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[RESULTS] CUSTOM-START 2: A random design challenge
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Sure! Just remember that the deadline is tomorrow so it might be a bit tight but I won't stop you from trying XD
This is a really special kind of value pack: It's about increasing the amount of something you already have! The challenges should give you some examples of effects that work with this theme, it's pretty open to interpretation ^^ And for the flavour pack:
Dreams and Visions! Also a pretty open pack, in Bant colours (no black or red allowed). I wish you luck, hopefully you can make it in time! =D
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The deadline is tomorrow but if anyone feels really motivated you can still open two of these packs:
My common and uncommon are more 'in lore' for Norse history than the other two. The common is based off of the use of ravens in navigation (and in particular the story of Hrafna-Flóki and the voyage to Iceland).
The rare is a Kaldheim-ish reimagining of the god Vidar, who is associated with vengeance and is notable for killing Fenrir and surviving Ragnarok.
My mythic is a bit of a mish-mash of Seidhr and Loki-style trickery to synergise with a 'full' Coin pack. The Liar allows transform cards and MDFCs to be 'switched' to their other side, while the Witch is a green and white pumper and debuffer that works well with small creatures like the Liar.
Technically all of the MDFCs share the condition that one face doesn't share any colours with the other (lands are colourless after all har har), but I wanted the Mythic to be explicitly coloured differently for the design challenge rather than just being 'coloured & some degree of colourless' like the others.
Design Pack - Tribute
Flavour Pack - Elemental
Congratulations on finishing your entry! Every restriction has been met =D
@LyndonF
That's a really interesting twist you've got there! I certainly wasn't expecting Legendary lands as a subtheme xD All restrictions have been met, congratulations =D
I usually wait until the day of the deadline is over everywhere in the world, so that leaves about 15h from now ^^
I'm sorry. I won't be able to make it for my second pack. I wasn't paying attention to the impending deadline, and I've been unexpectedly swamped today. And just when I finally sat down, my computer decided to become rubbish.
I have finalised my first pack, though! Reposting it here.
Again, sorry for the wasted packs.
Don't worry, I always factor in that some people won't be able to finish their submission
My custom mechanic I made for this is called study! It's a keyword based on the explore mechanic from Ixalan. An example would be "When [cardname] enters the battlefield, it studies. (Reveal the top card of your library. If it's an instant or sorcery, you may put it into your hand. If you don't, or if the revealed card isn't an instant or sorcery, put a knowledge counter on this creature.) It allows you to grab an instant or sorcery if it's there, but also allows a different option: knowledge counters. Each creature that studies will have a bonus that it gains if it has a knowledge counter on it, and some cards will care about knowledge counters on your creatures. I gave the option to do the counter instead of grabbing the card because sometimes you'll want the long-term benefit of the counter rather than the short-term benefit of the extra card.
#1: Adventurous Apprentice (Satisfies design requirement of using study)
Not much to say about this one, it's just a simple little example of the study mechanic.
#2: Harsh Instructor (Satisfies design requirement of a card using study and a non-evergreen mechanic)
This guy is actually a payoff for not putting a knowledge counter on your creature when they study. You can either study again, either getting the knowledge counter on your second try or maybe even getting to do it again, or you can take the route of a guaranteed card and learn. You'll probably end up studying again most of the time, but sometimes you might need that one specific lesson, and you'll be able to grab it! Even if you're not studying as much as you thought you may be, he's still got a perfectly respectable body as a 4/4.
#3: Inside the Campus Library (Satisfies the design requirement of a card that cares about studying)
Another fairly simple design, but also quite powerful if you're studying a lot. You could technically count this as the "non-evergreen keyword" card depending on if you still count prowess as evergreen. It was last used in M21, which I figured was maybe still recent enough to count as evergreen, so I played it safe and made Harsh Instructor as well. This is a card that gives an extra benefit to anything you've got with knowledge counters. Prowess allows those creatures to benefit from any instants or sorceries you might grab with studying or just draw normally.
#4: Relvid, Multiverse Scholar (Satisfies design requirement of a Planeswalker with studying in its text box)
Time for a guest lecturer! Relvid has been all over the multiverse, gathering stories and information, and travels around to various schools around the multiverse to share his findings. Most believe that his tales are simply extravagant fiction, his stories of a wider multiverse an interesting theory, but nothing more. However, some take him a bit more seriously, and take the time to learn of worlds other than their own.
