Taking the math aspect of Quandrix literally, Recalculate lets you actually mess with numbers to tax or ramp abilities or to resize effects for yourself or your opponent. Rigorous in the name refers to scientific rigor, or the systematic approach to obtaining research results (e.g., doing careful math).
Recalculate
N(Change the value of X on target ability or change a generic mana
cost on target permanent until end of turn by adding N to it or subtracting N from
it. This effect can’t reduce the value to less than 1.)
EDIT: Removed the ability to interact with X spells because of Crackle with Power. It would've been nice to retain the ability to modify spells "that share a color with this card" but it would've made the reminder text even more wordy than it already is.
Technically, all X spells do something like that. Jadefire is talking about a mechanic that could change the value of non-X spells, so a card that says "destroy target creature with mana value 2 or less" would say "destroy target creature with mana value 4 or less" instead.
@BT9154 That's a good argument for not creating an effect like that. At least they're in different colleges with no overlapping colours. Good job spotting that.
@feralitator BT9154 understood the intent of the ability correctly. It should be able to target spells and effects that create Fractal tokens to change their size and target itself to lessen its own activated ability's mana cost (or anything that would be written out as {#} in MTGCS).
Most other X spells wouldn't be nearly as big a deal but Crackle with Power is pretty over the top with Recalculate.
Diverge -- which cares about when two or more of something has happened in the same turn. Formally,
Diverge -- If ... two or more ... this turn, [effect].
The definition for activated abilities is left as an exercise to the reader.
The main idea is that the clauses attached to them are usually positive, and are stuff you would do in the normal course of Magic. e.g. draw cards, play lands, cast spells, put +1/+1 counters. This mechanic, by construction, helps you snowball the advantage.
My entries:
Bound Below: A replacement for Curate -- instead of the possibility of getting rid of 2 cards you don't want (in hopes of a better 3rd one), you have the possibility of getting both of them.
Subsequence Spotter:
A direct replacement for Biomathematician. (also what's with that name?)
Recurrent Growth:
The Diverge clause here is very easy to fulfill so you basically get plenty of ramp with this.
Space-filling Copy: A rare to help suppliment the Fractals -- or any other token for that matter. Hopefully this is spell-friendly since plenty of (un)common spells in Prismari/Quandrix make tokens.
Proof by Induction: A top-down high concept finisher. (The idea is if you get a 0 drop and 1 drop onto the battlefield in the same turn, then you can cast this, fetch a 2 drop, then a 3 drop, a 4 drop etc. until you fetch the most expensive creature from the deck.)
The copying is not only for the spell to work as intended, but also compliments magecraft a bit.
(Apologies for the poor-ish quality in art selection. There probably isn't a lot of appropriate art to go with them. Also, yes, I insisted the names of all the cards to have actual math terms. Why can't math get good rep--)
Aside from being an artistically-relevant word, Virtuostic represents reaching the pinnacle of artistic expression (theoretically no ceiling like the ability), in this case through practice (casting spells of the same type). This would primarily occur on instants and sorceries but it's conceivable that it could appear on permanent spells as well.
I consider this a pseudo-storm ability as it scales with the number of spells cast before it, but in a non-broken way. As a Prismari ability, this gives players some game early on while they build up to their big ticket effects and then makes those cards more than just another "early game" effect if they can coordinate their use once they have big mana.
Harvest seemed like a good name for a Witherbloom mechanic given that they're about repurposing the life energies of lands and creatures. It also takes the "life gain matters" theme from just gaining as much life as possible to trying to gain as big a chunk of it in one shot as possible, which will be the ceiling to Harvest's usefulness.
Reconstruct is an attempt to encapsulate the idea of encasing the spirits of old in living stone as well as recovering and restoring other fossilized relics. Bringing back the "historic" term from the Dominaria set seemed very appropriate for Lorehold even if, strictly within the Strixhaven set, the term can't be used to its fullest. It represents what the college cares about and opens up possibilities for the future, especially with interplanar expeditions.
Reconstruct
N(Exile
target historic permanent card with mana value N or less from your graveyard.
Create a token that’s a copy of it, except it’s an artifact in addition to its
other types. Artifacts, legendaries, and Sagas are historic.)
