Corruption and the Fallen

Hello all. I am a lover of angels and all things that are filled with Holy light (in fantasy lit, games, anime, etc.). However, one of the most interesting tropes is to see such things be corrupted, either by willful choice (the priest forms a pact with a demon), without recognition (the knight is so zealous that he becomes that which he sought to defeat), or by force (the vampire turns someone who can't help but now become filled with bloodlust). MTG has this in spades in New Phryexia (hello Glissa Sunseeker), Innistrad (Emrakul would like a word with everyone), and elsewhere. So... for something a bit different, this contest will focus on that idea.

For this contest, I want you to make 2 creature cards that show the before and after of a character's corruption. The first card should show the character in their normal un-corrupted state, while the second should show them in their corrupted glory. As a note, however, if you want to do the opposite (the corrupted is the original state, for example, and it becomes pure), I will accept that at well.

Rules:

- 2 cards per person. You may also make up to 3 supporting cards to help flesh out the character's story.
- Realism: Cards should be balanced and have proper formatting.
- Creativity: Try to avoid a card that just shows a bald eagle as a 2/2 bird with flying and no skills.
- Story: The chief point of this is to tell the story of the corruption. So 2 random cards with no context won't mean much. Cards should, where possible, have flavor text, and brief explanation should be provided with the post if needed.
- Art: Please do NOT use any actual MTG art on your cards. I will heavily penalize cards that use MTG art.
- Newness: Please submit new cards and ideas. If you want to submit older cards, you may do so, but this will be used as a tiebreaker (where new creations rank higher against similar older cards).

For the winners:

Each Category:
- 1st: a follow, and 5 likes of your choice.
- 2nd: 4 likes of your choice.
- 3rd: 3 likes of your choice.
- Honorable Mentions: 2 likes of my choice.

Lastly, this contest ends at 12:00 PM EST on June 17, 2019. I will post the winners within a week of that day at the latest.

Thank you, and best of luck to you all.
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Comments

  • This seems like a lot of fun, and I'm excited. To be clear, can the characters be made up by us, or are you looking for MTG characters? Thanks!
  • @SammySammyson - I prefer original characters, but if someone wants to do it with MTG ones, that's fine so long as the card art is not copied (ie. having Thalia falling to Emrakul, the first card cannot use Thalia's art).
  • Halea was a cathar in the church of Avacyn, and none were more devoted to their duty. Above all, she held the ideals of Avacyn sacred. Protecting both the weak and the wicked, she embodied all that was the godlike Angel.

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    But when madness overtook Innistrad and the Angel of Hope began to preach purifying sin instead of protection and absolution, Halea was met with a crisis of faith. The angel-god whom she worshipped and idolized no longer stood for the ideals of the church. Who should she follow? The order she had tirelessly worked for all her life, or the eternal angel who surely knew good from evil?

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    In the end, her blind devotion to Avacyn overtook her sense of right and wrong. Halea chose to follow Avacyn, the Purifier, forsaking the church and the 'impure' it once protected. She followed Avacyn through the countryside, purifying Thraben, Gavony, and Stensia alike. Yes, the twisted, fiery blade she wielded burned their flesh, but it also cleansed them of sin. If they were truly pure, no harm would come to them. Of that, Avacyn had preached. And for Avacyn, she would do anything.

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  • @wickedshadow196 - two comments on Midna of the Blight and your entries:

    1. You don't need the and in their abilities. The wording would be Flying, double strike on Cleansing, and Flying, flanking on Blight. Only the first keyword needs to be capitalized.

