Choices, Choices, Choices...

When I saw the Mark Rosewater's teaser on M21, one of the hints excited me the most:
A card with thirty-one different options.
So I thought, how extreme can it get?

For starters, we have these:



That's basically nothing. Let's get more choices:



Still not quite enough...



Now that's more like it.

For this competition, try to make a card that offers as many choices as you can!

Requirements:
1. Create a card that offers the controller at least five choices under the best conditions. (When in doubt, explain them.) It can be in the form of modes, but choosing a colour, card/creature type, or card name will do as well. This EXCLUDES doing the same effect but for different targets, e.g. Inferno Titan distributing the 3 damage to three different targets, or Verdurous Gearhulk distributing the four +1/+1 counters.
2. Unlimited entries, old cards allowed.

Judging Criteria:
- Accuracy: Does reading the card explain the card (precisely)?
- Balance: Is the card balanced for its costs and card type? Does it break the color pie?
- Creativeness: How different are the choices? How are they presented to the player? Is there a "correct choice" in most situations? e.g. Boot Nipper is nicknamed "a 2/1 with deathtouch" since that is almost always the better option.

Rewards:
1st place: 3 favourites + follow (or another 3 favourites)
2nd place: 2 favourites + follow (or another 3 favourites)
3rd place: 1 favourite + follow (or another 3 favourites)

All interesting entries will be favourited.

BONUS:
Come up with the most choices! This excludes choosing colours, card/creature types, and card names.
Most choices (or tied for most) get 2 extra favourites.
The runner-up(s) get an extra favourite.

Deadline: July 11th 23:59 GMT.

Good luck!
«1

Comments

  • I'll post soon!
  • I'll post the oldest ones for now to start the work

    Five detailed abilities will be difficult due to the character limit, but I will definitely try to make a cool one.


    https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/sacrifice-beyond-the-limits?list=set&set=52991



    https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/volcanic-axe-warrior?list=set&set=52991



    https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/mystic-sword-2?list=set&set=52991
  • I think this is what you're aiming for? Hopefully it's not a problem that the choice is random hahaha so it's not actually your choice:
    image
    In total there are 50 different choices (5 colors per 10 creature types). I made it random cause obviously Red Dragon and White Angel and others would be trivial to pull off. So, you get some randomness and you might have to play four blue demons of which there are only 5 in total mwahahahaha
  • edited June 2020
    [EXPUNGED]
  • @RohanDragoon That card is quite interesting! I do agree that if it wasn't random, there will easily be optimal choices. Unfortunately, it doesn't give a real choice to the player. This means effects like Crystalline Giant (Mechagodzilla, the Weapon) won't count. 

    Also, this card will be bonkers in five colour Changeling tribal, if that's a thing...
  • CLARIFICATION:

    If the choice offered to the player is done at random, it is deemed to not satisfy the requirements.

    NOT OKAY:

  • @LyndonF
    No worries! I'll see if I can come up with something soon!
  • edited June 2020


    (Just had it pointed out to me that my entire enormous analogy doesn't work, so that's fun)
  • @LyndonF So that Prophecy thing from @RohanDragoon is invalid then since it is chosen at random.
  • @Fallen_Lord_Vulganos Yup. That's what the clarification is for.

    @Aggroman15 Quite interesting! Let me pull out my pencil and paper to check...
  • I'm back with my second try:
    image
  • edited June 2020
    Alright, attempt 2 at having way too many modes! Introducing Nature's Power!



    This card has a number of options equal to a modal spell where you choose 3 times from 4 options + one where you choose 6 times from 4 options! No idea what that ammounts to, but I'm pretty sure it's big!

    (I also edited Project the Multiverse to be better, so there's that as well)
  • Nice! But 104 options isn't enough to beat your personal best though...
  • Also, the official card with 31 options is spoiled!
    Sublime Epiphany
  • edited June 2020
    The red version, kinda. Just because. Whatever then. Just making hodge-podge of choices anyway.


    https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/fiery-revelation
  •  
    This provides six options where each mode is useful singularly or in pairs due to the timing requirements on them.


  • I think total number of choices is 6 for this one?
  • Um,  @Fallen_Lord_Vulganos , your card is literally infinite.  You copy itself with it's first ability, then use the second and fourth to kill your opponent.
  • @DrakeGladis
    Actually it's fine! Spells are illegal targets for themselves, so you are unable to target Fiery Revelation with itself:

    114.5. A spell or ability on the stack is an illegal target for itself 
  • @DrakeGladis Does it mean that things like Reverberate are also infinite then?