Thank you all for your patience, it is now time to announce the winners! =D As per usual, I completely ignored my introductory claims of a top 3 and, due to the sheer amount of mechanics that was presented, I enlarged the podium to fit every mechanic I wanted to see highlighted ;p So, we're having a top 5:
Dazzling — If mana produced by a treasure token was spent to cast this spell, EFFECT.
I like how elegantly it synergises with both the big spells and artifact themes of Prismari. I do think that it's a bit too parasitic by caring only about treasures but I believe it has the potential to be an actual mechanic in MTG one day with just a few tweaks.
Elocution (This creature gets +1/+1 for each +1/+1 counter on it.)
This seemed like a really fitting mechanic for a +1/+1 counter tribal faction. If the example card itself feels quite overcosted, I just like how elegantly the concept of this mechanic synergises in general. It feels like it has the potential to be quite explosive.
Pattern— If you cast a spell with the same mana value as this spell this turn, EFFECT.
The templating of the card itself isn't perfect, but I found a lot of elegance behind the concept of this mechanic. What I especially like is that the Pattern bonus can scale based on the mana value on each card, instead of being at a similar power level between each Pattern card, which I found super interesting and original.
Counterpoint — If an opponent controls a spell, EFFECT.
There was a lot of very flavourful concepts for the Silverquill college, but this one takes the cake for me. Not only is the play pattern original and opens some very unique design space that's reminiscent of the old Interrupt card type, but it really embodies the feel of the Silverquill college in gameplay. I really considered it for first place but it came down to the example card which had a slight flaw in it (the unnecessary cast trigger) compared to the exmaple card of the 1st place.
Vitalized — As long as you have the highest life total among all players, EFFECT.
This is everything I'm expecting from a faction mechanic. It very simple in apparence but it has quite a lot of depth and is directional enough while still being subtle about it. I especially like that it doesn't depend too much on life gain since making the opponent lose life is also an option to enable it. I'd be really interested in getting a feel of this mechanic in action. It's a super clean mechanic with a super clean example card.
Thank you everyone, we now have our numerous winners for this very disputed contest!
... Or have we?
. . . . . .
Actually, we have one more surprise winner to congratulate (sorry, I'm that bad at making top 3s)!
— S PLACE—
Advise, Potency, Biomass, Muse, and Memorialize by @Arceus8523
Ranked in order from my most to least favourite:
1) Memorialize {cost} ({cost}, Exile this card from your graveyard: Create a token that's a copy of it, except if it's a colorless noncreature artifact with no mana cost. Memorialize only as a sorcery.)
2) Biomass (Your biomass is equal to the total power of creatures you control plus the total toughness of creatures you control.)
3) Advise (Put a +1/+1 counter on another target creature you control. If you control no other creature, create a 2/1 white and black Inkling creature token with flying.)
4) Potency — If your life total has changed this turn, EFFECT.
5) Muse (Create a tapped treasure token. It is an artifact with "T: Sacrifice this artifact: Add one mana of any color.")
I was really blown away with the consistency of all your mechanics, it really is an impressive package. Some mechanics I liked more than others, but if I had ranked you normally you'd have taken at least two or three slots of the top 5 for yourself, including first place, so I had to make you this S rank — for secret or special — above first place xD Congratulations!
Okay, now I'm promised I'm done xD Congratulations to everyone who participated! =D
As usual, I have written a small feedback comment on every single mechanic that was submitted in the contest. Because there were so many submissions, the document is 11 pages long so I made a Google Doc file that you can access here:
The file is ordered alphabetically based on your usernames, you can click on your name in the summary at the beginning to jump directly to your section.
As for the winners, here are the adjusted reward rates for our increased podium:
5th place: @feralitator, which 1 card would you like me to favourite?
4th place: @TheDukeOfPork, which 2 cards would you like me to favourite?
3rd place: @pstmdrn, which 3 cards would you like me to favourite?
2nd place: @Usaername, which 4 cards would you like me to favourite?
1st place: @Nicol_Bolas, which 5 cards would you like me to favourite?
S place: @Arceus8523, which 7 cards would you like me to favourite?
Thank you again to everyone who participated, it was a very fun contest to judge with a lot of super interesting submissions! Congratulations to all of you! =D
I am honored! I loved the contest and I love Strixhaven! As for the favourites, please favourite Forest Wellspring and Creeping Fears.
