Alrighty, let's hit a bit of a middle ground of these things. Thanks Red_Tower.
Week 4: The End is Nigh!
Due Date: Sunday 28thth February (I'll be judging it Monday morning here in good ol' Australia). The extended deadline is for my delay getting started this week, and for the added extras below. Plus, why not take a little extra time to finish off with a bang?
Prompt 1: The deity, concept, or ultimate object of your cult's worship. You saw it coming! Show me your god setting foot on the plane, your cult's truest belief made incarnate in a card, or the famous science-fiction author that started your fandom.
Prompt 2: The results of your cult succeeding in their plans. What does the world look like when your insidious schemes bear fruit? Is your cult leader on the throne? Are the ques for your newest smartphone release stretching beyond the horizon? Show me what the world looks like if your cult managed to remake it in their image.
Due to my earlier kerfuffle, and as a celebration of our final week, we're going to keep the three extra bonus objectives from my previous post, in addition to the usual five. Big opportunity for final points!
So this week create one card for each prompt, and up to 5 bonus cards to help cover as many of these optional objectives as you like! 1 point for each bonus ticked among your total of up to 7 cards ( 2 prompts, 5 bonus).
Bonus Objectives (For each one you manage to tick among your cards, you score a point!) - Variety is the spice of life! Use at least four different card types among your entries. - I've never seen one of those before! One of your cards has a new creature type not currently in use by Magic: https://mtg.fandom.com/wiki/Creature_type - Colour identity is more of a technicality... One of your cards has a cost in it's rules text that includes a colour of mana not used in the card's mana cost. - Isn't this getting a bit messy? One of your cards involves making a decision either at random, or based on a coin-flip or d6 die roll. - The highest price. One of your cards uses the word sacrifice anywhere in it's text.
The bonus bonus objectives: -Well that's not normal. One of your cards has an alternate casting cost: "A cost a spell may have that its controller can pay rather than paying its mana cost." -An unlikely convert. One of your cards takes another contestant's Legendary Cult Leader from week 2, and reimagines them as a recruit of your own cult. -It's soo shiny! One of your cards is silver-bordered, and is appropriately designed for an "Un" set: https://mtg.fandom.com/wiki/Unstable - that is, a bit silly or breaks the usual rules of Magic.
Certainly possible, could you try frame them as cause and effect? The first prompt is the big deal, the second prompt is what the little guy on the street looks like affected by the big deal? Does that help?
Hey KorandAngels, you’re more than welcome to. If you just want to join the last week’s prompts go ahead. If you want to try earn points for previous weeks you’re welcome to tackle the various bonus objectives if you tackle the two main prompts as well, you just can’t earn the top three placement points for previous weeks. I tried to leave it open for latecomers as there’s plenty of competitions Ive wanted to join but found too late.
The object of the Tannarian Society's goals, as well as Ataar's grudge against Kazmagar, is control of the Council of Targai, as well as the surrounding area. While Ataar is first and foremost a chessmaster, he still makes moves towards this goal, and it is the focus of his plans. (Prompt 1)
As for the Council, should Ataar's plans for control come to pass, they would realize that the rakshasa that might have seemed like a bedtime story to many of them had played all of them for fools, as well as understanding that he played them into his hand. Some might rebel, but the rest would go along with the rakshasa's plans, whether they like it or not. (Prompt 2 and bonus bonus challenge 1)
In another time, Taharqa is a member of the Tannarian Society instead of the House of the Two Moons, serving Ataar instead of Vahimgar. One of the higher members of the Society, he is one of the head librarians for the Society's library and gives them wide access to the library's resources. (I tried to reflect the original Taharqa's abilities while also trying to make him feel like he would belong in the Tannarian Society and also a different color identity.) (Bonus bonus challenge 2)
Later Addition(s):
Some researchers from Targai and beyond might stumble onto the Tannarian Society's plan for control of the city council. Those that take it seriously and start looking into the Society's true purpose and leader are eventually invited to a secret meeting with Ataar, after which they're either brought into the fold or quietly gotten rid of. (Bonus challenge 5)
The Council of Targai knows that something's going on within the upper echelons of the city's society, and there have been many quiet gatherings of members to discuss what exactly that thing is. However, few councilors can agree on what it is, and many arguments and falling-outs have occurred. Additionally, with Ataar's reach growing, more and more of the Council are working for him, whether they know it or not. (Bonus challenges 3 and 4)
Additionally, Command of the Council, Revelation of the Council, Taharqa, Master Librarian, and Seek the Head make for bonus challenge 1.