As for his card, Relvid is a cheap walker that revolves around the study mechanic. His passive exists because otherwise any creature that studied with his +1 would have no use for the knowledge counter if you didn't happen to hit an instant or sorcery. His -2 allows you to set up for a study in the same turn by tutoring an instant or sorcery to the top of your library, which you could then grab with a study. His ultimate gives an emblem that allows everything to study. Even if you kill him with it, a set that has this as a mechanic would probably have more things that give benefits to creatures with knowledge counters on them (Eg. Within the Campus Library) so creatures that study because of the emblem might still have a use for the knowledge counters if they get them.
Congratulations on finishing your pack on time! Every restriction has been met, well done =D
THE CONTEST IS CLOSED FOR JUDGING
Thank you everyone for participating, I should be back within one week with the results =D
But before that, here's a short feedback paragraph on everyone's entry to help you understand my thought process while judging. The feedback is sorted by alphabetical order of the participant, you can use the ctrl+f shortcut to find yours more easily. Like last time, I'm also distributing ranking medals for each separate entry based on the following system:
FEEDBACK AND MEDALS FOR EVERYONE —
- Aggroman15 — Divergent (alternative frames) #21 Merfolks & Sirens (UBG)
This pack does some really fun things with alternative frames, I have to say I was not expecting flip cards to show up. I especially enjoyed the two lower rarity cards. The common is super flavourful and well-balanced, and the uncommon is a brilliant design; I love that you innovated by using an off-colour adventure and the whole package makes perfect sense and looks like it would be a lot of fun to play with. The rare made use of a really good artwork but the fact that it’s really squished kind of emphasises one big problem with flip cards as a whole: they’re really hard to read. Mechanically, it does the job though I think it could have been a bit more exciting. The Mythic rare is really flavourful and really tells a story. The Merfolk tribal theme also helps to make it feel coherent despite the number of different effects. I do like the idea of expanding emblems to other card types though I’m not sure the best place for something that is so innovative would be in the middle of a 21-line rules text. Still, all the cards in themselves look well-balanced and have a clear concept and flavour behind them, making this a very solid entry overall.This pack introduces a variation of the explore mechanic called Study that focuses on Instant and sorcery spells instead of lands. I think it’s a great idea and sounds like a lot of fun, however the cards do emphasise some of the issues with that concept instead of playing around them. Namely, the main two issues of that idea is that you cannot play as many instant or sorcery spells in a Study deck as you would be able to play land cards in an Explore deck. In addition, Study gives a Knowledge counter as compensation while Explore gives a +1/+1 counter. This means that studies will most often fail at drawing you a card and the compensation is a counter that only enhances specific cards that care about it and which effect doesn’t stack unlike the +1/+1 counter which is universally useful and stacks. Because of this, I’m not convinced by some little choices like having the uncommon only reward you when you manage to draw a card as you study, I think the rare should definitely have given prowess for each Knowledge counter to mitigate the stacking issue, and having the Mythic one make any creature studies emphasises the parasitic aspect of the mechanic since, in most cases, you’ll just end up with a knowledge counter on a creature that has no use for it.
All that being said, I know that’s a very extensive paragraph above detailing negative things but designing custom keywords is one of the most difficult things in MTG design. I’m not expecting to get a perfect mechanic from the start and the fact that you ended up with a mechanic that looks fun and might actually work with very little tweaking is already amazing. I actually really enjoyed each card individually. I think the common was a great proof of concept, I loves how flavourful it was to mix both Study and Learn on the uncommon, the rare was the perfect reward and designing 2-mana planeswalker is insanely hard but you actually managed to design some of the coolest and well-balanced one I’ve ever seen. So I do think that it’s a very solid entry, though Study might need more iterations—but that’s to be expected and I don’t claim that I would have done better as you really delivered overall.
- Arceus8523 — Image (copies-matter) #44 Art & Music (RGU)
This pack had a really difficult design theme but the end result is extremely realistic and offers some truly brilliant ideas. The common has a completely acceptable complexity level despite copying itself, which is super hard to do, the uncommon would be an instant staple, I love how original the second ability of the rare is, and the Mythic would be a really fun Commander. The only bemol I could give is that I would have switched the rarity of the uncommon and rare ones (the second ability on the uncommon clearly pushes it past the point of an uncommon). Still, I found it was a great entry overall.- Corwinnn — (Outside the game) #08 Spring & Summer (BRG)
This pack has a lot of inherent cohesiveness thanks to the brilliant Insect subtheme you weaved in and the bold choice of keeping it monocoloured that I think really paid off. I’m especially fond of that Mythic lesson, it’s simple yet original and sounds like the kind of things a Lesson would do. Some effects were a bit random due to the weird outside the game theme—for instance, the uncommon learning when a token dies or the rare being a Wish card—but the consistency of the butterfly theme in the illustrations really alleviated that, though a bit more mechanical glue could have been a plus. The pack is also well-balanced, with the exception of the uncommon maybe that I believe is too strong, which makes this entry a really solid pack overall.If we ignore the little mix-up about the design theme, this pack really hits you with how gorgeous it looks; The choice of illustrations really elevates the flavour theme. Some interesting concepts were introduced, the Mythic one in particular is really unique and would really lead to a whole new kind of game, and the uncommon is a really original way to ramp. That being said, I believe there are a few balancing issues. The common looks way too strong because of double strike, Lake of the Lotus is too niche for too little reward—there was definitely a missed opportunity to turn the creature into a black lotus— and the rare is basically a vanilla 10/10 for 8 since you would need the opponent to absolutely rely on an activated ability of a creature for it to do something, and even then a lot of activated abilities would be worth activating (e.g. when they also sacrifice the creature upon activation). Overall, I think this was a really cool-looking and flavourful pack with interesting concepts but the execution needs a bit more polishing before the cards are fun to play, in my opinion.