I didn't think I would get fourth place, and I'm very glad. It's amazing all the work you put into your contests, and all the feedback! I appreciate it, and I'll definitely reflect on your opinion.
@ningyounk Thanks so much for this challenge and your thoughtful critiques. I should have been clearer on Debate, players choose if they want to participate. If only one player does, they win the debate (no arguments). Please favorite cards of mine that you like!
Great job to all the winners! Great, innovative designs.
MTG Cardsmith Community Forums
Comments
https://www.mtgcardsmith.com/view/rigorous-augmentor
Recalculate N (Change the value of X on target ability or change a generic mana cost on target permanent until end of turn by adding N to it or subtracting N from it. This effect can’t reduce the value to less than 1.)
EDIT: Removed the ability to interact with X spells because of Crackle with Power. It would've been nice to retain the ability to modify spells "that share a color with this card" but it would've made the reminder text even more wordy than it already is.
Technically, all X spells do something like that. Jadefire is talking about a mechanic that could change the value of non-X spells, so a card that says "destroy target creature with mana value 2 or less" would say "destroy target creature with mana value 4 or less" instead.
@feralitator BT9154 understood the intent of the ability correctly. It should be able to target spells and effects that create Fractal tokens to change their size and target itself to lessen its own activated ability's mana cost (or anything that would be written out as {#} in MTGCS).
Most other X spells wouldn't be nearly as big a deal but Crackle with Power is pretty over the top with Recalculate.
Diverge -- which cares about when two or more of something has happened in the same turn. Formally,
Diverge -- If ... two or more ... this turn, [effect].
The definition for activated abilities is left as an exercise to the reader.
The main idea is that the clauses attached to them are usually positive, and are stuff you would do in the normal course of Magic. e.g. draw cards, play lands, cast spells, put +1/+1 counters. This mechanic, by construction, helps you snowball the advantage.
My entries:
Bound Below:
A replacement for Curate -- instead of the possibility of getting rid of 2 cards you don't want (in hopes of a better 3rd one), you have the possibility of getting both of them.
Subsequence Spotter:
Recurrent Growth:
Space-filling Copy:
A rare to help suppliment the Fractals -- or any other token for that matter. Hopefully this is spell-friendly since plenty of (un)common spells in Prismari/Quandrix make tokens.
Proof by Induction:
A top-down high concept finisher. (The idea is if you get a 0 drop and 1 drop onto the battlefield in the same turn, then you can cast this, fetch a 2 drop, then a 3 drop, a 4 drop etc. until you fetch the most expensive creature from the deck.)
The copying is not only for the spell to work as intended, but also compliments magecraft a bit.
(Apologies for the poor-ish quality in art selection. There probably isn't a lot of appropriate art to go with them. Also, yes, I insisted the names of all the cards to have actual math terms. Why can't math get good rep--)
I consider this a pseudo-storm ability as it scales with the number of spells cast before it, but in a non-broken way. As a Prismari ability, this gives players some game early on while they build up to their big ticket effects and then makes those cards more than just another "early game" effect if they can coordinate their use once they have big mana.
https://www.mtgcardsmith.com/view/electrodynamic-expression
Virtuostic — For each spell you’ve cast this turn that shares a type with this spell, [Effect].
https://www.mtgcardsmith.com/view/essence-reaper-2
Harvest — {t}, Sacrifice a creature: [Effect] equal to the greatest amount of life you’ve gained this turn.
https://www.mtgcardsmith.com/view/chronicler-of-civilizations
Reconstruct N (Exile target historic permanent card with mana value N or less from your graveyard. Create a token that’s a copy of it, except it’s an artifact in addition to its other types. Artifacts, legendaries, and Sagas are historic.)
THE CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED FOR JUDGING!
Thank you everyone who participated, I'll be back with the results as soon as I finish writing the feedback =D
As per usual, I completely ignored my introductory claims of a top 3 and, due to the sheer amount of mechanics that was presented, I enlarged the podium to fit every mechanic I wanted to see highlighted ;p
So, we're having a top 5:
— 5th PLACE—
Dazzling — If mana produced by a treasure token was spent to cast this spell, EFFECT.
I like how elegantly it synergises with both the big spells and artifact themes of Prismari. I do think that it's a bit too parasitic by caring only about treasures but I believe it has the potential to be an actual mechanic in MTG one day with just a few tweaks.
