirlpool summoned by a merfolk wizard, and the unblockability representing the warrior side. The difference between this card and the last one is that here technically one line of flavor text could certainly be there as the text is a little shorter, while in the previous card even a single line made the card look much worse, but that's all. Otherwise, you both did a wonderful job without flavor text.
Polish
Quality 2.5/3 - Technically there is room for reminder text here, I've checked in MSE. If you put it in it's exactly ten lines and two breaks, my famous by now, I guess, Animate Dead limit beyond which I consider it microtext. This card would equal that limit but not go over it, so it should have had reminder text for a non-evergreen keyword even if it's a rare. (-0.5) The current Oracle text of Whirlpool Rider and Dream Prowler confirms that the wording of both non-enlist abilities is correct. The "a creature enlists another one" wording is also correct and already defined in the CR:

702.154c. A creature "enlists" another creature when you pay the cost of the creature's enlist ability by tapping the other creature. Note that it isn't possible for a creature to enlist itself.[/card] Hyphen instead of em dash in the type line, but no deduction for that.
Main Challenge 2/2 - Good.
Subchallenges 2/2 - Both met.
TOTAL 22/25

netn10

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Phyrexian Mindbender 1U
Artifact Creature - Phyrexian Wizard (Rare)
Enlist
If a spell or an ability you control causes you to choose a creature you control, you may choose any creature instead.
"All will bow to Phyrexia, and if they don't think so, give them time and they will change their minds."
1/3

Design
Appeal 2/3 - Not much for Timmy here. Johnny LOVES this card, there are so many ways he can use this effect! Spike is probably the middle ground. She will like it when it allows her to do things that are stronger than what she's normally allowed to do, but not so much the reverse.
Elegance 1/3 - Ok, it's short and apparently very easy to understand, but I'm not sure all the implications of this are easily understandable at a glance. I'm also not sure it actually works in the rules. I feel like this would be perfect in an un-set: an effect that is quite easy to process by human minds but much less so by the rules. Unfortunately, the challenge didn't ask for an un-card. While this is going on during Unfinity previews, this is still the DMU MCC month, not the Unfinity one that might or might not come in the future.
Development
Viability 0/3 - Ok, if this effect had to be printed in a color, it would certainly be blue and at the very least rare if not mythic, no doubt about it. The problem here is that... well, that "if" is a very big "if". I don't think this is printable at all as is in a regular set (as opposed to "un-set"). As I've already said, this would be the perfect acorn card, but I can't see it being eternal, not even if it were to be printed in Unfinity, the set where that divide is a big selling point. There are so many ways I can see the logical system that the CR are supposed to be breaking down thanks to this effect. Like, for example, does "choosing" include "choosing targets" during the process of casting a spell? Because that would be huge, and not in a good way. Or is this meant to affect only things that say "choose something, then do something to the chosen thing" without actual targeting? That would already be better, but then there are design reasons why some cards say "choose (target) thing you control", limiting that to things you control for various reasons. This effect undoes all those reasons with a single stroke of the brush. It's nice if you want to defend your teammate's creature, but I can't see you ever wanting to do something like that on your opponents' creatures. And anyway, you can already Giant Growth your teammate's creature, just use cards that don't say "you control". And this is just the tip of the iceberg. I'm sorry, but I can't see this printed at all in a non-un-set, and even as an eternal card in an un-set. I think this is strictly acorn territory.
Balance 1.5/3 - I wonder if there is any point is judging the balance of an un-card, and I also find it very hard to do it. Given the multiple ways I think this effect can break things, I would have had it cost a lot more mana, that much I can say. I think I get the design intent behind this card though, you wanted to allow players to enlist other players' creatures, a thing that you normally can't do because the CR entry for enlist DOES say "you control" (emphasis mine):

702.154a Enlist represents a static ability and a triggered ability. Enlist means "As this creature attacks, you may tap up to one untapped creature you control that you didn't choose to attack with and that either has haste or has been under your control continuously since this turn began. When you do, this creature gets +X/+0 until end of turn, where X is the tapped creature's
power."