    @RohanDragoon Thanks for clarifying, boss.
  • @Fallen_Lord_Vulganos
    No problem! Of course, if you targeted it with something like Reverberate, then it would go infinite, but that requires a bit more mana.
  • edited July 2020
    Entry 1:

    There’s only three possible choices here, but this is nice and simple and makes for fun multiplayer politics! Edit: The versatility and power of this card is determined not only by your board and this card’s abilities, but your opponent’s board too!

  • @LyndonF Is this contest still open for entries?
  • edited August 2020
    Whoops! Forgot about this...
    ENTRIES ARE CLOSED FOR JUDGING
    (Please ping me if I don't have the results within a week.)
    (Edit: Results are up!)
  • Oh...I just realized that my entry is invalid! Oh well...

    Good luck to everyone else!
  • edited August 2020
    The results are here! But first, the bonus award...

    In runner up, we have:
    Nature's Power by @Aggroman15

    If it's not kicked, that gives you 20 possibilities; if it's kicked, that's 84 possibilities. So a total of 104 possibilities.

    For the winner, we have:
    Project the Multiverse by @Aggroman15

    With a whopping 126 combinations (with replacement), this entry gave a lot of flexibility to the player.

    Now, onto the main event...

    In 3rd place, we have:
    Eye of the Horoscope by @RohanDragoon

    The number of choices is limited, but each of them serve very different purposes, and there are clear situations where one will be better than another. It's a bit janky, but hey, that wasn't a judging criteria! (winks) 

    In 2nd place, we have:
    Fiery Revelation by @Fallen_Lord_Vulganos

    A clear mirror of the spoiled card, but all the effects feel very red. Like the spoiled card, some of the options are a bit niche, while others are quite general. A nitpick is that you almost always choose to deal 3 damage and give your creatures first strike. (Even if you don't have any creatures. It's like choosing to give your creatures lifelink with Deafening Clarion.) Still, you could have slipped this in the place of Sublime Epiphany and no one will notice.

    Finally, in first place, we have...
    Project the Multiverse (again) by @Aggroman15 ;

    Each of the effects correspond clearly to the 5 colors, and there are situations where you want to mix and match the effects. Giving blue straight-up draw a card is a bit strong imo (maybe loot?), but fix some wordings and get a sweet art of a projection onto Veldalken or Chromatic Orrery, and I could definitely see it getting printed.

    @RohanDragoon I have followed you and still owe you a favourite. Which card do you want me to favourite?

    @Fallen_Lord_Vulganos Somehow I haven't followed you before so that's what I've done. I still owe you 2 favourites. Which cards do you want me to favourite?

    @Aggroman15 I'm already following you so I owe you (pulls out calculator) 9 favourites. Do you want to list out the cards for me to favourite or are you happy with me picking 9 cards on my own?

    Congrats to all the winners, and I'll follow this post with some quick feedback for the other entries! 
  • edited August 2020
    Comments for remaining cards:

    @CassZero:
    Sacrifice Beyond the Limits: An interesting card, though probably too busted for common.
    Volcanic Axe Warrior: The wording doesn't explain how the ability works well, and the timing should be on "whenever you attach an equipment to ...". You might want to use keyword counters to avoid tracking issues, and bump the rarity up to uncommon.
    Mystic Sword: "+1/+1" isn't really an ability, and changing how the sword works based only on the equip cost is a brave idea not quite feasible.

    @jaceberlin:
    Ixban, Forest of Life: You might want to look at the capitalisation of the cards -- it'll help make your cards look more real. The 3 abilities are all interesting, and as you have already realised, the first one is much more powerful than the others.

    @Fallen_Lord_Vulganos
    Sojourner's Sanctum: A well-designed card, though you almost always want to choose all of the choices. A close contender for the top spots.

    @Aggroman15:
    Nature's Power: The choices are all interesting, and I would say it's another close contender for the top spots. The nitpick is that it looks like a variety of green effects stapled together.

    @GameQnQ
    Cause Uneffect: Great art to go along with the pun. The second ability needs a rewording (etb-ed this turn instead of played this turn, otherwise there probably isn't a good way to track it), and the last one seems a bit off, even if it requires {w}.

    @Jeroukoo:
    Gluttonous Frenzy: The first ability is quite interesting, but the second one is too complex -- rewriting it is tricky at best, impossible at worst.

    @shadow123
    Premium Offering: Interesting and nicely-designed, but as you figured out yourself, it doesn't have enough choices to qualify.

    Also a PSA:
    Whenever something deals damage, remember 👏to 👏state 👏the 👏source.

    Thank you all for participating, and congrats to @winners!
  • Wow! I was mostly going for the bonus challenge, so I wasn't expecting to win the main event as well! Thank you! For the favorites, I'm good with you just picking whichever ones you want. 

    Anyways, thanks for the contest! It was really fun to design cards for this one!
This discussion has been closed.