— 4th PLACE—
Elocution (This creature gets +1/+1 for each +1/+1 counter on it.)
This seemed like a really fitting mechanic for a +1/+1 counter tribal faction. If the example card itself feels quite overcosted, I just like how elegantly the concept of this mechanic synergises in general. It feels like it has the potential to be quite explosive.
— 3rd PLACE—
Pattern— If you cast a spell with the same mana value as this spell this turn, EFFECT.
The templating of the card itself isn't perfect, but I found a lot of elegance behind the concept of this mechanic. What I especially like is that the Pattern bonus can scale based on the mana value on each card, instead of being at a similar power level between each Pattern card, which I found super interesting and original.
— 2nd PLACE—
Counterpoint — If an opponent controls a spell, EFFECT.
There was a lot of very flavourful concepts for the Silverquill college, but this one takes the cake for me. Not only is the play pattern original and opens some very unique design space that's reminiscent of the old Interrupt card type, but it really embodies the feel of the Silverquill college in gameplay. I really considered it for first place but it came down to the example card which had a slight flaw in it (the unnecessary cast trigger) compared to the exmaple card of the 1st place.
— 1st PLACE—
Vitalized — As long as you have the highest life total among all players, EFFECT.
This is everything I'm expecting from a faction mechanic. It very simple in apparence but it has quite a lot of depth and is directional enough while still being subtle about it. I especially like that it doesn't depend too much on life gain since making the opponent lose life is also an option to enable it. I'd be really interested in getting a feel of this mechanic in action. It's a super clean mechanic with a super clean example card.
Thank you everyone, we now have our numerous winners for this very disputed contest!
... Or have we?
.
.
.
.
.
Actually, we have one more surprise winner to congratulate (sorry, I'm that bad at making top 3s)!
— S PLACE—
Ranked in order from my most to least favourite:
1) Memorialize {cost} ({cost}, Exile this card from your graveyard: Create a token that's a copy of it, except if it's a colorless noncreature artifact with no mana cost. Memorialize only as a sorcery.)
2) Biomass (Your biomass is equal to the total power of creatures you control plus the total toughness of creatures you control.)
3) Advise (Put a +1/+1 counter on another target creature you control. If you control no other creature, create a 2/1 white and black Inkling creature token with flying.)
4) Potency — If your life total has changed this turn, EFFECT.
5) Muse (Create a tapped treasure token. It is an artifact with "T: Sacrifice this artifact: Add one mana of any color.")
I was really blown away with the consistency of all your mechanics, it really is an impressive package. Some mechanics I liked more than others, but if I had ranked you normally you'd have taken at least two or three slots of the top 5 for yourself, including first place, so I had to make you this S rank — for secret or special — above first place xD Congratulations!
As usual, I have written a small feedback comment on every single mechanic that was submitted in the contest. Because there were so many submissions, the document is 11 pages long so I made a Google Doc file that you can access here:
- LINK TO THE GOOGLE DOC FOR FEEDBACK (no account needed)
The file is ordered alphabetically based on your usernames, you can click on your name in the summary at the beginning to jump directly to your section.As for the winners, here are the adjusted reward rates for our increased podium:
- 5th place: @feralitator, which 1 card would you like me to favourite?
- 4th place: @TheDukeOfPork, which 2 cards would you like me to favourite?
- 3rd place: @pstmdrn, which 3 cards would you like me to favourite?
- 2nd place: @Usaername, which 4 cards would you like me to favourite?
- 1st place: @Nicol_Bolas, which 5 cards would you like me to favourite?
- S place: @Arceus8523, which 7 cards would you like me to favourite?
Thank you again to everyone who participated, it was a very fun contest to judge with a lot of super interesting submissions! Congratulations to all of you! =DCongratulations to the winners!
I am honored! I loved the contest and I love Strixhaven! As for the favourites, please favourite Forest Wellspring and Creeping Fears.
I didn't think I would get fourth place, and I'm very glad. It's amazing all the work you put into your contests, and all the feedback! I appreciate it, and I'll definitely reflect on your opinion.
Favourites have been distributed! =D
Great job to all the winners! Great, innovative designs.
@pstmdrn
Favourites distributed!
@feralitator @Nicol_Bolas @Arceus8523
You can still claim your prizes =D