[RESULTS] The HALF-Great Designer Search 3 — Challenge 2: You Might As Well Tribal

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Comments

  • edited February 2019
    Common:
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    Uncommon:
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    Rare:
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    Mythic Rare:
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  • @Ranshi922
    Both Sagax and your Squirrel aren't valid submissions...
  • @Faiths_Guide, what rules do they break? Oh... right.... dammit.
  • @Ranshi922, I can't see the uncommon and rare cards.
  • I know. I didn’t feel like deleting the things but I have yet to make valid entries for those.
  • edited February 2019
    Well, as promised I´m going with the Halflings.

    We saw Kithkins in MTG but I think it would be wise to make clear the difference between Kithkins and Halflings.

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    This creepy fellas with yellow eyes should be the real Kithkins which by the way, MTG ruling says they are slightly taller than Halflings.

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    People like our good friend Gaddok Teeg should be the real Halflings with normal non-creepy eyes.

    And now my entries

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    I will edit within the day with the new entries.
  • edited February 2019
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    Can I have Cyborg? I get that those esperites who are part machine are also artifacts, but I feel like they could also use the Cyborg type. Also, look at the phyrexian ghoul and explain to me why on earth it isn't an artifact creature. I looks like it's half motorbike.
  • edited February 2019
    @Derfaulehelmut
    Don't know that it warrants a remake (that's up to you in any case), but the wording is slightly incorrect.

    Both passive abilities (which should also probably come before the activated ability) should be worded:
    "As long as you control __ or more Halfling creatures, Hounds you control [get +1/+0 -or- have double strike].
    The term "gain" is used for temporary or one time instances. In you case P/T bumps should use "get" (like Intangible Virtue), and the ability addition should be "have" (like Always Watching). Also, keywords within a sentence aren't capitalized.

    Summary:
    As long as you control three or more Halfling
    creatures, Hounds you control get +1/+0.

    As long as you control five or more Halfling
    creatures, Hounds you control have double
    strike.

    {5}: Create a 1/1 white Hound creature token.


    As it will probably take up one more line in the text box, you could also remove the space at the top, keeping your flavor text and improving formatting.
  • @Faiths_Guide

    Oh! Thanks I will definitely redo the card. :D
  • edited February 2019
    @Undead
    While you're totally correct regarding the Ghoul, @bnew07 is doing a "Phyrexian" subtype already.
  • @Derfaulehelmut
    Also, if you always leave a comment on each card you make, we can respond to that and you will be notified via Disqus that someone has commented on the card page.
  • edited February 2019
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    The zealots of Esper take the etherium from their dead companions to add to themselves, epitomizing the cyborg philosophy of improvement and reuse.
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    Transforming our enemies into cyborgs is the only way to spread the message of cyborg perfection. Of course, a routine upgrade to our own forces wouldn't be remiss either.
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    Once a model has been rendered redundant, the data stored within its memory banks is uploaded and the skills it used in life continue to serve the collective good.
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    Ministers of reclamation use the spare parts abandoned even by other cyborgs to construct groundbreaking new advancements.

    So there we go. The cyborg philosophy is all about archiving the old and using it to upgrade the new. Primary colours: blue, black and white. Blue for the cold rationality of machines, black for the ambition to upgrade weak flesh and white for the unity to improve all of humankind. Together, the cyborg lords will upgrade the universe!

    In retrospect this all sounds a little phyrexian, I must admit. I was going for more of a Doctor Who Cyberman feel.
  • @Undead
    Weeeeeeeell, Cyborgs actually exist in MTG! They're part of Unstable ;) But since it wouldn't be a valid entry in the original contest, I'll allow it ^^
  • edited February 2019
    THE MIGHTY PALADIN!

    Primary Colors:
    Green: The color of tradition, spiritualism, and interdependence.
    White: The color of law, peace, and faith.

    Secondary Colors:
    Red: The color of emotionalism, aggression, and action.

