MTG Cardsmith Community Forums
Modernize Standard Design Challenge
Greetings fellow Cardsmiths!
For this challenge, we are going to put on our WOTC hats and design cards with multiple formats in mind. Your task is to:
Design a card that could be printed in a Standard-legal set that would become an archetype staple in the Modern format.
Your goal is to design a card that would of an acceptable power level in Standard and would improve an existing Modern deck. Since the goal is to design an archetype staple, don’t design cards like the following three which are format staples printed in recent years.
Instead design cards like these which slot into a small handful of archetypes but are critical cards in those decks.
Notice that a few of these cards made little to no impact in Standard--that is okay. As long as your card would not be broken or format-warping in Standard, it meets the criteria.
You may submit the following card types: Artifact, Creature, Enchantment, Instant, and Sorcery. No Planeswalkers or Lands will be accepted.
I am trying something new this time. Cards will be graded according to the following holistic scale (Out of 100):
Templating: 10
Creativity: 10
Flavor: 10
Rarity: 5
Balance in Standard: 20
Balance in Modern: 20
Color Pie: 25
Refer to this article for the most current mechanical color pie article:
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/making-magic/mechanical-color-pie-2017-2017-06-05
I will not make any scores public, but you can private message me after the challenge ends for your overall score and some feedback on your card if you desire.
The top 5 scoring entries will be rewarded as follows:
1st: 5 favorites of your choice
2nd: 4 favorites of your choice
3rd: 3 favorites of your choice
4th: 2 favorites of your choice
5th: 1 favorite of your choice
I will also award 1 favorite each for the following three categories:
1) Most Creative Design
2) Best Flavor
3) Most Novel Design
Each Cardsmith may only submit 2 entries, so make them count! Please edit your original post if modifying your card before the deadline.
This contest will close at 4:00PM EST on Friday, June 1st.
If you have any questions, feel free to post them to this thread.
Happy Smithing!!!
For this challenge, we are going to put on our WOTC hats and design cards with multiple formats in mind. Your task is to:
Design a card that could be printed in a Standard-legal set that would become an archetype staple in the Modern format.
Your goal is to design a card that would of an acceptable power level in Standard and would improve an existing Modern deck. Since the goal is to design an archetype staple, don’t design cards like the following three which are format staples printed in recent years.
Instead design cards like these which slot into a small handful of archetypes but are critical cards in those decks.
Notice that a few of these cards made little to no impact in Standard--that is okay. As long as your card would not be broken or format-warping in Standard, it meets the criteria.
You may submit the following card types: Artifact, Creature, Enchantment, Instant, and Sorcery. No Planeswalkers or Lands will be accepted.
I am trying something new this time. Cards will be graded according to the following holistic scale (Out of 100):
Templating: 10
Creativity: 10
Flavor: 10
Rarity: 5
Balance in Standard: 20
Balance in Modern: 20
Color Pie: 25
Refer to this article for the most current mechanical color pie article:
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/making-magic/mechanical-color-pie-2017-2017-06-05
I will not make any scores public, but you can private message me after the challenge ends for your overall score and some feedback on your card if you desire.
The top 5 scoring entries will be rewarded as follows:
1st: 5 favorites of your choice
2nd: 4 favorites of your choice
3rd: 3 favorites of your choice
4th: 2 favorites of your choice
5th: 1 favorite of your choice
I will also award 1 favorite each for the following three categories:
1) Most Creative Design
2) Best Flavor
3) Most Novel Design
Each Cardsmith may only submit 2 entries, so make them count! Please edit your original post if modifying your card before the deadline.
This contest will close at 4:00PM EST on Friday, June 1st.
If you have any questions, feel free to post them to this thread.
Happy Smithing!!!
This discussion has been closed.
Comments
In any case, nice contest idea! I'll be entering soon.
Come and test your design skills in my new challenge!
Daily Bonus: Any entry submitted today will receive an automatic favorite from me.
