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Circuit Contest 7: Sometimes being behind is being ahead.
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Each of those questions are answered in the opening post, as a matter of fact
Well sure it can be a Bidoof. As long as it has a relevant MtG creature type and has mtg-looking art to go with it
This time around I'm going to be doing the ending post slightly differently; I'm going to have less focus on the winners, and I will instead try to inculde MORE CARDS and the comments on them. DomriKade and Linjam were both very outspoken as judges and we had a lot of great discussion about almost all of the cards, and I wish to share a fraction of it with you!
As such, the following write-ups are a collection of the discussions we had and not just my thoughts. Enjoy!
4th: Coming in on a shared fourth place, @Fabiocbinbutter and @DomriKade: Captivate by Fabio Can't Believe It's Not Butter and Astral Manipulation by DomriKade
The reason for this shared place is that I just couldn't decide; They are both great cards with a really cool idea behind them, but are just a smidge too powerful - Astral Manipulation is stupidly good in blue decks with few creatures and can be a complete blowout already on turn two, returning hastey 2drops or just 1drops to your hand, then tutoring up even more tempo or more answers - Needs to be 5cmc or have small changes to the card. I live for cards like these, though, but it's just a tad too good right now.
Captivate was much the same thing. All other things that can do most the same thing cost 6 - Now, I get that this is conditional, but building a *blue* deck around having few permanents is very easy, and this could steal anything on turn four without any trouble at all, which is just a smidge too good again.
I do like both ideas as a version of MONOBLUE catch-up, though, which is I why I awarded them both fourth place.
You each get the full rewards for 4th place
3rd: @Animist, withVengeful Blast
Simple. Powerful. Good art. What's not to like? Red has a tendency to leave itself open due to the nature of the color, and taking 5 damage is not unfeasible at all. Potentially you're getting two bolts for the price of two, but in one card - Could be super, super good if manage to pull it off, but it won't come cheap. Monored has no lifegain, so taking 5 damage is quite substantial. As such, in the true spirit of a race, the card does just one more damage than the condition that enables it, which is a neat detail.
Simply a good card. Not the most intense kind of catch up, but a good example of a combination of both worlds, one being catch up, the other being simple red burn.
2nd @cadstar369, with Flames of Outrage
Speaking of red burn and catch up, huh? The judges were in unanimous agreement that this was a great example of red catch-up - The wording can use a bit of work, but the card is fully functional, even if not optimized.
It might be a smidge too powerful at instant though, which is why it comes in second!
The flavourtext could use work too!
Regardless, the mechanic is ON POINT and this is a perfect encapsulation of what red would do to catch up, much in the same way that Animist's card does it.
1st @Faiths_Guide, with Recovered Retributer
I'm going to start with the negatives: Weird creature-like name, the text is very convoluted. Flavourtext is too much - Your text already takes up a lot of space. That's it.
We were very on edge when it came to this vs Flames of Outrage - In the end, I made the decision that this card was simply more balanced. It has a lot of conditions, with a powerful effect, that plays and compliments the two colors that it belongs to very well - We didn't have many multicolored entries, and even fewer that really stood out, but this one did - The card requires a lot of setup and is pretty build-around-me, but that's also what makes it cool. Catch-up cards are INHERENTLY sideboard cards. This is a perfect sideboard card in a lot of situations. It's the kind of card that warps how you decide to play the game, leaving yourself open or putting less creatures in your decks and so on. It should be mythic, though.
Well done everyone!
Current standings
Current first place:
@Faiths_Guide - 5 points
Shared second place:
@DomriKade - 4 points
@Animist - 4 points
Third place:
@Cadstar369 - 3.5 points
@AustinSmith - 3 points
@fabiocbinbutter - 2.5 points
@Superman101 - 2 points
@Koover - 2 points
@Tomigon - 1.5 point
@ArienStorm - 1 point
@kkarn - 1 point
@Mana_M0nger - 1 point
@Cryptonight - 1 point
@MrRansom - 1 point
@Beeswax - 1 point
@Corwinnn - 1 point
@Suicidal_Deity: 3/4 of a point. How?
@RohanDragoon: 1/4 of a point. How?
If I forgot some points or counted wrong, let me know!
Any other questions about anything relating to the contest? Feel free to PM me.
