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Respect Unused Names
Somewhat recently on Mark Rosewater's blog Blogatog there's been a discussion about the words that have yet to be used in the title of a Magic card. Your goal in this contest is to submit one or more cards, new or old, that use one of these words in the title. For example, "Tragic Accident" or "Undercover Spy." (You can use those if you want.) There is no limit on number of cards, but you can only submit one card per word. To clarify, multiple different people can use the same word; it's just that one person cannot submit two or more cards with the same word. You can pick the word you use, if you want, but I suggest you use random.org for an additional challenge.
Below is a sampling of the words you can use, but feel free to use any other word never before in the title of a Magic card. Proper nouns don't count.
1. Cook
2. Bake
3. Ignore
4. Broil
5. Dare
6. Mostly
7. Dentist
8. Accident
9. Shout
10. Yell
11. Lawful
12. Unlawful
13. Clandestine
14. Undercover
15. Grievance
16. Projectile
17. Drizzle
18. Atrophy
19. Love
20. Beach
21. Freedom
22. Father
23. Annoy
24. Mess
25. Fantastic
This will be a long contest; the deadline is Friday, July 5.
Below is a sampling of the words you can use, but feel free to use any other word never before in the title of a Magic card. Proper nouns don't count.
1. Cook
2. Bake
3. Ignore
4. Broil
5. Dare
6. Mostly
7. Dentist
8. Accident
9. Shout
10. Yell
11. Lawful
12. Unlawful
13. Clandestine
14. Undercover
15. Grievance
16. Projectile
17. Drizzle
18. Atrophy
19. Love
20. Beach
21. Freedom
22. Father
23. Annoy
24. Mess
25. Fantastic
This will be a long contest; the deadline is Friday, July 5.
This discussion has been closed.
Comments
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=images&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwi7jrTJnODiAhVKWq0KHYd-CtcQjRx6BAgBEAU&url=https://scryfall.com/card/rix/99/dire-fleet-daredevil&psig=AOvVaw1LA2JLsH0XMWiiEx9SeFG2&ust=1560301067674640
I hope this is to your liking
Also, different submissions can use the same word twice. The restriction is against one person submitting multiple cards with the same word. I will clarify this in the original post.
Succubus (duh), remarkable, & temptress (double duh):
Duke, bored (Zzz...), & timeline:
Investigative, smithy (!!!), & hamster:
Invitation, waitress, & cobweb.
Costume, cherry, & (un)relenting:
Arranged/marriage, rigorous, & autophobia:
Attentive, announce(r), & ringmaster:
Guitar, kingdom (what?), & pumpkin:
Sweet, prelude, & umpteenth (literally):
Exact, missed, & shame:
Twofold, minigun (obviously), & compensate/compensatory:
Susceptibility, twinge(s), & zero:
Butterfly, examine, & miserable:
Fertilizer - Cheerful & Purchase - Mummification
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand, I'm not going to keep looking :P
Second. This is not new to this contest per se, but a lot of the art consists of women showing off their body. There are children (and mature adults) on this site, so please keep that to a minimum. Obviously that wasn't a factor in judging, but I feel like I should point that out as a quick PSA. I'm trying to make this paragraph not sound like a nagging parent, but I may have failed.
Thirdly, I suggest you participate in my other contest at http://forums.mtgcardsmith.com/discussion/4592/find-the-perfect-reprint#latest or play Vorthos Volleyball over at http://forums.mtgcardsmith.com/discussion/4586/vorthos-volleyball#latest.
And finally, many of these cards are very high quality, but not all of them could win. In the future, if you want your cards to win, gift me a premium Cardsmith subscription. (note sarcasm) Let's go.
Honorable Mentions (in no particular order)
HM. @KorandAngels - Bake the carrots
This is a case where making the card look more professional would have helped in the contest. It's a cool idea and made me laugh. It also knocked out two words, "bake" and "carrots." However, there are some grammar-type errors. For example, Stew should have been italicized, and Carrots capitalized. That ultimately dethroned the card.