It's intrinsically hard to design cards for "fair" decks in this challenge because fair decks usually consist of format staples and generally strong cards. My approach was to make it three color, so it probably only slots into one deck (jeskai control) in modern, and is pretty hard to play in standard where the mana is usually worse. Also, standard doesn't have the same need for broad hate cards that work in multiple matchups the way modern does.
This can't be my entry because it's three cards instead of one, but I wanted to share it because it feels like it would be good to build a Modern deck around these cards.
Daily Bonus: Any entry submitted today will get one favorite of their choice from me.
In a standard environment with flashback, this would just be a useful card in a limited 'flashback' archetype. I don't see this impacting constructed standard as such narrow cards rarely do.
In Modern UR Storm, this is an great 1 or 2 of to have once you get a Past in Flames up and running. Also, cantripping is HUGE as it means you didn't have to waste slots in your 60 by playing a couple of these. If you can ritual, Past, more rituals, manamorphose, and then cast this when your yard is spent or when the mana is running low, you have all but won.
Daily Bonus: Any entry submitted today will get two favorites of their choice from me.
Daily Bonus: Any entry submitted today will get two favorites of their choice from me.
Daily Bonus: Any entry submitted today will get three favorites of their choice from me.
Brings one Hollow One online turn 1 while pitching all of the cards you want in your graveyard, or can be used in dredge to get a quick dredge happen (admittedly may be too powerful because of that.)
Daily Bonus: Any entry submitted today will get three favorites of their choice from me.
Daily Bonus: Any entry submitted today will get three favorites of their choice from me.
Daily Bonus: Any entry submitted today will get three favorites of their choice from me.
Only 2 more days left to enter into my design challenge!
5th Place @Scott_Anderson with Slippery Naiad [78 points]
This card was a well-executed, in-color pie hybrid design that may have been just a little too strong in standard and a little too weak in modern. Great concept. You get 1 favorite of your choice.
4th Place @Tomigon with Atlantis Elite [83 points]
This card is very powerful and well balanced but suffers from prowess not being very useful in the modern merfolk deck and oftentimes just being inferior to cursecatcher at the one drop slot. Still, the design was awesome and perfect for standard. You get 2 favorites of your choice.
3rd Place @KalamMekhar with Future Past [85 points]
The only knock against this card is that it is only useful once a past in flames has already been flashed back in modern storm, and at that point the storm player doesn't need another past in flames to win. The flavor and presentation are spot on though. You get 3 favorites of your choice.
2nd Place @atrus159 with Glimpse of Abundance [86 points]
This card is incredibly balanced which is spectacular. Out of all the cards submitted, this is one I would put the greatest likelihood of actually seeing print in a standard legal set. Unfortunately, that also made it difficult to imagine breaking, abusing, or extracting extra value out of in modern which is why it fell to number 2. I appreciate the use of random ordering the revealed cards to prevent deck stacking--great templating! You get 4 favorites of your choice.
1st Place @TheCenterOfTheUniverse with Grasp at Nullity [90 Points]
This card is deceptively powerful. It has applications in both dredge and hollow one and can dredge on turn 1. I think that this card might be slightly too weak for modern but is incredibly unique and functional in what it does. The only other knock against this card is that black doesn't get card draw without life loss so it should probably lose 1-2 life in addition to drawing a card. you get 5 favorites of your choice.
And now to the Bonus Awards:
1) Most Creative Design: @Scott_Anderson with Slippery Naiad
2) Best Flavor: @KalamMekhar with Future Past
3) Most Novel Design: @sorinjace with Explicit Duplicate
You each get 1 favorite of your choice.
Thank you all for participating in my challenge--there were some great entries and none of them were broken, which was impressive.
Winners, please post your favorite requests in this thread. If any cardsmith would like additional feedback on their entries, please private message me.
Thanks for this challenge and comments!
I don't want Merfolk decks to be more powerful so I'm happy with the card I made and the result.
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/nyxwoven-cloak-5?list=set&set=30243
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/bitter-hypnosis-2?list=user
P.S. Corwinnn has 3 "n" xD
Cards to consider favoriting:
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/wee-seedriders
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/snack-time-1