    Splash Black and Blue, as faith can go hand in hand with magic, and you can be faithful to even a death-bound or 'evil' god. You need at least one primary color, however, as faith, honor, and spirituality are what bind Paladins to their duty.

    The Paladins, unlike warriors or knights, are honor-bound to their holy lord, serving their chosen God first and foremost. However, unlike clerics or priests, paladins are fighters. They are his first chosen in the action of the lord, carrying out the will of the lord even if it requires taking another life. Of course, with this, they require the ability to act on their own will to be able to punish sinners even without prophecy from God. While they are the chosen warriors of their lords, they still feel a sense of duty to the people, to peacekeep for the greater good; while they may be non-believers, a paladin protects his town as if it were his own home--everyone is a potential follower, and your actions can persuade.


    Mythic Rare:
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    Rare:
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    Uncommon:
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    Common:
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    The Blacksmith's Hammer token that the Steelsmith creates:
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    (I would've made this on Cardsmith as well, but the name was too long for the token creator.)
  • @ArinSka
    Sunveil might not be good enough at Common, let alone Mythic. I'd recommend much more power!
  • @ningyounk Thanks. You know I'd totally forgotten the Unstable cyborgs. Should have typed the subtype in on Gatherer to check it wasn't a thing.
  • @ArinSka, maybe you make it "Enchant target creature", give the creature the +1/+3, and then give an insane number of evergreen abilities if the creature happened to be a Paladin.
  • edited February 2019
    If only I had premium and could edit cards! Time to. Remake it.
    Yay.
    ...

    It's done. Now, >inb4 it's OP
  • REMINDER: WE'RE HALFWAY THROUGH!
    6 DAYS LEFT TO ENTER/EDIT YOUR ENTRIES =)
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    I don't have time to make 4 cards so I can't enter, but I think it is unfair that Dryads have a creature type when Naiads, which are more prevalent in Greek Mythology, do not.

  • Sorry for the late notice, but I've been quite busy over the week and probably can't get any entries in :P
  • It's now officially Sunday everywhere in the world, which means...

    THE CONTEST IS CLOSED FOR JUDGING!


    I'll post the results as soon as possible, this may take a couple days as I haven't finished editing the reviews and I don't want to give you bullet points ^^
  • edited February 2019
    It's time for the results! But first, here are the individual reviews for each entry ^^ You can find the full card-by-card review here: LINK. Like in the first challenge, I put the overall review below with sometimes those little icons associated:

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    ORIGINALITY MEDAL — Your tribe did something unexpected.
    FLAVOUR MEDAL — Your tribe had a strong mechanical flavour.
    REALISM MEDAL — Your cards looked like they could be printed without change.
    ELEGANCE MEDAL — Your cards had clever details about them.
    *DING* — You get a *DING* whenever you break one of the contest rules.