HM. @Entitled1 - Spiritual Dissonance
This card does a great job of conveying the idea of dissonance and is an interesting trick to play in response to a massive lifegain spell. However, I'm not clear this needs to be three colors. False Cure is monoblack. It's also true that this somewhat steps on the toes of False Cure. However, if False Cure didn't exist, this probably would be a bit higher.
Your other submission was The Fabric Made Tangible - this card seems fun and interesting to play with. It conveys the feeling of something that could vaporize at a moment's notice and is very cheap but gives you an interesting power. However, the first ability doesn't really work in the rules (since you could still respond to it) and I'm not clear this is a mythic.
HM. @riib11 - An Olden Idiom
This is certainly a well-designed card. It's just that it's already been made, almost. There are definitely some differences, for example this is a sorcery at U and that's an instant at 1U. Also, it looks at the bottom of the library, which has interactions with things that look at your topdecks, such as Brainstorm and cards that scry. Not sure how often that matters though, especially with this being a turn-1 play. I do however like how it interacts with multiple copies of itself, allowing you to "rethink" previous decisions. OR if you play multiple in one turn you get to draw it. If Telling Time wasn't a card this would be top-3 material. As it stands it's still a well-designed card reflecting well on "olden" and on "idiom."
HM. @madstokie - Rally for Freedom
I like the idea of this, that Ajani (or whoever that cat in the art is) and his cat friends are rallying to protect their people. However, here's a change I would have made:
Rally for Freedom (2WW)
Enchantment
As Rally for Freedom enters the battlefield, choose a creature type.
Cat creatures you control get +1/+1 and gain vigilance.
Creatures you control of the chosen type get +1/+1 and gain vigilance.
2W: Create a white 1/1 Cat creature token.
I think this is more natural. This has the added bonus of allowing them to stack in a Cat deck. (Or maybe this is undesirable and you can put it in one sentence to remove this feature.) It's not a big change though, and I enjoy the card as it is.
HM. @Mila - Freedom Beach
I mean, this card would be a great fit for Merfolk in Modern, and would also see play in several other formats. It does convey the idea of freedom to some extent, but only for the sea creatures. My main issue with this card is: 4 more copies of Blood Moon in Modern? Would you consider Blood Moon a fun card to have in Modern? Do you want more? If yes, this is a great design. If no, I'd get rid of it or move it to 2UU or 3UU so it won't see play.
[part 1 of 2]
3. @ElMagici - A Drizzle of Projectiles + Unlawful Cook
I am definitely a fan of Drizzle of Projectiles. It's a very elegant hybrid between storm and the Kindle ability, since it can target different things. This helps to combine with the great flavor the card creates. I'd be interested to see how well this works in Limited, or if this could create a viable Standard deck. If I had to provide feedback, I think the templating is a bit off: "If you cast this spell from your hand, copy it..." is I think correct. (You can't have the copies copying themselves.)
Unlawful Cook - Also a cool idea. I like how the cook is combining all the ingredients to create a "delicious salad" (unfortunately, he's Jund, so it can't be Simic slaw). Very unlawful indeed. I also love the words "Salad Elemental" on a card. However, I think there is some room to simplify this. For example, the upkeep trigger could be removed. And you might be able to knock off a colored mana (probably the red one.)
2. @TenebrisNemo - Philibert, Great Ringmaster
This is a spicy commander. First of all, it has a WUBRG color identity, so you can play any cards you want, and there's a lot of flexibility to do just that. This can be a commander for a value-based deck that chooses different card types at different points in the game, depending on what it wants to find. Or you could have like an enchantress or artifice deck that constantly wants to cast enchantments or artifacts. Or - and this is the spicy thing to do - you could play a lot of tutors and blue card selection to find the one tribal [or planeswalker or enchantment or artifact or creature] in your deck, and get it on the bottom of your library using scry-type effects, or Tel-Jilad Stylus or something. Then, you activate Philibert, and rearrange your entire deck. Anyway, many different directions to go, and a fun build-around.