    2. The flavor text on Blight feels like it's missing punctuation. The text might better read "Midna had fallen to rage after the death of her family, as she had no one to bring her back to the light. Midna caused death and destruction wherever she went." Or something like that.
  • edited June 2019
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    Alasis was a young human adventurer, that was fascinated by the tales of the Kyrax since he was a child. As he grew older, he decided to find it and he began his adventure. It took four monts before he reached the Cave of the Kyrax, where deadly challanges awaited him. He didn't hesitate and went in and actually completed all the challanges. There he got to the last room, with the Kyrax in the middle. He grabbed it, but in that moment the ancient power of the artifact seized him and turned him into the Keeper of the Kyrax, forever bound to await in madness other adventurers, who got too close.
  • edited June 2019
    @ThePhantomJoker - Thank you for your entry. Please note that your first card, Alasis, the Kyrax Seeker, uses art from a MTG card called Realm Seekers. Though that is allowed, it will be levied as a heavy penalty against the card if it remains as is.

    https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=382339
  • edited June 2019
    I'm genuinely a little amazed that nobody so far has made something that transforms and that everybody so far has made a legendary creature their focus, so here goes nothing:

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    Edit: Fixed Foulmoon Fallen's flavor text.
  • edited June 2019
    @RayearthIX Oh, thanks for noticing, I totally missed that! *Fixed*
  • @ThePhantomJoker - NP. :)
    @MemoryHead - the image isn't appearing for your first card (though the link if I click image does work)
  • @RayearthIX Re-copied the image over so it should work now.
  • Bump, I'll create a card on a good occasion.
  • Count me in as well, this sounds like fun.
  • Look forward to seeing your entries. :)
  • edited June 2019
    Here.

    Backstory: (Still have no idea.)

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  • Bump. 6 entries so far. I'm hoping for at least 10!
  • Desdemona was an unwanted, pale child, who was abandoned at the door of healers' cathedral after her birth. She grew up in an unfriendly environment, where the other children bullied her for her weirdness and the noble clerics ignored her cries of help.

    Many years after her childhood, Desdemona studied within the walls of the cathedral to become a healer. Even though she didn't have any natural talent in the art, she was quite skilled at bringing people back to life from the brink of death.

    One day, she was tasked to heal a wounded knight who, unlike countless other patients, appreciated her presence and effort in the healing process. After the knight was healed, he personally promised to take Desdemona away from the cathedral once the war at the eastern lands was over and his duty was fulfilled. After the promise, the two shared a kiss and a goodbye.

    Weeks after that day, the war was eventually over, but the knight never returned. After even more waiting, the bodies of the fallen knights were brought to the cathedral for their burial rituals. Desdemona recognized her knight among them, and after weeping for an hour in a quiet cloister, she decided to bring her love back from the dead.

    After nightfall, Desdemona entered the cathedral's forbidden library, where the pagan books of unholy lands were locked away. The healers were not taught anything that would bring the knight back to life, so she searched for a working solution from the books which the high-ranking clerics do not show to their students. After searching for an hour, Desdemona picked up a book that seemed to call her by name. It contained cryptic text that made her eyes bleed, but she kept reading, for it contained the spell which would release souls from the shackles of death.

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    But as she learned more information from the book, the more it consumed. At the moment when she memorized the final phrase, the book got a hold from her body and possessed her. Unholy glow blinded Desdemona's vision as her soul was imprisoned into the book.

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    The dead now had a way back to the world of the living, and the ones the book consumed as a price would never be seen again.
  • Base Backstory Idea: Gry was a great hero, then he found an evil so great he couldn’t defeat it without making some “questionable” decisions, and all of that snowballed into his own realization that he’s become the evil he sought to destroy.
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  • @RayearthIX can I create further cards (they will be new) on a character that I already made? The old cards wont be my entries when I submit my 2 cards, but I may post them anyways to show where the influence for my submissions came from.
  • @sorinjace - That's fine. Just show the original and how it evolves to be what you create here, and be sure to be clear about what the new cards are.
  • Cool. Ok thanks! I have to find the other card @Lastjustice made of the same creature, I'll post it and my original. Then you'll see why I wanted to work with this particular creature. (No spoilers yet, unless A) you're Lastjustice then you 'should' know what creature I'm referring to; or B) you've followed me this intently for so long as soon as I mentioned Lastjustice you knew what creature I'm talking about, because it's also the ONLY original creature I came up with that we both have made a card for.