As other people have said, I've enjoyed this challenge. It's been really interesting to see how people have shaped their cults over the course of the contest. It kinda makes me feel like my cult doesn't really stand up to them. Anyhow, a very fun contest all around!
I've decided to flesh out the "flesh out" theme of my cult.
Prompt 1: Yes. Finally, the deity of this cult will be revealed. What entity has the power to pull spirits from the Blessed Sleep, and curse Innistrad with eternal night?
None other than Avacyn. (In case it's not clear about the Aether type, it's because the Blessed Sleep is just the flow of Aether.)
Avacyn, after being backstabbed by her own creator Sorin, vanished, but did not die. Instead, her soul returned as a zombie, and she set her mind on never giving spirits the rest they deserve. She would rid the blessed sleep, and curse Innistrad with evil.
Prompt 2: When Avacyn completes her master plan, the ground shakes. The zombies gather in one huge mass, a whirlwind of limbs and heads. Then, they fuse, creating one mass of pure evil. Avacyn charges, and the world falls away into darkness. No more Innistrad.
How do the Krelli get messages across the plane? Clearly a load of adorable little bunnies! Or not.
Those bunnies are capable of massive feats, often tearing down masses of warriors.
I chose to recreate @MemoryHead's Augusta, and recruited her. Zombies and demons dislike metal, so they "reformed" her, corrupting her soul until she found peace with nature.
One last card! The Krelli connect to Avacyn through Spiritual Arbiters, who are a group of lonely geists that perform rituals to summon Avacyn's avatar.
That's it! I believe I finished all eight of the bonus challenges. Thanks to @TheRacingTurtle for this awesome contest!
Let's reap some more heroes for the last time!
Also for this week I'm putting the set link here, so that you can go through all my submissions at once, if you want to: https://mtg.design/u/TheFantomJoker/CUL Now for the individual cards: Eren, Immortalized Icon is a man who lived a few hundred years ago and became the primary inspiration for the Heroreapers. He is no god, no king - that's not how the Reapers go. Eren was a common man, who rose to be worshipped for his selfless actions that helped to save thousands of people. He eventually sacrificed himself in a crutial moment of the war in a successful attempt to end it. Eren then became a symbol among the commoners and soon after inspired the creation of the Heroreapers. Equal World would be the untimate result of the Heroreapers' actions. They wish for a world where everyone starts at the same level and only those who "serve everyone" (as mentioned in the flavor text) can truly rise above the others. Impulsive Action depicts a much more casual moment than a world-wide revolution. Some of the Reapers can be a bit impulsive in their attempts to find new Heroes and they will do anything to do so. And it mostly pays off. On the card that means either you take a safer route or jump into things head first with a chance of getting a better result. Then we have Melile, the Scheming Lady, who is originally a character by @ningyounk and the leader of the Bitter Sisters. Now she is here due to one of the bonus challenges. I thought it would be super funny to take the highest of the nobles and let her work with the cult that despises aristocracy. In this version of reality, Lady Melile carefully manipulated the Heroreapers and convinced them that she will help them, which... well, she does, but it's all a scheme to get to the other nobles. You Are the Heroreaper is a fun silver-bordered card that shows you what it's really like to travel the world in search of heroism in other people. I have no idea how that ability would turn out in an actuall game, but I found it pretty funny and flavorful. Also a note about rulings: If the encouraged action is not heroic enough, the payment for the ability is not fullfilled, thus nothing happens. If you've already tried to encourage one person and it didn't work, you can't try it with the same person again for the rest of the game. And lastly, there is Wanderer's Cart, which is just a cute common and I think it speaks for itself.
For the bonus objectives: 1. Four card types: Legendary, creature, enchantment, instant, artifact. 2. New creature type:The creature type Hero on Eren, Immortalized Icon and You Are the Heroreaper. 3. Cost with a different color of mana than the casting cost: Impulsive Action has red mana in its text box. 4. Random: Impulsive Action is random if cast with the alternative cost. 5. Sacrifice: Eren, Immortalized Icon sacrifices himself. 6. Alternative cost: Impulsive Action has an alternate casting cost. 7. Another cult's leader: Melile, the Scheming Lady originally by @ningyounk. 8. Silver-bordered card: You Are the Heroreaper is silver-bordered.
