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Entwine Challenge [Challenge Over, Congrats @DomriKade]
My previous challenge isn't technically over, but as it wasn't a super great challenge, I figured it was time for a new one. It's a pretty simple challenge: submit exactly one card, new or old, with entwine. Examples from real Magic:
That's about it. Remember to keep your cards simple and elegant. Deadline is Sunday, September 15.
That's about it. Remember to keep your cards simple and elegant. Deadline is Sunday, September 15.
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Comments
Aka How many different mechanics can I throw on a card to be flavorful
And another one:
Ok, my entry is Elven Master Tracker then. I'll leave the other one her so you can just... look at it and take inspiration?
@DomriKade - Viper's Guile
@ThePhantomJoker - Elven Master Tracker
@Flameice2 - Daewai's Sand Collapse
@Jonteman93 - Unfaltering Stance
@MemoryHead - Vile Supplanter
@sorinjace - Unruly Tempest
@Vert - Arisaka, Soulfire Mountain
@Keternips - Beginning of the End
@LyndonF - Liliana's Guile
@stormbreath - Ravings of Madmen
@SteampunkDragon - Exponential Experiments
@DeepSky - Acid Mist
@TenebrisNemo - Peculiar Encounter
@Credius - Skyshroud Concordia
My plan is to do a top 5, with the others making up my Mentions, Dishonorable or Honorable (MDOHs) list so I can provide feedback.
Please tell me now if there are any mistakes.
1. A couple people have given me cards with entwine on permanents as enters-the-battlefield triggers. I'm not sure if this works within the rules, but I'll just say it does to be fair to people that submitted such cards.
2. A litmus test I used to grade a lot of these cards was, "Is there a connection between these abilities, mechanical or flavorful?" I know there are real entwine cards without a major connection, but I found that my favorite cards tended to have a synergy between the two abilities. So that's some feedback I would give across the board.
3. Obviously, there can only be one winner, but a lot of the cards were really fantastic, and you should all keep constructing Magic cards. There are two basic parts to card design: idea and execution. Each of these cards had either a great idea or a great execution, which is more than I can say for most contests. In short, don't be discouraged.
So let's get to it:
Mentions, Dishonorable or Honorable (MDOHs) - in no particular order
MDOH. @Vert - Arisaka, Soulfire Mountain
This is an example of a card with some interesting ideas going on, but many technical problems that unfortunately dethrone the card. For instance, you play lands, not cast them. Also, any card with type Plains automatically taps for white, and type Mountain automatically taps for red. Additionally, the ability that activates once per turn could just be a tap ability and you could give the creature vigilance. Anyway, I like where the card is going - having a creature that taps for mana, and the tension with time and whatnot. But you do have some technical issues that should be resolved.
MDOH. @Credius - Skyshroud Concordia
This card is quite well-balanced and well-costed. It's also very elegant, which I appreciate, that many other cards didn't do. However, I also noticed some flaws. The first is the one I talked about in the description above: the two abilities don't have inherent synergy, so it's not really an entwine card - just a choose-one card that you added entwine to. So I'd like to see more synergy. Also, this card could be mono-blue, and I don't see why it isn't. I overall liked your execution: this card design is essentially printable.
MDOH. @Flameice2 - Daewai's Sand Collapse
This is a super cool idea, and I like where it's going. There are just two minor tweaks I noticed that, in my opinion, you need to make:
1. Cards resolve from top to bottom. Therefore, entwining this card doesn't actually save your creatures, since they are destroyed before they have a chance to regenerate. (Note that if the removal was damage-based, the creatures die to state-based effects after the spell resolves, so they have a chance to regenerate, but that's not true in the current incarnation.) So reverse the order of the abilities.
2. Entwined, this feels more black than colorless-y. So I would make the entwine cost black.
Otherwise, this is an amazing idea, and I really appreciate the utility of this card - it can be a boardwipe, an emergency defense spell, or a one-sided boardwipe.
MDOH. @ThePhantomJoker - Elven Master Tracker
I love how this card has four keywords that are all flavorful for this kind of creature.(though I would add forestwalk (though I know it's no longer evergreen) and hexproof while you're at it). This really captures the feel of an exploring scout, and this is a good card design. What I don't get is why the entwine cost is hybrid. Yeah, I think it's in color pie, but it just feels random and off to me. That's really the only issue I see with the card, though - otherwise it did what it needed to do.
