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Alternative Control Contest
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Comments
http://mtgcardsmith.com/view/soul-split-1
and
http://mtgcardsmith.com/view/crashing-tides-1
Edit: Errata-ed the second card to be more control oriented.
Cleric of Preservation
pyrak
http://mtgcardsmith.com/view/cleric-of-preservation
The word you were looking for was 'Defender'. This card makes your blockers heal you and makes damage-based creature control heal you. Squarely in the realm of alternative control and it adds the cost of healing your opponent to an attack or a damage spell. The reason this didn't make it into the top three is because it is kind of too powerful. I like the cost, I like the creature, but the abilities are kind of heavy. In order to balance it, I would probably make it give +0/+2 and make it heal 1 or 2 instead of damage dealt. Healing for damage dealt isn't out of the question but when you're also giving a solid health buff to your creatures, it's a bit much.
Third Place
Snow Queen
Biblio
http://mtgcardsmith.com/view/snow-queen-2
I was kind of conflicted with this card. At first I thought it was simply too powerful for the cost but the more I thought about it, the more I figured it was probably about right. First, you really need to use this creature as a blocker to get the most out of it. Second, it has a high cost and is vulnerable to normal control (except red damage). Third, this is much better against weenies/tokens than it is against large creatures. A Siege Rhino or two or really anything big with trample would make this a lot less scary. So really it makes the enemy want/need to muster a lot of damage in one attack to make a swing worthwhile, something that very much fits the idea of alternative control.
Second Place
Purohunter
Animist
http://mtgcardsmith.com/view/pyrohunter
I am a sucker for human knights with neat effects and I think you knew that coming into this contest. This card is a nice punisher for the primary method of red control, dealing damage. Red decks will have to hide their Eidolon of the Great Revels and Magma Jets or weigh the additional cost of taking that damage themselves and cards like Grim Lavamancer will be substantially less annoying. This is a good submission because it gives players running red decks a reason to think twice before they start tossing out the direct damage and control damage. It also has a solid cost for value but at mythic (and being a knight) I would probably have given it first strike as well that way it wouldn't be a bad choice for maining in your deck rather than just a sideboard card.
First Place
Bureaucratic Refusal
Kinojitsu_Asahi
http://mtgcardsmith.com/view/bureaucratic-refusal
This card is my favorite in the context of this challenge. First, I like that the mechanics fit the 'detain' feeling of white and the color hate feeling of black. Second, I like that it has different levels of hate for different colors. Third, it makes an enemy have to consider what they have out (including lands) that could get tapped and what they would be willing to pay to prevent that. It has a reasonable cost, though it may be a teeny bit high in terms of value for power. If I were going to make any suggestions, I would probably add {1} to the cost and make it legendary to prevent abuse.
Thinking of all of the interactions this could have in a game is really neat. You can threaten to tap enemy creatures, you can threaten to tap enemy lands. If you threaten to tap a powerful land, like Mystic Monastery, you could in theory pay off the cost with a less valuable land (like a basic plains) in order to keep the mana colors you need. This would help limit the massive number of dark Jeskai and Abzan control decks in standard and the absurd number of delve/hand cycle/control decks in modern.
Congratulations to all of the winners! Please send me a PM on the forums to discuss your prizes. Once they have been made, I will post them and we will close this topic.
I will PM you later about the prizes.