January CCL, Signups/Round 2: Heads-Up Defense

[void_nothing]

CCL January Signups/Round 2

"Heads-Up Defense"


Ancient Spider, taken from EchoMtG, by Greg Staples 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 Evasion Month here in the CCL. We will go through any number of abilities that make creatures harder to block.

Challenge

Design a creature card with an ability that does not change what creatures can block it, but that allows it to block creatures with an evasion ability.

Clarifications

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• Valid abilities include reach, Aetherflame Wall's ability, and Lord Magnus's abilities (since they apply to Lord Magnus itself when blocking a forestwalk or plainswalk creature).
• Make sure to include a rarity.

Anyone can enter this second round! Your submissions are due Sunday, January 15th, 23:59 EST.

Schedule

• Round 1 — Open to Everyone (January 1st-8th)
• Round 2 — Open to Everyone (January 9th-15th)
• Rounds 1 and 2 Critiques (Due January 17th)
• Top 4 — Open to top 4 finishers (January 18th–21st)
• Top 4 Critiques (Due January 23rd)
• Final (January-February, 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.

[MonoRedMage]

Goblin Mangonel 4R
Creature - Goblin {U}
Reach
Whenever Goblin Mangonel blocks a creature, Goblin Mangonel deals 2 damage to that creature.
T: Goblin Mangonel deals 2 damage to each opponent. Activate only during your turn.
1/5

[netn10]

Tris, Cursed Survivalist 2GG
Legendary Creature - Human Warrior (Rare)
At the beginning of your upkeep, each opponent creates a 2/2 blue and black Zombie Horror creature token with skulk.
Tris can block creatures with skulk as though as they didn't have skulk.
Whenever a creature an opponent control dies, put a +1/+1 counter on Tris and you gain 2 life.
4/4

[OneAndOnly]

Placeholder

[Subject16]

Guardian Hydra XGW
Creature — Hydra (R)
Vigilance
Guardian Hydra enters the battlefield with X +1/+1 counters on it.
Guardian Hydra can block an additional creature for each +1/+1 counter on it, and can block creatures with menace this way as if it were an additional creature.
Whenever Guardian Hydra blocks, put a +1/+1 counter on it at end of combat.
0/0

[slimytrout]

Fawle, the Unafraid 2W
Legendary Artifact Creature - Soldier (U)
Lifelink
Fawle, the Unafraid can block creatures with menace as though they didn't have menace.
Whenever a creature with menace, fear, or intimidate attacks you, untap Fawle.
3/3

[void_nothing]

About two more days remain in this round - remember that anyone can enter!

[marioguy3]

Horizon Elemental
Creature - Elemental (Rare)
Reach
: Draw a card. Activate only if Horizon Elemental blocked this turn.
: Horizon Elemental deals 1 damage to target attacking creature.
: Put a land card from your hand onto the battlefield tapped.
2/2

[Henlock]

Lightbender 2u
Creature - Eldrazi (r)
Devoid (This catd has no color)
Flash
Hexproof from colorless
When Lightbender enters the battlefield, replace all instances of a color word or the words colorless or multicolored for another.
3/2

[Rithaniel]

Wharren, the Harrier
Legendary Creature - Human Soldier R
Vigilance, hexproof from nonblack
Wharren can block creatures as though they had no abilities.
: Wharren gets +2/+3 and gains deathtouch until end of turn. Activate only once each turn.
"You didn't really think you'd get away from me, right?"
2/2

[void_nothing]

And the round is closed. Please critique all other contestants and post a top 3.

[marioguy3]

MonoRedMage: This goblin seems decent but not super exciting to play. It's a weird tension that it makes you ask if you would rather block or tap to deal damage. Having reach is a given plus. Good news is that it doesn't target an opponent so damage is more guaranteed.

netn10: These type of, I get big thing, you get a nice token is usually a cool design, and this is no exception. I'm not sure the creature needs to give each opponent a creature with skulk, but it at least encourages beating down on other opponents in a goad/pillowfort shell. Flexible design.

Subject16: Assuming this would actually work within MTG rules, this is a cool card. I'm not the biggest selesnya player by a long shot, but those players would play this in selesnya tokens/hydras for sure.

slimytrout: This seems decently strong. At least it doesn't have first strike.

Henlock: I don't think this card meets the challenge.

Rithaniel: Now this is the type of creativity I know you to make. Spicy blocker in combat that makes for a wall-like resistance to the most mean attackers out there. I don't think this could block creatures that become generally "unblockable", but it does a whole lot against menace, fear, intimidate, etc.

Top 3:

3rd: Subject16
2nd: Rithaniel
1st: netn10

[void_nothing]

@MonoRedMage @netn10 @Subject16 @slimytrout @Henlock @Rithaniel Please at least post a top 3!

[netn10]

I'll try to post a full review as soon as possible.

MonoRedMage

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Seems like a fine uncommon for limited, maybe as your 23th card. Reach is fine for this challenge.

