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Circuit contest 4.5 (Mini-contest): Utopia Sprawl
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Keep up the good work!
http://mtgcardsmith.com/view/void-bloom-1
@DomriKade
Sorry about the delay in judgings, but I have completed my playtesting runs.
I picked some of the cards to talk about, among them the four winners will be along with two honorable mentions - I would talk about every card, but I have a life as well (That's a lie.).
Anyway, I'm going to start off with the honorable mentions:
1. Weird Growth by
FabioCcannedbutter
It didn't take very long for me to find out that this card is broken. Even if it removes the possibility of colored mana from a land, it really doesn't matter - Since it is free, you can cast it + a mana dork on T1, bringing you up to four mana on T2 at the cost of 2life - That said, it definitely fit the niche needed for the contest - I put it in a few different decks, and, well, basically, it just ended up replacing the now banned Eye of Ugin in Eldrazi decks :P
I feel like we ventured into the right territory with this card, but making the card free is not quite the solution we're looking for this time around.
2. Exotic Terrain by DomriKade
Played it for a while, and it works alright, but truth is that it doesn't actually do much that Utopia Sprawl would do, except it runs out (I played a "fixed" version where the card doesn't ramp by 2 mana on T2, but instead started out with four counters and only added one additional mana) - The idea is neat and is probably a step in the right direction, but it wasn't quite was I was looking for.
Winner's Ranking:
4th place: Morning Thaw by RohanDragoon
Out of all the cards that I scripted from the contest, this one was definitely one of the two most fun to play with - True, it did not actually fit the contest that well since it only fits certain decks - Namely, UG Gdevotion, that uses Utopia Sprawl (!) and Nykthos, among other things that makes lands tap for multiple mana - but it fit those kind of decks really well, and it made for some interesting deck-building.
The card was just *fun*, and that is sometimes the most important attribute a magic card can have.
3rd place: Painter's Inspiration by Tomigoon
This was an interesting card to play with. I'll just come off first and say that the card didn't actually fit the criteria I set the best - It doesn't do Utopia Sprawl better, at all. It's slower, actually, requiring two mana before it comes online (and THEN it generates a mana meaning actual mana investment goes down to 1, but you still needed to have two to start off with).
That said, the card had a few attributes that I picked it for:
Flavour. The card is the concept of a painting brought to life in Magic, and it does so very well.
Functionality - The card is basically a better Wild Growth - except if your cards reacts to *land* and that it doesn't sort your deck. For 2 mana you get an artifact that taps for a mana. The fact that it is an artifact can matter and it also comes in untapped, as opposed to lands fetched by wild growth AND you can play it T1, then sac it t2 -
Mana flexibility like that goes a long way.
It was definitely the more resilient of the cards, so to speak. It also put stuff in your graveyard for that sake.
It didn't ramp very efficiently though.
2nd place: Evergrowth by Suitribal Piety
This card was actually the card that fit the criteria the best, except for one way. It effectively ramped, could give a HUGE payout - especially if you packed untap stuff, like... Morning Thaw. Or Voyaging Satyr
Does it cost 1 mana to play? Certainly. Can it actually be used as a 1drop? No :P You'd need a enters-untapped triland to make that work, since it requires a plains to enchant, an island to pay the upkeep and a forest to play the card.
This was definitely the card I fiddled around with the most - I made several incarnations of the card (6 different, actually).
At the end of my testing (I played 30 matches or so with this card in my entourage, about ~65 games) I found that the most "natural" version was a version that cost 2 mana (1G) and simply didn't have the upkeep trigger.
So, in many ways, this was an extension to Utopia Sprawl. The best play that happened now and then would be:
T1: Land -> Play Mana dork or Utopia Sprawl
T2: Land -> Tap dork+other land -> play Evergrowth on the new land, tap that for 3 mana for w/e card you want to play
T3: Land -> Float 6 mana, do with that as you please.
This all gets even better with Voyaging Satyr-effects.
With all that said, I had to judge on the submitted incarnations, and I am awarding it second place, simply because this IS what we were looking for, except its unplayable on T1.
1st place: Woodland Fae by Lorwynnn
A bit of a me regrets that this was the card that came out ahead, simply because I really wanted to believe we could concoct a card that didn't have to use creatures to compete :P
Alas, this one came out strong - For one simply reason: Meaningful decisions.
What I mean by this is that whenever you do something, anything, in magic, you think about *why* you do it. When you play a path to exile, you consider if the ramped mana is really worth ridding yourself of that creature, when you bolt their mana dork, you consider if that was really what that bolt should've been used on.
Well, this card led to a lot of those kind of decisions, and I personally believe that is what a good card does.
Every time I would tap the Forest, I would consider: "Do I need this mana the most, or would I need the 0/1 blocker more?" - Because, yes, this is potentially a blocker each turn, on a 1-drop, though it comes at the cost of the enchanted land basically having a "Use mana produced by this land only to cast instant cards", but that turned out to not be an issue.
The card is just very powerful - It ramps when needed, and defends when needed, and for that, I want to give it first place: It does what I wanted the most. It is a true 1-drop that could easily rival the power of Mana dorks in sheer flexibility and potency.
And with that, ladies and gentlemen, we conclude the mini-contest this time around!
Current circuit standings as of the conclusion of this contest:
@DomriKade - 3 points
@AustinSmith - 3 points
On a shared second place:
@Superman101 - 2 points
@fabiocbinbutter - 2 points
@Koover - 2 points
@Cadstar369 - 2 points
@Animist - 2 points
Third place:
@Tomigon - 1.5 point
Other placements:
@kkarn - 1 point
@Mana_M0nger - 1 point
@Faiths_Guide - 1 point
@Cryptonight - 1 point
@MrRansom - 1 point
@Beeswax - 1 point
@Corwinnn - 1 point
@Suicidal_Deity: 3/4 of a point.
@RohanDragoon: 1/4 of a point.
That... should... be correct :x
Wouldn't be the first time I cocked it up.
Congratulations @Winners and @Honorable !
Thanks Grimshark for the challenge! Doing play test for judging is great!
I look forward to you next challenge.
I was secretly hoping for the single mini point, but I'll take what I can get!
And thanks for the Herculean judging effort... that's a lot of detail!
Thanks you, it was my pleasure
I plan on doing this from now on, within reason - Probably by nominating a certain sub-set of cards that are entered and I think are potential winners. No more relying only on "I think" and "it's hard to tell in a vacuum" ^_^
No more vacuums!
Herculean is not the word I expected, hahaha. You're a funny guy, Corwinnn. I like that. I kill you last.
For my card, I think the reason I made it so powerful is because I'm most used to playing commander format and never play standard or modern... and I see turn one Sol Rings pretty consistently. That said, it would definitely be scary to allow these as 4 of's in a 60 card deck, so I think you're right.
I'm curious about painter's inspiration... to me it screams "Play me in a cloudpost deck". Did you test it with cloudpost at all? Edit: Reread painter's inspiration...
It doesn't copy land.
Edit : Thanks for checking out my card!