And that would be all for this week and thus all the weeks. I'm looking forward to the results and any similar contest in the future!
Alright, without any further delay, the proper submission for last week's challenges and prompts. They come with a little extra insight this time at least.
On the eclipse of the last full moon of the year, with the Moonlight Blade in tow, the sisters of the Silverblade Order commence their final Fullmoon Rite, communing with the unknown entity that sent them terrible a terrible nightmare prophecy. They do not know what powers are at work though.
Quinn was in fact the first to wield the Moonlight Blade, and gained insight into an unimaginable existence. They were transformed by the blade and its knowledge, secluding themselves in the darkest reaches of the world, enlisting mercenaries to keep away any others so that they might be spared the truth.
The insidious lure of the holy sword of the Silverblades brings paranoia upon those that would wield it. It whispers in the moonlight, calling out to someone or something. Dark Moon Calling meets three bonus prompts being: Gotta count them all (hexproof counter and I guess also technically thrall counter), Song title (Dark Moon preformed by Elvis Presley), and Narcissism (enthrall): https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/dark-moon-calling-1
Finally, once, in the early days of the Order, a certain time mage visited them, attempting to interpret they prophetic visions. He left behind a magic tome which he hoped would help them in the future. This is for the bonus objectives of interacting with a planeswalker (Teferi) and a charm/mode spell effect: https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/teferis-book-of-charms
And that's it for last week. Again, major apologies for the mess up and thank you again for the extra grace. I'll make sure I'm a little more timely with the finale. EDIT: Updated the book card because I received feedback that it should probably be legendary, and lowered the cost by one.
Hey @AboveAndAbout and @TheDukeOfPork, this week's deadline is Sunday 28th, you've still got time. I made the last one a bit longer due to my delayed start and mix up with last week's deadline, plus the extra objectives to work on. Smith away friends!
I am due to score @Red_Tower's third week entries though. Their prompts scored a tie with third place last week. As I said, I'm not taking away any points I awarded already, but still giving Red a chance after my mistake, so they get the 3 placement points as well, and their bonuses. Updated leaderboard:
Hey guys, I’ve been MIA as here in Oregon we got crazy storms. No power for a week. Just now getting back into the swing of things. Reading all the comments here and seeing what i may have missed.
@TheRacingTurtle Appreciate all your awesome feedback once again. However, I think you may have misunderstood the last ability of Vahimgar’s Vision. It says “At the beginning of your end step, if you control no untapped creatures or lands, scry 3.” Which is basically asking for you tap everything if you can, which of course works with what ordain does, as well as an activated ability, or simply attacking. Also I’m aware of the color weight, but given that the ultimatums cycle has similar color weight, and the overall power level of this card (as it not only has the potential to cheat out free spells at the cost of life, but also potentially feeds itself) I thought it appropriately costed.
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Week 4: The End is Nigh!
Due Date: Sunday 28thth February (I'll be judging it Monday morning here in good ol' Australia). The extended deadline is for my delay getting started this week, and for the added extras below. Plus, why not take a little extra time to finish off with a bang?
Prompt 1: The deity, concept, or ultimate object of your cult's worship. You saw it coming! Show me your god setting foot on the plane, your cult's truest belief made incarnate in a card, or the famous science-fiction author that started your fandom.
Prompt 2: The results of your cult succeeding in their plans. What does the world look like when your insidious schemes bear fruit? Is your cult leader on the throne? Are the ques for your newest smartphone release stretching beyond the horizon? Show me what the world looks like if your cult managed to remake it in their image.
Due to my earlier kerfuffle, and as a celebration of our final week, we're going to keep the three extra bonus objectives from my previous post, in addition to the usual five. Big opportunity for final points!
So this week create one card for each prompt, and up to 5 bonus cards to help cover as many of these optional objectives as you like! 1 point for each bonus ticked among your total of up to 7 cards ( 2 prompts, 5 bonus).
Bonus Objectives (For each one you manage to tick among your cards, you score a point!)
- Variety is the spice of life! Use at least four different card types among your entries.
- I've never seen one of those before! One of your cards has a new creature type not currently in use by Magic: https://mtg.fandom.com/wiki/Creature_type
- Colour identity is more of a technicality... One of your cards has a cost in it's rules text that includes a colour of mana not used in the card's mana cost.
- Isn't this getting a bit messy? One of your cards involves making a decision either at random, or based on a coin-flip or d6 die roll.
