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At the Portrait's Rim **Circuit Challenge**
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To start, we have three honourable mentions - Timely Adaption by @TezzeretofCarmot21, Electrostatic Angel by @Ranshi and Capricious Mage by @TheCenterOfTheUniverse. I wanted to avoid doing more than one honourable, but all three of these ended up extremely close to third place and I felt like this was deserved.
All three of you win a favorite on a card of your choice (as I've already favorited all of the cards) and TezzeretofCarmot21 and Ranshi win 1/4 of a Circuit Point. Since @TheCenterOfTheUniverse already has a higher placing in the other category, they don't get any Circuit Point bonus here.
At third place on the podium stands, or possibly flies if you've gained some life and played a Toxic Deluge, Norn, of the End Chimes by @Damnation. The card's design is neatly thought out, and it does a wonderful job of showing a metaphorical countdown to the doomsday of stage three.
You win a favorite on Norn herself along with another card of your choice, and 1/2 a Circuit Point.
In second place, we have Crown of Leaves // Verdant Spectre by @DomriKade. I adore the concept and the design space it opens up / suggests, and it only just missed out on the first place spot. The two "sides" of the card are clearly linked by the flavor text and trample and even in physical form, I imagine that this would be relatively easy to keep track of.
You win favorites on three other cards of your choice (I've already fave'd the entry) along with 3/4 of a Circuit Point.
And finally, at the top, having fluctuated through the metaphorical scoreboard from first to honourable mention and all the way back up again...
The winner is @Temurzoa's Vindictive Geomancer!
The cantrip spell type seems like it has huge potential. It's simplistic, but you can clearly see the intention and understand how the card might be formatted if it was real. It's also extremely flexible, and feels as though it might actually be a good answer to the age-old question of "How would I go about creating tokens for instant and sorcery spells?" Vindictive Geomancer specifically got the spot in place of Gelectrimagian Prodigy (the other card Temurzoa entered that used cantrips) because I like the simple-yet-complex nature of the card and the sheer mono-red-burnslinger vibe that the card captures perfectly.
You win! More specifically, you win a favorite on Vindictive Geomancer along with four other cards of your choice, and you get one Circuit Point. Well done.
Everybody who participated in this category, and the contest as a whole, thank you. As before, anybody who wants a more detailed take on why their card ended up where it did can send me a direct message or just ask in the comment section. That's all, folks!
Thanks a lot for the third place! This is one of my favorite contests I've entered.
Could you please fave this card:
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/rals-mastery
Also, could you PM me feedback on Life Cylce if that's okay?
Thanks again and congrats to all Winners and Mentionables!
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/aaron-tortured-revenant
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/portal-thief-1
At any case, here it is for fun. I know it don't count, but feedback is appreciated!
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/kane-the-pupil?list=user
Congratulations to all the winners and honorable mentions! @MemoryHead sorry I was late to the contest.
It is illegal to post cards to a contest after it has ended!!
Just kidding. I'd love to see your cards!
Possibly it'd be a smarter idea for me to open up a new thread that doesn't have three pages of contest at the front, admittedly.
Using Aspect by me, designed for godlike figures. It’s pretty generic, but I like it.
- If it literally keeps referring to that chosen side for the rest of the game (even as it leaves the battlefield etc.) it constitutes a titanic potential memory issue. This is probably a case of having reminder text that sounds a bit too definitive and needs editing, but if it literally persisting for the rest of the game was your intention, I'd recommend that you change that.
And for the sake of saying a few other things:
- I think you could have gone for the simplicity of side titles as "Selfless" and "Selfish" without the "Wish" part.
- I question whether the "on cast" of the aspect keyword is the right way to go with it. I guess that it's probably intended to function like Auras and suchlike in that you'll get to choose options anyway, even if you don't actually cast it. On the other hand, I suppose it's intended for instant and sorcery spells, so maybe you should just ignore me there. Possibly the best wording if you've got instant and sorcery stuff planned is just:
- I'd also just like to make the point that you probably don't need the lifegain on the selfless side to be optional. It could just be "At the beginning of your end step, each player gains 4 life." or something.
About the, um, wording thing, you’re right. It should probably be,
It works better this way, but harder to fit into the card. Hmm. Also, the choosing options on casting is so that your opponent can choose to counter it depending on what you choose. If they’re playing owling mine, for instance, they probably want you to cast it on the Selfish side. That might be a bad way to do it, I’m not used to this stuff.
You’re the special frame expert. Do you have any ideas on what the frame should be?
Aspect (As this CARDTYPE enters the battlefield, choose a side.)
This is shorter (which is always nice), it should be easily understood by some random person, and it gets the point across without going into the unnecessary specification you've ended up with.
I see what you mean by the cast-and-counter thing, but it seems incredibly minor and it jars heavily against the vast majority of design philosophy things of this type on permanent cards. As such, it's probably not a good idea as it only caters positively towards very specific designs and situations.
In terms of the frame, I always recommend keeping it as simple as you can unless your express goal is doing something stupid and complex (which it definitely shouldn't be, in this case). I think that the thing you've currently got of one line near the top and another down the middle is pretty good. Keep the line near the bottom if you're always going to have the same power / toughness, or get rid of it and do individual boxes or whatever if you aren't.
One vague point I'll mention here while I remember is that I think I saw you made a card with more than two options. In such a case as that "side" may not be the correct term. If that wasn't just a one-off test and you actually intend to have that be a thing, I'd recommend that "side"s be referred to by a different term (the names "version" and "variant" comes to mind, though you'll probably have better ideas than those) that better aligns with that fact.
Obviously it's your mechanic, so you should always think primarily on how you intend to use it rather than my random suggestions, and ignore any of them that don't fit your vision.
Also, I think I will refer to the options as aspects rather than sides (or in the case of Avatar of War, sections.). That way, the keyword will be:
Aspect (As this this CARDTYPE enters the battlefield, choose an aspect.)
Thanks for your feedback!