    @ouser94501 — LORD
    I like the idea of caring about Lords and also something else on the side, it’s taking your Lord tribe in an original and interesting direction. The choice of other things to care about felt a bit random though, I could maybe see the flavour of small creatures as servants if you pushed the mechanical aspect of this further, but the Elementals felt a bit random, in my opinion. I’m also unsure why Morph would fit Lords as a tribe. Overall, I was a bit confused by the mechanical identity of those Lords.
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    @Corwinnn — GEISHA
    The mechanical flavour of those Geishas was quite clear, with a strong emphasis on first strike but also other kind of combat-relevant tricks and abilities which made them look like a tribe anyone could enjoy playing. However, I think some of the cards would push towards slightly problematic gameplay, both in the balance and the colour pie aspect of how combat is supposed to work in MTG.
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    @bigbadbooknerd — SCHOLAR
    Spell mastery felt like a really good fit for blue/white scholars. I feel like you could have focused more on that spell slinging archetype since the ramp aspect felt a little weird flavour wise, and was borderline a colour pie break. Otherwise, I felt that this cycle of card was pretty solid. The only real mistep for me was Last Minute Learning which was a very interesting card but could not possibly be printed at common.
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    @bnew07 — PHYREXIAN
    All your cards had a strong mechanical flavour, the phyrexian theme was crystal clear and transpired through gameplay in many ways. However, I think you set a trap for yourself by choosing to return Proliferate. The “only one non-evergreen mechanic” rule prevented you from making a single card that added a counter I’d want to proliferate (since Phyrexians are tied to -1/-1 counters and poison counters which are both non-evergreen as well). Overall, it was still a very solid entry with good balancing and strong developmental elegance, but it may have benefited from a small mechanical twist (the idea of benefitting from your own poison counters was one, but I think it’s problematic).
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    @Faiths_Guide — CENTIPEDE
    Your tribe was mechanically very-well defined with a nice classic green/black graveyard strategy and the modes weaved into that to bring some original twist into the mix. Overall, the entry felt very strong, with good balancing, interesting variations on staple abilities, a lot of flavour and nice synergies.
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    @SmallJem — WYVERN
    The mechanical identity of those Wyverns were very distinctive and I was positively surprised by how different you made them feel from regular Drakes and Dragons. The focus on fighting was also very original and interesting. I think there is a lot of potential in there, but this entry is hold back a bit by the fact that Blue/Black/Red felt the wrong colour combination to care about fighting. It’s not really part of the judging, but the templating was also weirdly inconsistent since some terms were right on some cards and then wrong on others.
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    @LuckyLooter — VIKING
    Explore felt like an interesting fit for Vikings, focusing more on the sailing aspect part of it. You used it in a quite original way, adding on top of it the battle aspect of your tribe. It was also a good blue/red overlap mechanically. Overall, I found your Vikings to have a very clean and enjoyable mechanical identity, interesting synergies, and a lot of small elegant design details sprinkled in there.
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    @Ranshi922 — OFFICIAL
    I really liked the flavour of this tribe, you depicted it in a pretty original way, I was particularly fond of how you didn’t technically design a single Official card but instead implied what they were about. The rarity and balance of the cards were really scrambled though, but the concept was there and I liked it ^^
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    @Derfaulehelmut — HALFLING
    Your entry was oozing with flavour, the mechanical identity of those Halflings was very clear with an emphasis on a Go Wide token strategy and a nice twist on the archetype with the cross-tribe synergy with Hounds. Both Convoke and Populate felt like excellent fit for your tribe though you were allowed only one non-evergreen keyword in this challenge. I also appreciate the “three halflings” theme that’s going on through the entry, but I think that’s too much to ask and would prevent the tribe from doing anything in Limited since it doesn’t multiply itself.
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    @Undead — CYBORG
    The whole tribe was absolutely oozing with flavour, and it was very original. You managed to depict your recycling theme in a myriad of ways through gameplay. The whole entry felt super clever and elegant. Those Cyborgs were well-balanced, did very Cyborg things, and synergised perfectly together. Great concept, and great execution!
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    @ArinSka — PALADIN
    Those Paladins were a nice depiction of the original RPG class, and they had a clear mechanical identity thanks to the focus on first strike. At some point though, first strike becomes a redundant reward since you cannot stack multiple instances of first strike. Mechanically, the tribe was a little tame, I would have liked to see a little twist that glued them together, the hammer token might have done the trick with a little bit of iteration. Finally, the power level and rarity of the cards felt a little scrambled.
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  • edited February 2019
    And now the results! There is a little twist this round, I explain what it means right below ;)

    — THIRD PLACE —

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    @Derfaulehelmut Your cross-tribal synergy between Halflings and Hounds was super original, and you executed on it in many clever ways. All this needs to be perfect for me is a little tweak on the numbers and I would be super excited to try this tribe.



