[RESULTS] CUSTOM-START 2: A random design challenge

Hello everyone!  =D

We're in the middle of spoilers season for the second iteration of Jumpstart, so I figured it's the perfect time to launch the second edition of my special Customstart challenge!


Like last time, the rules of this design challenge ressemble cracking packs in Jumpstart:

1) You always have to design FOUR cards: a common, an uncommon, a rare and a mythic rare.
2) You open two random packs that give you restrictions to follow. Here are the steps:
  • STEP 1: Signal to me that you want to participate in the comments.
  • STEP 2: You will receive three "DESIGN" packs and three "FLAVOR" packs to choose from.
  • STEP 3: Choose one of the three DESIGN packs based on the word hint on it. I will reply with the front face of the pack you've chosen. It will give you mechanical restrictions for your designs, including a general theme you have to respect while designing all four cards, and three additional challenges you have to fit in your designs. You can distribute the three challenges among your four cards as you wish, including tackling multiple challenges on the same card.
  • STEP 4: Choose one of the three FLAVOR packs based on the illustration hint on it. I will reply with the front face of the pack you've chosen. It will give you flavour restrictions for your designs, including a general theme and three colours you are allowed to use. The colour identity of your four cards can only use those three colours. You don't have to use all the colours of your pack.
3) Watch out! Packs have a rarity attached to them. The highest the rarity you pick, the harder the challenge will be. No refunds, so don't pick a Mythic pack unless you want a head-scratcher! ;)

Additional rules:
  • Ask for your packs in the comment section, then design four cards — one for each rarity
  • You can use any mechanic you like in your entries
  • Old cards are allowed as long as they respect the restrictions of your packs
  • Each participant can enter up to three times (but you must finish packs before opening more)
  • The deadline is on Sunday, August 15th
  • REWARDS:
— 1st place will receive 5 favourite of their choice
— 2nd place will receive 3 favourites of their choice
— 3rd place will receive 1 favourite of their choice


__________


And to start things up, here are the first three batches of packs. The first person who wants to enter the contest can claim one DESIGN pack and one FLAVOUR pack from the first batch. If you want to enter but someone already claimed packs from the first batch before you in the comment section, choose your packs from the second batch of packs instead, and so on.

BATCH #1





BATCH #2





BATCH #3




If there are no more batches left, manifest yourself in the comment section and I will give you a batch of packs reserved at your name. For your information, I live in France so my apologies in advance if you have to wait a bit before receiving your packs, it might be the middle of the night for me xD
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Comments

  • P.S. Here's an explanation on what the rarity of the packs means:

    DESIGN PACKS:

    • Common: Mechanical themes with many examples of archetypes in the game.
    • Uncommon: Mechanical themes about relatively niche aspects of the game.
    • Rare: Mechanical themes about rare effects in the game. Because of this, designing lower rarity cards for them requires to be especially creative.
    • Mythic: The theme is something a bit crazy that requires more work than normal to design and requires a few innovations.

    FLAVOUR PACKS:

    • Common: Well-defined themes that are used by many existing cards.
    • Uncommon: Abstract themes that are used by fewer existing cards, or don't have an existing representation in MTG yet.
    • Rare: Instead of giving you a general theme, those packs give you a very specific element that has to appear in the illustration of every card.
    • Mythic: Those packs mess with the colours you are allowed to design with, they won't give you a nice clean set of three colours like the rest of the packs.
  • I'll choose Regiment and #16 from the first batch.
  • AboveAndAbout

    You caught me right before I went to bed! x) Here are your packs:

    Your design pack is Regiment:


     

    This is a Go Wide pack! :)
    And here's flavour pack #16:

     

    A science pack in Jeskai colours, no black or green allowed ;)

    Here you have it, that's an interesting combination, you're going to have to design some kind of technologic deck where every card must increase the number of creatures you control! Don't forget you must design four cards, one for each rarity. Good luck! :)
  • I'll take Divergent and #21 from the second batch.
  • edited July 2021
    @Aggroman15

    Good morning! Sorry to keep you waiting, it's time to crack those packs open:

    Oooh, I see you like adventure— or maybe suffering? ;p — and decided on a Mythic pack x) Let's see what Divergent is about:

     

    It's an alternative frame pack! I'm forcing three of the alternative frame: saga, adventure and split, but the fourth one must also be an alternative frame and is up to you to decide. Since those frames aren't on the site, tell me if you need help putting the cards together in the correct frames!

    As for the flavour pack #21:

     

    It's a tribal pack about sea people in Sultai colours, no white or red allowed!

    That's a very open combination of packs, don't forget you must design four cards (one for each rarity) and don't hesitate to ask if you need help with the alternative frames. Good luck! =D

    ___

    For the next person who wishes to enter, batch #3 in the introduction is still up for the taking :)
  • edited July 2021
    @ningyounk I'll take accident and #19 from the third batch.
  • edited July 2021
    IzItTru

    You got it! Here are your two packs:

     

    This is a Randomness pack! You'll notice it features the freshly-introduced die roll mechanic (no need to bother with an alternate frame for it, I'm not even sure that one's available yet) ^^

     

    And for your flavour pack, Horror Movies in the colours of Sultai! You don't have access to red (or white), which is the principal colour for randomness so this should be interesting x) And remember, design four cards, one of each rarity.