MDOH. @sorinjace - Unruly Tempest
This card is definitely costed right and is fair gameplay-wise, and a card that would likely have a positive impact on the Standard/Limited scene. So why is it in the MDOH section? Because I didn't feel like the abilities connected to each other. Drawing cards and bouncing permanents don't synergize (in fact, if anything, they do the opposite) and drawing cards doesn't really feel much like an unruly tempest anyway. (There might be a flavor explanation, but I can't think of it.) Anyway, as noted in this card's comment section, great execution. I don't really have much to say about that. But I just didn't think the card's abilities were a good use of entwine.
MDOH. @Keternips - Beginning of the End
This is a great idea, flickering a creature right before a boardwipe as to save it, while also having the extra utility to just boardwipe, or just flicker a creature, if you don't feel like entwining it. This is an example of the type of synergy that I'm talking about. I do have two minor gripes with it. Firstly, the flicker effect is overcosted if you don't entwine, so I suggest you make it flicker two creatures or something. A good choice card in general both has choices you want. Secondly, boardwiping is mono-white, and so is flickering, so I'd like to see this as mono-white with blue entwine, though the current incarnation kind of works. I do appreciate where this is going, and like how you flavored this card.
(Part 1 of 2)
MDOH. @DeepSky - Acid Mist
I am a big fan of the scaling-based-on-black mana spent. The really innovative part is that if you don't entwine it, it has to be 2, but if you do, it can be anywhere from 3 to 7, which I thought was a cool touch. We're getting to the point where my issue is less of a flaw and more of a stylistic difference. I would have created a mechanical connection between the modes by making the second mode an effect that scaled based on the number of mana you spend of the other color, creating a spicier choice for entwine. For instance, you could change the card to blue-black and make the other effect "Draw a card for each blue mana you spent to cast this spell." There are many ways you could have done this, and yours certainly has its advantages (more logical flavor, room for reminder text), though I would have probably executed it differently. Great design.
MDOH. @LyndonF - Liliana's Guile
This card is a well-executed spinoff of Kaya's Guile, from Modern Horizons. The abilities definitely capture the spirit of Liliana Vess. The only reason it's not higher than it is is that I feel that it needs more spice and creativity - the card is a bit generic. That said, execution is perfect - costed right, abilities are elegant and fitting of Liliana, so high marks there. This is a top-notch card.
MDOH. @stormbreath - Ravings of Madmen
Similar to the previous card, here the execution is very nice, but it needs more spice. Both modes are something one might do if they are mad, the entwine cost is fair, and the abilities have equal power level. I applaud you on that. But the abilities feel generic - they're not unique and don't entwine in a way that's interesting. However, I do appreciate all the hard work you took into balancing this card - it's not lost on me, as this card is pretty darn close to the top 5.
5. @Jonteman - Unfaltering Stance
When I first examined this card, I put it in the category with Liliana's Guile and Ravings of Madmen: very well executed, but with generic white defensive modes that entwine randomly. However, I looked closer. I realized that the abilities connect flavorfully in a pretty intriguing way. When a creature has an unfaltering stance, one of three things might happen. That creature may be able to defend itself from onslaught with its shield, that creature might be able to protect the planeswalker controlling the creature from the oncoming army, or both might happen, and though the abilities don't synergize mechanically, I really like the flavorful direction here - it's something I could picture happening in a fantasy battle.
4. @SteampunkDragon - Exponential Experiments
This is a very innovative card. Acid Mist above scales when you entwine it, and this does the same, but in a way that's different and a bit cleaner. This card has a lot of mechanical opportunities here, and this card has a tremendous amount of flexibility, as to be interesting in gameplay - yet I don't think it would be overwhelming. So this is a very well-designed submission. If I had to find a flaw, it's somewhat complicated, but there's no obvious way to remedy that, so I consider it fourth-place material.
3. @TenebrisNemo - Peculiar Encounter
This is what I was looking for out of this challenge. Two abilities that combine mechanically in a way that makes entwining it feel clever (for noobs at least), and both appropriately costed for the price. I realize this card was (along with Liliana's Guile) created for the signature spell challenge as the signature spell of Tamiyo, the Moon Sage. I think this submission was a great submission there, and it's a great one here as well. Good job!
2. @MemoryHead - Vile Supplanter
Whereas most submissions had the entwine abilities synergize with each other, this has the abilities synergizing with the entwine cost, and that's really cool. The decisions involved in the casting of this card seem interesting to casual and competitive players alike, and this card could be an interesting player in whatever environment it's in.
1. @DomriKade - Viper's Guile
"For example, if we made a 1/1 creature with deathtouch and ETB fight, we were essentially making Murder, and we knew that was wrong."
-Mark Rosewater
It's not wrong anymore, Mark Rosewater. Not anymore.
(Part 2 of 2)
http://forums.mtgcardsmith.com/discussion/4756/mechanic-mix-match-challenge#latest