    — SECOND PLACE —

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    @LuckyLooter I found your choice of returning mechanic with Explore really interesting, I think it made your Vikings very resonant, and even the cards without explore had a lot of cleverness to them. There isn't much between your entry and first place this round, it's just a matter of small refinement but you were definitely a candidate for Top 1 ^^



    — SPECIAL PLACE 1.2 —

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    @bnew07 I have to assume this Special Place thing confuses you, see below for an explanation (your first guess is probably right) ;) Those Phyrexians felt right at home, it made me think MaRo was right and we should have had the Phyrexian creature type all along. Your entry was incredibly solid with a lot of elegance and flavour in it, the only reason you're not in first place it that I'm missing a bit more originality to really make them feel unique.



    — SPECIAL PLACE 1.1 —

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    @Faiths_Guide Just as bnew07, if you're confused by this Special Place thing, see below for an explanation ;) I think you designed for one of the most original (and difficult) tribes of this challenge. I was astonished to see how well they turned out, they were original, well-defined, and your representation of multiple limbs through choices had to be my favourite twist of this challenge. There's really not much to say to explain why I couldn't give you the first place except that there is only one first place to give and there was a very strong competition.



    — FIRST PLACE —

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    @Undead Wow, I found that very impressive! Each card developed your theme in a new and clever way, and everything was very solid and refined. But what really made me prefer your entry over any other is how, once put together, your Cyborgs felt so much more than the sum of their parts. Congratulations!


    ___


    Congratulations everyone, and thank you all for participating!

    Now a small explanation on WHAT ON EARTH IS A SPECIAL PLACE?? xD Because the Top 3 for this round had both bnew07 and Faiths_Guide who were both in the Top 3 for the last challenge, and because I felt that there were a couple more entries that would have deserved some more praises, I decided I was going to add a special parallel ranking for people who get inside Top 3 for multiple weeks in a row. The objective is that this mechanism frees some space for other Cardsmiths in the Top 3 while highlighting Cardsmiths who are doing especially well in the competition in general =D I hope that's ok with you, I'd love to hear feedback on this Special Place mechanism :)

    Now for the prizes, which have been adjusted due to the Special Places:

    - @Undead — Which 6 cards of your choice do you want me to favourite?
    - @Faiths-Guide — Which 5 cards of your choice do you want me to favourite?
    - @bnew07 — Which 4 cards of your choice do you want me to favourite?
    - @LuckyLooter — Which 3 cards of your choice do you want me to favourite?
    - @Derfaulehelmut — Which 1 card of your choice do you want me to favourite?

    Thanks again everyone for joining! If you enjoyed this challenge, it resumes this Friday with the third round "A Circus Act" and of course a new twist awaiting you ;)
  • Absolutely astounding work here, @ningyounk.

    Can I just say that "SPECIAL PLACE(S)" is a superb solution to get more smiths noticed? Even though it obviously required extra work on your end, you decided to go with what you felt to be the best for everyone; most commendable.

    Congratulations to all @Entrants, especially @Undead and my other fellow @Winners!

    @ningyounk, thanks again! Could you favorite my 4 entries and Marr?
  • @Faiths_Guide
    Favourites have been distributed! =D I just realised the periods you put on Scads, Source of Tremors so the text is aligned XD It's brilliant, just as you would expect my brain completely erased them until I saw someone mention them in the comments ^^
  • edited February 2019
    @ningyounk
    I can't take credit for coming up with that formatting trick as I congratulated and copied it from another smith who originally came used it... who was that?
  • I'm still quite rough with rarity balancing and still frequently ask friends on ye olde Discord for help with the rarity and wording. I'm glad I didn't get dinged this time around, at least! Yeah, the first strike gets redundant at times (whoops) but when I only made four cards it's hard to really move past what feels safe. I'm actually making a custom commander deck and so I'm actually using my Paladin cards for it and making a few others to actually create a tribal deck! Thanks for letting me participate <3
  • @ningyounk - Wow, these results graphics are beautiful!
  • Thank you for the awesome challenge @ningyouNK! You were spot on.. I was having trouble finding the right art, which caused me to spend more time on that than I spent refining the Geisha.

    I'm very happy with the Flavor award!

    Congrats to ALL the winners, special winners and HMs!!!!!
This discussion has been closed.