    Wish you luck! =D


    ___


    The next person who wants to participate can claim two packs from the following batch (1 design + 1 flavour):


  • edited July 2021
    I'll join!

    I'll take Signature and #33

    Will mechanics from Historic Masters be allowed?
  • edited July 2021
    @Temurzoa

    Welcome! Absolutely, you can design cards with the new digital-only mechanics if you like :) And here are your two packs (you went for the most challenging combination I see ;p)

     

    Your design pack is all about card names! You're going to need to find a way to make them matter in all four cards you design (one for each rarity). As for the flavour of those cards:

     

    Your flavour pack is all about detective stories, a really intriguing combination of flavour with the name pack, I'm curious to see how you mix the two :) You only have access to Grixis colours at most, no white or green allowed.

    Good luck with your entry! =)


    _____

    The next person who wants to enter can claim one design pack and one flavour pack from the following batch:


  • Well I thought this would be an easy challenge, then I realized I had to mix the packs! This will be a head-scratcher for sure
  • Finished it up! 

    While searching for common ground between the packs, I decided Clues and Investigate would be the glue that held the disparate ideas together. This pack is Blue/Red aggressive tempo with cheap creatures to apply pressure and Clue mechanics to keep the evidence (and cards!) flowing.

    At Her Majestys Behest

    Intrepid Reporters are not only the bread and butter of many detective stories, they also are what holds the deck together with quick beats and Clue generation. The key name for all my cards is Clue.

    At Her Majestys Behest

    Suspicious Butler only checks off the criteria of mentioning Clues, but still is great midgame filler to keep the opponent off-tempo and make sure the sleuthing never stops.

    At Her Majestys Behest

    Mounting Evidence both counts things with a specific name (Clues) and cares about things having the same name (Clues). It's a classic Rare payoff for an archetype.

    At Her Majestys Behest

    In my ideal world, mythic are not so much splashy standalone bombs as they are displays of complex and intriguing game design. Shilok obviously is designed for commander, like the other legendary creatures for Jumpstart, and offers several directions such as topdeck manipulation, Clues, politics, artifact tokens, card draw, draw-go, and more. More importantly for this challenge, it's a card that lets you choose a card name

    Let me know what you think! I would love to move up in difficulty, but I want to make sure I can actually execute "easier" prerequisites. Thanks for putting together this contest, it was a lot of fun theory crafting
  • edited August 2021
    @Temurzoa

    Hello! I'm super sorry, there seems to have been a misunderstanding on the Design pack concept >.< The "name" word that has to appear on each card of your entry and is literally the word "name", like a card name. I'm super sorry if it wasn't clear, it didn't occur to me it might have been interpreted as "Choose a key name". To clarify, here are examples of cards that fits the "name-matters" theme: 



    Technically, only the Mythic rare has the word "name" on it :/ 
    I understand you've already put efforts into this submission and the misunderstanding probably stemmed from the prompt not being clear enough so I apologise. I'll leave you with two options:
    1. If you're feeling it, you can try to redo the first three cards by making sure they have the actual word "name" in their rules text.
    2. I can make an exception and go with your interpretation of the prompt, in this case, let's just say I'll judge it as if the prompt said you may choose a single word and must use it on every card.
  • edited August 2021
    @ningyounk Ooh we! Electric Boogaloo! Thanks for putting in the effort to do this once more!

    I'll take the 'Duel' design pack (crossing my fingers that it'll be the Clash mechanic from Lorwyn block),
    and I'll take the '#01' flavour pack (because Empyrean Eagle is one of my favorite cards of all time).
  • I think taking two common packs will be a nice change of pace compared to what I got into last time... XD
  • edited August 2021
    @HeroKP

    Haha, yeah you picked the Mythic double-faced pack, didn't you x) Nope, the clash mechanic is a bit too niche for a common pack I'm afraid; Instead, your design pack is...

     

    A combat pack! Attacking, blocking, changing power and toughness or giving combat-relevant abilities: Anything that gives you an edge in combat is fair game. Also, to clarify, what I call a pump spell is anything that increases the stats of creatures. The poster child effect is "gets +N/+N until end of turn" but I will accept +1/+1 counters, auras, equipments, etc. And to go with it, your flavour pack is:

     

    A sky pack! Make sure everything is happening high in the sky on all your cards! =D No red or green allowed and don't forget to design one card for each rarity.

    I wish you luck =D

    _____

    The next participant can choose a pack from this batch:


  • @ningyounk

    This will be a blast to work on. : )
  • @ningyounk, I'll keep the design train moving and go with the 2nd interpretation. For the future, I'll make sure to clarify my ideas before I submit!