- The highest price. One of your cards uses the word sacrifice anywhere in it's text.
The bonus bonus objectives:
-Well that's not normal. One of your cards has an alternate casting cost: "A cost a spell may have that its controller can pay rather than paying its mana cost."
-An unlikely convert. One of your cards takes another contestant's Legendary Cult Leader from week 2, and reimagines them as a recruit of your own cult.
-It's soo shiny! One of your cards is silver-bordered, and is appropriately designed for an "Un" set: https://mtg.fandom.com/wiki/Unstable - that is, a bit silly or breaks the usual rules of Magic.
The object of the Tannarian Society's goals, as well as Ataar's grudge against Kazmagar, is control of the Council of Targai, as well as the surrounding area. While Ataar is first and foremost a chessmaster, he still makes moves towards this goal, and it is the focus of his plans. (Prompt 1)
As for the Council, should Ataar's plans for control come to pass, they would realize that the rakshasa that might have seemed like a bedtime story to many of them had played all of them for fools, as well as understanding that he played them into his hand. Some might rebel, but the rest would go along with the rakshasa's plans, whether they like it or not. (Prompt 2 and bonus bonus challenge 1)
In another time, Taharqa is a member of the Tannarian Society instead of the House of the Two Moons, serving Ataar instead of Vahimgar. One of the higher members of the Society, he is one of the head librarians for the Society's library and gives them wide access to the library's resources. (I tried to reflect the original Taharqa's abilities while also trying to make him feel like he would belong in the Tannarian Society and also a different color identity.) (Bonus bonus challenge 2)
Later Addition(s):
Some researchers from Targai and beyond might stumble onto the Tannarian Society's plan for control of the city council. Those that take it seriously and start looking into the Society's true purpose and leader are eventually invited to a secret meeting with Ataar, after which they're either brought into the fold or quietly gotten rid of. (Bonus challenge 5)
The Council of Targai knows that something's going on within the upper echelons of the city's society, and there have been many quiet gatherings of members to discuss what exactly that thing is. However, few councilors can agree on what it is, and many arguments and falling-outs have occurred. Additionally, with Ataar's reach growing, more and more of the Council are working for him, whether they know it or not. (Bonus challenges 3 and 4)
Additionally, Command of the Council, Revelation of the Council, Taharqa, Master Librarian, and Seek the Head make for bonus challenge 1.
As other people have said, I've enjoyed this challenge. It's been really interesting to see how people have shaped their cults over the course of the contest. It kinda makes me feel like my cult doesn't really stand up to them. Anyhow, a very fun contest all around!
Prompt 1:
Yes. Finally, the deity of this cult will be revealed. What entity has the power to pull spirits from the Blessed Sleep, and curse Innistrad with eternal night?
None other than Avacyn.
(In case it's not clear about the Aether type, it's because the Blessed Sleep is just the flow of Aether.)
Avacyn, after being backstabbed by her own creator Sorin, vanished, but did not die. Instead, her soul returned as a zombie, and she set her mind on never giving spirits the rest they deserve. She would rid the blessed sleep, and curse Innistrad with evil.
Prompt 2:
When Avacyn completes her master plan, the ground shakes. The zombies gather in one huge mass, a whirlwind of limbs and heads. Then, they fuse, creating one mass of pure evil. Avacyn charges, and the world falls away into darkness. No more Innistrad.
How do the Krelli get messages across the plane? Clearly a load of adorable little bunnies! Or not.
Those bunnies are capable of massive feats, often tearing down masses of warriors.
I chose to recreate @MemoryHead's Augusta, and recruited her. Zombies and demons dislike metal, so they "reformed" her, corrupting her soul until she found peace with nature.
One last card! The Krelli connect to Avacyn through Spiritual Arbiters, who are a group of lonely geists that perform rituals to summon Avacyn's avatar.
That's it! I believe I finished all eight of the bonus challenges. Thanks to @TheRacingTurtle for this awesome contest!
Also for this week I'm putting the set link here, so that you can go through all my submissions at once, if you want to: https://mtg.design/u/TheFantomJoker/CUL
Now for the individual cards:
Eren, Immortalized Icon is a man who lived a few hundred years ago and became the primary inspiration for the Heroreapers. He is no god, no king - that's not how the Reapers go. Eren was a common man, who rose to be worshipped for his selfless actions that helped to save thousands of people. He eventually sacrificed himself in a crutial moment of the war in a successful attempt to end it. Eren then became a symbol among the commoners and soon after inspired the creation of the Heroreapers.