Subject16

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Hydra that back block for each head and as a single being can block menace creature? I love it. The card can be mono green but other then that, the flavor just makes sense.

slimytrout

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As an artifact creature, it can already block intimidate and fear. I think I understand the flavor though. It seems like a beating in limited, and like a cool card flavor wise.

marioguy3

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Temur "blocking matter" is interesting. The green ability doesn't follow the pattern of the two others, but otherwise, it's a unique package of classic abilities.

Henlock

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Your card doesn't meet the challenge - but I like its weirdness. It's a good design for an Eldrazi.

Rithaniel

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By far the weirdest card here, even more than the Eldrazi. GW with GWB is a unique territory, and "this can block anything like its has no abilities" is a clean way to do this challenge. I'm just not sure 100% what's happening here, but it's certainly a package.

Top 3

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1st: Subject16
2nd: Rithaniel
3rd: marioguy3

[slimytrout]

MonoRedMage

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Kind of a twist on lobber crew. Reach in red has become a lot more common recently, and we've seen the "firstest strike" ability before, but I don't really love it on a specifically defensive creature where it can make it really hard for opponents to attack. I do like that you have to choose between shocking and blocking, so to speak.

netn10

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Oh man, I'd forgotten about skulk. Only note on this is that it should probably have vigilance so you can attack with it and still block the Zombie Horrors.

Subject16

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I like the idea, but I think it's a bit confusing to figure out how exactly the menace-blocking works -- is the idea that if it has four counters on it it can block two creatures with menace and one creature without menace but not three creatures with menace or two with menace and two without?

marioguy3

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Nothing wrong with the card, but I guess I don't quite get it, either flavorfully or mechanically. With this many abilities it would be nice if there were some rhyme or reason about why they're put together in this combination.

Henlock

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I don't see how this meets the challenge.

Rithaniel

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Whoa. I really like the evasion-killing ability, although I certainly am not sure how workable it would be in the rules. I don't really like the hexproof from non-black or the fact that it gets +2/+3 instead of a square number -- they just feel like kind of random details that don't really fit together.

T3

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1. netn10
2. MonoRedMage
3. Subject16

[Rithaniel]

Commentary

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• Henlock - I think your thinking here is to get "around" the challenge, by giving something an ability that allows you to modify something like Mudbrawler Raiders's ability, or to make it so that something like fear can be changed to "only be blocked by colorless or artifact creatures." It's kind of an obscure usage, though, and I feel as though you're stretching the criteria of the round. The card itself, meanwhile, feels a little directionless.
• marioguy3 - Okay, so all four of these abilities are at least decent abilities. One is card advantage, one is ramp, one is removal, and one is reach. The fact that you can use multiple of them in a turn make them powerful. I think this is the first time we've gotten the ability to drop multiple lands in a turn with an ability like this. Also, the blue ability is pretty cheap, but requires you risking the creature unless you use the red ability, which uses up mana that you would use to draw cards. I think the mana requirements and its small size might actually keep it from getting too strong. I think this is a good design.
• MonoRedMage - I had to look up what a mangonel is. I think this is a good design which could be streamlined in some ways. The only issue that I'd have with it is that it isn't really all that exciting. Sure, an unblockable 2 damage each turn is fun, but kinda lame for five mana. A 1/5 (technically 3/5) with reach is also decent (at least in limited), but not amazing. The fact that it can be both things makes it more interesting, of course.
• netn10 - Well, this design is fun, but skulk is such an underused keyword that I can see this only really interacting with itself. However, as something that only interacts with itself, I think it's a fun idea. However, the only issue is that your opponent doesn't have to swing with these 2/2 skulk zombies. They can save them up and either use them as blockers, or build up an army until Tris can't block everything and then just win the game. So, as long as your opponents play smart, this stops being fun and starts being too much downside for a 4/4 for 4 mana.
• slimytrout - Amazing flavor. Everything comes together quite nicely on this design. I like it. I would point out is that it might be worth putting at rare rather than uncommon, but I think it still works as an uncommon legend. On thing is that it being a 3/3 lifelink for 3 mana makes it aggressive, and it having pseudo-vigilance allows it to sometimes be consistently attacking, but I think this works in it's favor balance-wise. It doesn't end up too strong, but it still has a purpose in the game. Good design.
• Subject16 - So, I'm a little bit hazy on how the menace blocking ability works. If it has three +1/+1 counters on it, it can block four creatures. Can it block four creatures with menace? Or does it "use up" two blocks to stop a creature with menace, meaning that it can only block two creatures with menace? That's a side issue, of course. Beyond that, I think this would be served well by being something other than a 0/0. I mean, you don't want to block six creatures when you only have 5 toughness, so you never really get to use that ability to its full potential. All that being said, it's a fun ability, particularly on the menace front, and this creature has a lot of stuff that works together.

Top 3

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• First - slimytrout
• Second - marioguy3
• Third - Subject16

[Henlock]

Top 3

1: Monoredmage
2: Rithaniel
3. Slimytrout

[Subject16]

Top 3:

1: netn10
2: slimytrout
3: Henlock

[void_nothing]

And our top 4 contestants:

slimytrout
Subject16
netn10
Rithaniel

Thank you to everyone for playing - top 4 round will come soon!