    Can I take Technician and #46 for the next ones?
  • @Temurzoa I believe that, at least last time, it was one go per person.

    Maybe @ningyounk's going to allow it this time, though.
  • edited August 2021
    @Temurzoa

    Ok, let's try another batch then ^^

    Here is your new Design pack, Technician: 

     

    This in an activated ability pack. To be clear, all four cards from common to Mythic must have an activated ability (which must not be confused with triggered ability) or care about activated ability as-in having the actual word "activated ability" on it (e.g. Biomancer's Familiar). Caring about one specific keyworded activated ability doesn't count. The first challenge "caring about activated abilities" is a particularly niche design space so I want to clarify that it's not just about preventing activation, for instance, but I'm looking for something more in the vein of caring about whenever you activate an activated ability or boosting permanents with activated abilities, for instance.

    And for the flavour of the cards...

     

    Prisons & Cages! Because this is the fist rare pack we open, I want to draw your attention to the fact that the rare packs specifically wants some sort of prison/cage to appear in the illustration of each card, so a name or flavour text hinting at prisons/cages won't be enough.

    That's a quite challenging combination you've got here, don't hesitate to take your time and  ponder all your options to put the pieces of the puzzle in the right order. Good luck! =D

    ____

    The next participant can choose a design pack and a flavour pack from among this batch:


  • @HeroKP

    You're right, I got a bit surprised last time because complicated challenges usually attract less people, so I had to restrict the number of entries per person once more people started to enter.

    But I came prepared this time! XD I've doubled the number of packs (there are 60 of each now) so I can deal with 30 entries without repeating a single non-common card ^^ I think I'm going to allow up to three entries per person this round, if anyone is motivated enough for it =D
  • Heyo, could I have the Paired design with flavour pack #12?
  • edited August 2021
    @GameQnQ

    Ooh that's clever, I didn't realise you could get both "Paired" and a flavour pack with two creatures on its illustration in this batch until you posted that xD Well that's some excellent intuition you got there as you'll see soon enough! Here's your design pack:

     

    This is a double-type tribal pack! You have to care about not one but two creature types (of your choice) at the same time. And as you might have guessed, your flavour pack just happens to be...

     

    Cats & Dogs in Naya colours! This has to be the most perfect combination of packs, that was certainly some quick thinking from your part x) This means you'll have to design four cards (one for each rarity) that all have the words Cat AND Dog on them, whether it's in their type box or their rules box. No Blue or Black allowed. However, if you're feeling too forced, note that the flavour pack doesn't require you to do both cats & dogs, so you could technically do cats + another tribe or dogs + another tribe if you feel more like doing Zombie Dogs for some reason xD Good luck!

    _____

    The next participant can choose one design pack and one flavour pack from among those: 


  • I'll pick Levels for the Design pack and #05 for the Flavor pack!
  • @LyndonF

    Welcome to the party! Sorry to keep you waiting, here is your design pack, Levels:

     

    This is an alternative cost pack =D Watch out, alternative cost are different from additional costs. For instance, Flashback, Madness and Miracle are alternative costs, while kicker is an additional cost. And for the flavour pack:

     

    Rogues in their usual Grixis combination :) Remember you have to design four cards (one per rarity), no white or green allowed, and all four cards must have some sort of alternative cost. Good luck!

    _____

    The next participant can claim one design pack and one flavour pack from these:


  • I will take Design Pack - Away and Flavor Pack - #08 if you would be so kind.
  • edited August 2021
    @Corwinnn

    Welcome aboard! :D Here's is your design pack, Away:



    An outside the game pack! It used to be a really uncommon effect to interact with outside the game, but it's become something you'll see in almost every set nowadays so hopefully you'll find a way to make it work even at lower rarity ;) And for the flavour pack:

     

    Summer and Spring, the seasons! This is a more abstract pack but it's very open to interpretation as long as you keep a general sunny and flowery feel. It's a quite interesting combination, don't forget you can't use white or blue and you have to design one card per rarity. Good luck! =)

    ____

    Here are the packs for the next participant:


  • YOOOO IT'S BACK!!!!!!

     I'll take Image and #44 please. 
  • @Arceus8523

    Welcome back! =D I see you're looking for some challenge and have picked the highest combination of rarities ;) Here are your two packs, starting with Image, your design pack:

     

    Image is a copy-matters pack! All cards must either copy something or cares about things are copies. A pretty tricky theme to accommodate at lower rarities, but there are some tricks that makes this possible ;) As for your flavour pack:

     

    Everything must be flavoured around music and/or other types of art. You must also stay within Temur colours, so no white or black. I'd say that's a super interesting flavour to go with a copy-matters pack, I can already see a lot of options. Don't forget to design four cards, one per rarity. I wish you luck :smile:


    ____

    The next participant can claim one design pack and one flavour pack from among those:


  • I'll give this a go. Favorite and #34 please
  • can I have one?
This discussion has been closed.