If that was the intent, as I think it is, I would have found a way to word this so that it only works specifically with enlist, something like "While enlisting a creature, you can choose creatures you don't control", which would also probably have its own problems anyway, or just simply "You can enlist creatures you don't control." If I imagine this card being used like that, it turns enlist into a "use this to tap down would-be blockers" keyword, which is a very different thing. More realistic than this card, but very different. I have a very hard time judging this card in this area, there are just so many ways in which this can break things. And also its own playability depends very much on its exact wording and what things this is supposed to do or not do. I'm sorry. I'm also sorry if I'm sounding harsher than I mean. Remember, we judge cards and not people here. I have nothing against you personally, it's just that I think this should be an un-card because it doesn't work in regular play, that's all.
Creativity
Uniqueness 3/3 - Easy full points here, I don't even feel like I have to justify that.
Flavor 3/3 - Perfect. If there is one thing that actually works on this card, this is it. Simply perfect. Name, flavor text, creature types, mechanics, it all comes together in a perfectly natural way.
Polish
Quality 2/3 - Missing reminder text for enlist. This is a rare but there is room for it so it should still be there. (-0.5) The other ability has a lot of problems, but having similar wording precedents is not one of them. Those do exist: "If something would cause a player to do something, that player does something else instead." Isshin, Two Heavens as One and Panharmonicon come to mind. Ambiguity is a problem instead, and I've already talked about that. I'm still applying an additional -0.5 deduction here too because it's a problem that could have been very probably resolved by finding a different wording and/or putting in some reminder text like "Targeting a creature does/doesn't count as choosing a creature." depending on what the design intent behind this card is, which I can't even tell honestly, I could see it going both ways. Hyphen instead of em dash in the type line, but no deduction for that.
Main Challenge 1/2 - There is a blue mana symbol but it's not legendary.
Subchallenges 2/2 - Both met.
TOTAL 15.5/25

Results (bold advance)

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MonoRedMage: 22
kwanyeegor-ii: 21
haywire: 16.5
netn10: 15.5

[void_nothing]

CunningGabe

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Design
(1/3) Appeal - Almost entirely a Jxnny card. Txmmy likes the story of being able to turn creatures Phyrexian but the payoff is probably not big enough for them, and it's overall too slow for Spike.
(2/3) Elegance - Certainly involves quite a bit of tracking, and it DOES have four abilities, but the overall thrust of the card is easy to understand.

Development
(3/3) Viability - Yeah, black rare is fitting.
(3/3) Balance - Seems to be fine, underpowered if anything - Phyrexian tribal has plenty of pre-existing cards to play with in EDH for example, but these days it's easy to just expect more from a 5-mana rare, you know?

Creativity
(1.5/3) Uniqueness - Some new ideas that ultimately don't have that innovative a result.
(2/3) Flavor - While this card overall makes sense as someone who brings compleation, it still suffers from having something that comes off as not a proper name while being legendary.

Polish
(3/3) Quality - Looks okay.
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - Done.
(2/2) Subchallenges - And done.

Total: 19.5/25

marioguy3

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Design
(1.5/3) Appeal - Half appeal from everyone. Txmmy doesn't really see this as the most exciting lord (but it IS still a lord), Jxnny sees it as a potential engine but also one that is sort of bland, and Spike sees a lot of value in, unfortunately, a tribe that doesn't have much history in one of those colors.
(2/3) Elegance - A bunch of abilities, some of which don't really connect with others.

Development
(3/3) Viability - Colors and rarity look right.
(3/3) Balance - Probably fair for a four-mana, legendary lord.

Creativity
(1/3) Uniqueness - Basically a mashup of older design elements, and a fairly bland one at that.
(1/3) Flavor - It really doesn't make sense for this card not to have a class type, and I honestly have to say I hate that name. It sounds like a machine translation from another language and is just so, so awkward to say.

Polish
(2.5/3) Quality - "Power 4 or greater" - see cards with ferocious.
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - Done.
(2/2) Subchallenges - And done.

Total: 18/25

slimytrout

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Design
(3/3) Appeal - Txmmy wants Slimefoot to grow. Jxnny sees lots of moving parts to be manipulated. Spike likes value-heavy Aristocrats decks.
(2.5/3) Elegance - A little unintuitive - I'd argue that this kind of abilities are what reflexive triggers are made for, although that of course alters the function.

Development
(3/3) Viability - Feels black, feels green, feels rare, feels like Slimefoot!
(3/3) Balance - No issues here - potentially powerful but requires you to sacrifice a lot of creatures.

Creativity
(2/3) Uniqueness - Doesn't do anything all that out-there, but the overall package is rather new.
(3/3) Flavor - I dig this.

Polish
(3/3) Quality - Fine.
(2/2) Main Challenge (*) - Good.
(2/2) Subchallenges - And done.

Total: 23.5/25

Totals (Bold advance)

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slimytrout 23.5
CunningGabe 19.5
marioguy3 18