    Anyhow, I'll get to work on it asap. Gotta go make the donuts! Lol
  • Even the most common of people can fall when times are dire. And there was no greater crisis on Innistrad than the looming arrival of Emrakul.
    I decided to try and push myself and make a transform card at common that was still playable, and I think this fits the bill. Arguably I should have made it 2 cmc, but they printed Delver so I don't know.
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  • edited June 2019
    My original version of Detox:
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    @LastJustice's card he made for this character/creature:
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    Here are the 2 new versions of Detox, the cleansed/pure version, and the corrupted/unpure version (these are the entries I am submitting):

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    (The two older cards of Detox are not entries for the contest.)


    Detox was a dragon that had a rather peaceful life protecting other creatures in the forests where he lives, that is, until he became poisoned in an attack one day from creatures that Detox had never seen before. Defending the forest and fellow creatures who stayed there as well, Detox nearly died. He recovered though, but through the insanity, Detox literally started to lose his mind, not knowing who was around him, who truly was his enemy or who was his friend. So, he turned on his own forests in a fit of rage and fire, burning everything in his path, not once thinking about his consequences. These days no one dares to come near Detox, for fear of being roasted alive. He is alone somewhere, flying and fighting. There is only one creature that may be able to restore Detox's mind, that is, IF he can get close enough to Detox to even begin to help him.
  • edited June 2019
    Myderious was a great animal, a noble king in his country. One day, he felt in a trap of trappers but he was saved by Gairn , a warrior. Myderious see the pure heart of this men and become the companion of Gairn...
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    But one day, Gairn die during a battle, hurt by a arrow in his head. Myderious, heartbreaked, find his brother, Kalwok , and decide to follow him. Not a great idea, because Kalwok succed to prepare some mutation on Myderious, this one becoming a monstruous hydra...
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  • Hi all,

    Thank you for the entries so far. I'm going to extend this a few more days. The new deadline will be 12:00 PM EST on 6/17 (ie. Monday). I'm on this site a lot more on weekdays, so I figure I might as well give people the weekend since I probably won't judge over the next 2 days.
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    This contest is closed. I'll post the results within the week.
  • edited June 2019
    So, now it's time to announce the winners. First, I want to thank everyone who submitted entries for participating. Even amongst those not mentioned, there were some great ideas. One thing I noticed when scoring though... I loved the submissions that managed to find consistent art to carry the fact that the cards were the same person. If you want an explanation as to why your card wasn't chosen, feel free to PM me, and I will explain my reasoning. Now though... the Honorable Mentions.

    Honorable Mention: @ElMagici - This is a very obvious transformation from a lazy ruler who dislikes his position, to a tyrant. The art and flavor text does a good job of showing that, as do the card abilities. My only concern is that I'm not sure it could be considered "falling" by going from a bad leader for one reason, to a bad leader for a different reason...

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    Honorable Mention: @ThePhantomJoker - Ah, yes. The explorer who finds that which he sought, only to be cursed by it forevermore. The only question now is whether or not a plucky quip wielding hero will come to put down the menacing creature he became. (Is Nolan North available to voice said quippy hero?) This was also one of the few who made a supporting card to compliment the story of their hero's downfall.

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    Third Place: @Red_Tower shows that prayers to a higher power can be answered, but not always in the way one expects. The Faith Seeker does indeed gain a savior to protect those around her (in a way), but at the cost of her own life and soul. However, the creation born from her body may very well be as evil as what she prayed for salvation against.

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    Second Place: @TenebrisNemo with an idea I hadn't even considered... I love this idea of a creature who, in their good intentions, becomes trapped inside an artifact forever. The only reason this isn't first place is because I'm not sure if this actually qualifies as becoming corrupted/falling, as the person herself is still the same well meaning character they were... just their actions had unintended consequences of getting stuck in the book.

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    First Place: @bnew07 - I really didn't want to pick this one, because it was the first entry into this contest (and it wont a previous contest I didn't run), but I think that this was essentially the perfect blend of story, supported by flavor text, and corruption. The devout warrior priest falling into madness and seeking to purify all sinners to cleanse the world. Love it. I am treating the transition card as a supporting card.

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    Thank you again to all the participants. Winners, let me know what cards you'd like me to favorite, and honorable mentions, I will favorite cards by the end of the day.
This discussion has been closed.