Equal World would be the untimate result of the Heroreapers' actions. They wish for a world where everyone starts at the same level and only those who "serve everyone" (as mentioned in the flavor text) can truly rise above the others.
Impulsive Action depicts a much more casual moment than a world-wide revolution. Some of the Reapers can be a bit impulsive in their attempts to find new Heroes and they will do anything to do so. And it mostly pays off. On the card that means either you take a safer route or jump into things head first with a chance of getting a better result.
Then we have Melile, the Scheming Lady, who is originally a character by @ningyounk
and the leader of the Bitter Sisters. Now she is here due to one of the bonus challenges. I thought it would be super funny to take the highest of the nobles and let her work with the cult that despises aristocracy. In this version of reality, Lady Melile carefully manipulated the Heroreapers and convinced them that she will help them, which... well, she does, but it's all a scheme to get to the other nobles.
You Are the Heroreaper is a fun silver-bordered card that shows you what it's really like to travel the world in search of heroism in other people. I have no idea how that ability would turn out in an actuall game, but I found it pretty funny and flavorful. Also a note about rulings: If the encouraged action is not heroic enough, the payment for the ability is not fullfilled, thus nothing happens. If you've already tried to encourage one person and it didn't work, you can't try it with the same person again for the rest of the game.
And lastly, there is Wanderer's Cart, which is just a cute common and I think it speaks for itself.
For the bonus objectives:
1. Four card types: Legendary, creature, enchantment, instant, artifact.
2. New creature type: The creature type Hero on Eren, Immortalized Icon and You Are the Heroreaper.
3. Cost with a different color of mana than the casting cost: Impulsive Action has red mana in its text box.
4. Random: Impulsive Action is random if cast with the alternative cost.
5. Sacrifice: Eren, Immortalized Icon sacrifices himself.
6. Alternative cost: Impulsive Action has an alternate casting cost.
7. Another cult's leader: Melile, the Scheming Lady originally by @ningyounk.
8. Silver-bordered card: You Are the Heroreaper is silver-bordered.
And that would be all for this week and thus all the weeks. I'm looking forward to the results and any similar contest in the future!
Prompt 1 was what our "scheme" or plan is:
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/eclipse-of-the-last-moon
On the eclipse of the last full moon of the year, with the Moonlight Blade in tow, the sisters of the Silverblade Order commence their final Fullmoon Rite, communing with the unknown entity that sent them terrible a terrible nightmare prophecy. They do not know what powers are at work though.
Prompt 2 was a former member of the cult who has left:
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/quinn-the-first-blade
Quinn was in fact the first to wield the Moonlight Blade, and gained insight into an unimaginable existence. They were transformed by the blade and its knowledge, secluding themselves in the darkest reaches of the world, enlisting mercenaries to keep away any others so that they might be spared the truth.
The insidious lure of the holy sword of the Silverblades brings paranoia upon those that would wield it. It whispers in the moonlight, calling out to someone or something. Dark Moon Calling meets three bonus prompts being: Gotta count them all (hexproof counter and I guess also technically thrall counter), Song title (Dark Moon preformed by Elvis Presley), and Narcissism (enthrall):
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/dark-moon-calling-1
Finally, once, in the early days of the Order, a certain time mage visited them, attempting to interpret they prophetic visions. He left behind a magic tome which he hoped would help them in the future. This is for the bonus objectives of interacting with a planeswalker (Teferi) and a charm/mode spell effect:
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/teferis-book-of-charms
And that's it for last week. Again, major apologies for the mess up and thank you again for the extra grace. I'll make sure I'm a little more timely with the finale.
EDIT: Updated the book card because I received feedback that it should probably be legendary, and lowered the cost by one.
@TheRacingTurtle Appreciate all your awesome feedback once again. However, I think you may have misunderstood the last ability of Vahimgar’s Vision. It says “At the beginning of your end step, if you control no untapped creatures or lands, scry 3.” Which is basically asking for you tap everything if you can, which of course works with what ordain does, as well as an activated ability, or simply attacking. Also I’m aware of the color weight, but given that the ultimatums cycle has similar color weight, and the overall power level of this card (as it not only has the potential to cheat out free spells at the cost of life, but also potentially feeds itself) I thought it appropriately costed.