MTG Cardsmith Community Forums
Make a Weird Card: Base Stats! (#6)
Hello and welcome to the sixth contest in my make a weird card series! Today, we will be making a weird card that has to do with base power/toughness. Just make a card with a really weird ability or variation of an ability, or just something weird about it that has never been used on other cards (that adheres to the theme). I don't mean it has to be a wall of text, or something that makes you re-read it over and over again, I just mean something that hasn't really been done before. The weirder the better.
Remember: For this contest, you need the card's weird side to do anything with base power/toughness (base power/toughness is the power and toughness that it says on the card. It is not changed by +1/+1 counters and enchantments.)
Other Rules:
1. You are allowed to change your card any amount before the contest ends
2. You can only use an original card that you made.
3. Max number of entries is three.
4. No joke cards or uncards.
5. Please have correct MTG language, since I get really bothered by incorrect MTG language.
I will be judging you based on:
- Balance
- Creativity
- Templating (including spelling, grammar, punctuation and spacing)
- Art selection (using existing MtG art is strongly discouraged)
- Flavor (Not flavor text, just how well the abilities fit with the art and name)
Rewards:
1st: I will follow you, favorite 5 cards of your choice, and you get to choose an honorable mention.
2nd: I will follow you and favorite 3 cards of your choice.
3rd: I will follow you and favorite 2 card of your choice
Honorable Mention(s): I will favorite 2 cards of your choice
I will be judging on February 21st, 2017. (14 days from when this contest was created)
Remember: For this contest, you need the card's weird side to do anything with base power/toughness (base power/toughness is the power and toughness that it says on the card. It is not changed by +1/+1 counters and enchantments.)
Other Rules:
1. You are allowed to change your card any amount before the contest ends
2. You can only use an original card that you made.
3. Max number of entries is three.
4. No joke cards or uncards.
5. Please have correct MTG language, since I get really bothered by incorrect MTG language.
I will be judging you based on:
- Balance
- Creativity
- Templating (including spelling, grammar, punctuation and spacing)
- Art selection (using existing MtG art is strongly discouraged)
- Flavor (Not flavor text, just how well the abilities fit with the art and name)
Rewards:
1st: I will follow you, favorite 5 cards of your choice, and you get to choose an honorable mention.
2nd: I will follow you and favorite 3 cards of your choice.
3rd: I will follow you and favorite 2 card of your choice
Honorable Mention(s): I will favorite 2 cards of your choice
I will be judging on February 21st, 2017. (14 days from when this contest was created)
This discussion has been closed.
Comments
http://mtgcardsmith.com/view/dwarfish-fury-1
Mwhahahahhaha your Tarmogoyf's power and toughness are equal to each other.
I don't get it. From my understanding, it falls under all the rules you wrote by
1) Having weird base stats, as it just needed to be a weird card due to something involving base stats. A 3/0 has never been printed before in MTG, at least from my understanding, meaning that this card has something weird that has never been done before regarding base stats.
2) Not being a joke card and having an actual effect that would be reasonable within an MTG card and does not do anything rediculous or inappropriate for a normal MTG game.
3) Having (from what I can tell) proper wording and formatting that would be seen on any other MTG card.
Unless the description of the contest was written too vaguely or I'm missing something, I fall within on the criteria for my entry to qualify. I also don't understand your 'has to look like it would actually be printed' problem as it undermines the entire idea of the contest. Weird cards are usually not printed because the effect is either too complex or obscure. I don't see what makes my entry too out there to be something that R&D wouldn't think up themselves.
Please let me know what I did wrong or why my card isn't something that wouldn't be printed in MTG.
1) Although, yes, a 3/0 has never been printed, 0/0s have, and they just get buffed right away, like yours, so that's not very weird, I've seen it done before countless times. Besides, even if it hadn't been buffed, they already did that, too, in Force of Savagery (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=130713).
2) MTG doesn't have pokemon.
3) Weird cards have been printed all the time, like, in my previous example, Force of Savagery, also Thieves Auction, Goblin Game, Warp World, Unlikely Alliance, Spinal Parasite, Naked Singularity, Conjured Currency, Goatnapper, Evermind, Perplexing Chimera, Triskadekaphobia, and many others.
1) I see your point. Though, if you want to qualify entries by if they've been done before, Darkroot Stalker's ability is just a variation of Gilt-Leaf Winnower's and Imprint of Emrakul is very similar to cards like Humble and Humility, so those would be invalid by the same logic.
2) I guess, but I don't see how that qualifies my card as a joke card at all. I mean, there's huge hints in the Pokemon games that give the idea of Pokemon belonging to a multiverse. (Heck, Ultra Space is a plane in itself and the Ultra Beats technically qualify as planeswlakers; Alien creatures with unheard of powers traveling to alternate dimensions. Either that or the Ultra Wormholes serve as planar portals, like the Planar Bridge literally just featured in the Kaladesh Block), so it's not like it's unreasonable for Pokemon to be a part of the MTG multiverse. I think literally the only problem with featuring a Pokemon on the card is that Wizards would have to get the rights to use Pokemon characters on their cards if they actually did decide to do a Pokemon MTG set. I guess if you want to call that a joke card you can, but I can't really agree.
3) I'm not saying MTG doesn't print weird cards, I'm just saying they tend to avoid doing so for a multitude of reasons. Part of it is complexity and part of it is space within the set or the use of similar mechanics in future sets. For example, Jace's Sanctum from origins was originally going to have the text "Planeswalkers you control have: '{+2} Draw a card.'" but it was changed as that same type of card effect was going to be used in the OTG oaths, and even the oaths didn't take the weirdness as far as that one did. (See http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/latest-developments/aether-revolt-mailbag-2017-02-17 for my source)
Also, regarding a few of the cards you listed.
- Force of Savegery came from Future Sight, a set that was specifically designed to feature unfamiliar mechanics that would become themes in later sets (just take a look at the infamous Steamflogger Boss), many of which still haven't been used to this day. It's a weird card in a set of cards that some would consider weird, so within context of the set, it's actually not that odd.
- Thieves Auction, Goblin Game, Unlikely Alliance, Spinal Parasite, and Naked Singularity are all fun, but all came out over a decade ago. Thieves Auctions last reprint in 2003 and Spinal Parasite was printed once in 2004, meaning that, unless MM17 wants to reprint them, they have basically been sunset as functioning cards. MTG's early sets in particular had a lot of odd card effects as the designers were still trying to get a feel for how the game should run.
The others listed are in my opinion good examples of chaotic effects, and I feel like without fun cards every once and a while the game wouldn't be nearly as enjoyable. I'm just saying that of you care so much about effects seeming like they would be printed on actual MTG cards, then making a contest about weirdness seems contradictory to that goal.
(Checkout the Instruct Set!)
I'm glad you noticed that!
Either you'd have multiples of him in play, or you'd run the other instruct creatures (check the set).
His cost is decreased.
1st:Malicia, Heir to Krovmir by @Animist
2nd: Imprint of Kozilek by @ningyounk
3rd:Marginalize by @Gelectrode
HM: Mindcalm Admonisher @Faiths_Guide
1st: I will follow you, favorite 5 cards of your choice, and you get to choose an honorable mention.
2nd: I will follow you and favorite 3 cards of your choice.
3rd: I will follow you and favorite 2 card of your choice
Honorable Mention(s): I will favorite 2 cards of your choice