Some feedback on a handful of your other cards:
Katanas of Bright Souls - I very much like the idea of Champion an Equipment. I think it's a creative use of champion. The one thing is, Mark Rosewater said at some point that you don't have to change much to change everything, or something like that, meaning that when you have a cool idea, make everything else about the card normal. That would have elevated this card for me.
Hamster-Powered Clockwork - I like having a contraption here and I like the whimsical feel. My only worry with this card is that it might be overpowered. If it's not, it seems fun to play with, sort of like the card Stitch in Time.
Arranged Marriage - Three words: Scornful Egotist combo.
Compensatory Creation - A neat hybrid between Hostage Taker and Oblivion Ring that still feels like a fresh new tweak. It feels very Esper to me, and is perfect for something set on Alara. I like the power level and how this would play out; it's a great design. The feedback I would give might be to modify the name? which tells you it's a good submission overall.
Animist's Guitar - I like this and how it synergizes with Rampant Growth-style effects. The one issue is, they're 0/1 plants, so oftentimes this won't effect the game. I would make the card something like:
Animist's Guitar (2G)
Artifact
T: Create a 1/1 green Saproling creature token for each basic land that entered the battlefield this turn. Activate this ability only as a sorcery.
1. @FaithsGuide - Vice, Rummage Chief
Vice is snazzy. Helps you refill your hand after playing out all your cards and can be really insane in the right deck. I like how the flavor text guides you subtly towards that deck, the hellbent deck. This could be a really interesting choice for something akin to the Forced Fruition/Runeflare Trap deck. This is a great card to win, and I have a hard time thinking of any changes at all. Actually, got one - you could change the draw seven to a may to keep your hellbent triggers. But also, it's somewhat rare you wouldn't want to draw seven cards. Anyway, I like how this reads symmetrical but never actually will be, and fuels card advantage in a Rakdos commander deck or something. Proud to have him win.
Excellent Ferret
While this is certainly an excellent ferret, I don't think it's Selesnya. See Khabal Ghoul. (An old card, but this is still black, if you check Mechanical Color Pie.)
Estimable Automaton
This is a cool design, so cool it's already been designed somewhat. See Transguild Courier and Sphinx of the Guildpact. However, it's a cool tweak to make this droppable for only 2 and a clear boon to the Coalition Victory deck. I like the title here, as it helps convey the kind of Kaladesh-type inventor spirit of this automaton.
Fertilizer Druid
I like this and the built-in synergy with itself. The flavor also comes through here, of fertilizing the plants and having them grow strong and become big-boy plants. I like the flavor text too: "Rains may come, rains may grow, but yet my seeds shall ever grow." I can imagine saying that at my opponent when trying to block my giant army of ferns.
Cheerful Purchase
I very much like this card as a representation of the words "cheerful" and "purchase." This is as top-down as they get. You're buying an opponent's card for the mana cost. Except, they can't refuse. This seems quite fun to play (though perhaps not to play against). As far as feedback, you could swap the Gold for Treasure, since that's keyworded as of M20, and maybe find a way to change the hard-to-process mana cost.
Mummification Trial
A fun and fruity payoff for a Zombie deck. Definitely an interesting card to make work in draft in a Zombie-filled format, and you might actually be able to pull of the alt win. I like how each line of the card has a subtle synergy with the next line. This is a bit difficult to process, like Cheerful Purchase, but there isn't an obvious remedy, so the card is cool and fit to print as it is.
Well, thanks everyone for playing. I hope you enjoyed, and please participate in my next contest (link above) as well!
[part 2 of 2]
@KorandAngels You're welcome
So all the stuff you mentioned is exactly, what this card was meant to do and what I had in mind while designing it. It might be controversial, if any format needs this card and if it should see play or if it is a fun card, but the really useful cards are the ones that are no fun to play against....
I really enjoyed this contest and appreciate your feedback. It was really inspiring.