As I said, I'd like to share some thoughts about a lot of the other entries, so come back in a bit to check for updates
Awesome work judges! I'm excited to see the additional commentaries! Congrats @Winners!
Just in case anyone is interested, I was toying with this remake:
Sorcery
If you have less life than target player, you may put target creature card from his or her graveyard onto the battlefield under your control. If a creature is put into play from an opponent's graveyard this way, if you control fewer creatures than that player, that creature deals damage equal to its power to each creature its owner controls.
IMO it's a little clearer (though this idea is hard to simplify) and it splits the effect making this a Black and Red card instead of a Rakdos card (if you know what I mean). Lastly, because it is sorcery speed, I think the rarity staying at rare versus mythic is appropriate. Thoughts on the alternate wording and spell type?
This was an interesting card, but the main issue to most of us came twofold.
1) It is basically just Dismember with a slight variation :x The art even looks alike.
2) Paying life to catch up doesn't really... work.
I know some decks that would run this over Dismember, though, and having Artifact typing on an instant is kinda scary, but that's merely conjecture.
Mind Dismantler by @Arienstorm
The idea is fine. And it would fit great in mutual-draw mill strategies, where this could EASILY mill 12 to 20 cards if you build your deck correctly. HOWEVER - it is NOT catch-up. For something to help you when you are behind, it has to affect the board state. This is the same reason that direct damage wouldn't be catch-up either, even if it did more when you were behind, because a change in life in either direction does not actually do ANYTHING unless it directly wins you the game. The same is true for milling. Oh, so your opponent has only 8 cards in library? Well, he has 5 2/2s and you're dead next turn, and you tapped out to play this... well. Doesn't fit the contest criteria. The card itself is fine, though.
Eruption by @Superman101
Histortically speaking, this is called a "Balance" effect, and have always been white. However, we understand where you were going with. That said, it feels very un-red, and again, it does not *really* affect the board position in a way that catch-up cards should. If anything, this feels like a control-ish card that you play in a resource denial deck or something you sideboard in to punish land-heavy strategies, but not necessarily something you put in because you falling behind your matchup. It should probably destroy lands, rather than saccing. Makes it feel more red. Damage done for each land destroyed would also make sense, to keep the feel Red.
Personally, it strikes me as a card should cost 2RW, then deal damage to each creature on the battlefield equal to the amount of land sacrificed this way.
That said, it's clear what the intent behind the card is, but the execution falls a bit short.
Dhravian Thief by @Animist
Personally, I was in love with the card. However, after a lot of talk among the judges, I had to find myself short on a good reason for this to be actual catch-up - Discarding a card (even to draw two cards) is not really catching up. If anything, it's win-more. IF you have the resources to DISCARD in order to MAYBE draw two cards, then you are not really behind or the move you're about to make is the wrong one.
It's one of those cards where I think "Damn, this is a well executed card, but it does not really fit the criteria no matter how hard I try to convince myself that it might."
Unstable Fortune by @Fraziel07
I don't remember who said it, but either way, the sentence that stuck with me was: "A card meant to catch up probably shouldn't start with "Each player draws"". This is a mutual draw effect and really does not do much for your ability to catch up.
It is just a bit too much RNG. Sure, you could draw gas, but you could also draw 3 lands. Your opponent could draw gas while you draw nothing useful. OR vice versa, of course. Point is, it's too unreliable. If you're playing UR, you probably have a lot of draw already, and 3 cards could be a lot more valuable to your opponent than you, depending on the matchup.
RNG is a no-no when it comes to catching up.
Heart of the Pulsar by @Beeswax
This was... one of the more weird entries. Much like the card above, the sentiment we all had to agree on was: "RNG is a no-no." - This card could kill yourself or it could do a ton of damage, but... that means it is only useful half of the time, statistically. You can't work with that when trying to get back into the game. Why play this if you could play Flames of Outrage, for example?
If anything, the card belongs in Suicide RB where you want your own life total to be very low for stuff like Death's Shadow.
This concludes my write-up - Hope to see you all around next time.
Thank you for your participation, everyone! Hope you enjoyed it as much as we did!
You want the card to be mythic due to complexity, not power level. As I mentioned, it's a gameplay-warping card that changes how you play the game. The card also becomes considerably worse as a sorcery.
Fair enough
Thanks again for all your hard work on these!
A new contest will open up within 2 days