This pack is an incredibly strong flavour win. I love all the little details you added like the dog being excited not just by the cat but also the bird on the common, the rescue dog flavour of the rare and the dog/cat fight of the Mythic. I do think the balancing is a bit on the under-powered side of things. The uncommon doesn’t look like it would be worth a 3-mana artifact slot even in a dedicated Cat/Dog deck and 6-mana is asking too much for what that Mythic does, especially since it encourages you to make two creatures you control fight for an ultimately low amount of burn damage. Overall, this makes a very fun entry to read though it might need a few adjustments to be as fun in gameplay.
This pack is really flavourful with a strong tie to its Nordic theme and a lot of deep cuts into its lore. The uncommon card is by far my favourite of the bunch, I just love how both sides are super flavourful while being good cards mechanically and how they create an even more awesome package on both a flavour and mechanic level once they are put together. The way you innovated on MDFC transformation with the Mythic card and how it cycles through its different forms and back to your hand is also super cool. The main critique I have against these cards is that they sometimes are needlessly complex. The raven has too much text for a common, the rare has 11 lines of text just to give ward 2 to a creature and then transforms into a pretty underwhelming reward, and the Mythic—while definitely cool—is one of the most complex cards I have ever seen. Also I’m not sure why you added a mana value restriction if it won’t prevent Valki from transforming into Tibalt. It’s still a very interesting pack to read but I think it would have been even more enjoyable if it was cleaner and simpler.
This pack has some interesting concepts going for it, I especially liked how you used a creature as your pump spell at common, the uncommon does something really unique and the rare innovates with discard. However, I think they can be a bit clunky in terms of execution. For instance, because your opponent chooses for the uncommon, I expect that the ability would never actually do something. Regarding the rare, if the opponent has no card in hand, they don’t discard a land card, then likely have no land in their graveyard so they don’t lose life. Some aspects of the balancing are a bit shaky as well—the common and uncommon especially look like they could cost a bit more mana. Overall, it’s still a solid entry in terms of concept but I think it could have used more polish; The fact that you forgot the creature type on the rare is a good indication you could have proof-read them a bit longer
I thoroughly enjoyed how this pack used the Seek and Conjure mechanics to dig up some really obscure game elements as a kind of subtheme though the entry. In particular, I loved the list of cards on the uncommon that absolutely everyone has forgotten about but creates such an incredible flavour. As for the rare, this list of creature types is so incredible I sincerely thought most of them weren’t real until I checked xD I did see a few details that, in my opinion, could be enhanced. Notably, I would have personally made Unfortunate Noble a bigger creature so it can survive being enchanted with Boon of Emrakul without getting an Unstable Mutation first but I get that it adds a bit of spice to the card. I find it a bit of a missed opportunity that the rare doesn’t really push you to play more than a couple of these hilarious creature types because of how the reward doesn’t really care about anything but the card being a creature. Finally, the Mythic feels like a really convoluted way of doing what +1/+1 counters do, but I do acknowledge that the equipment aspect makes it different enough. Overall, the pack felt really enjoyable to read and was full of flavour and originality.
This pack had some interesting and original effects, the common depicting a burial that increases your devotion was as original as it was poetic for instance, and the general Group Hug theme was a nice way to tie the pack together. However, I think no card in this pack would be printed as-is for different reasons. The common, uncommon and Mythic ones are effects that are too niche and specific to deserve a whole card slot by themselves, with the Mythic one being the most problematic one since it might improve your opponent’s Act of Treason effects on occasion. On the other hand, Cycle of Rebirth is very overpowered and basically renders the exile zone useless. Overall, I still got the gameplay intent behind the pack, which would push you to give stuff like Demonic Pact to your opponent, and I found the flavour very endearing but even in that specific archetype I think most of these cards would need to be boosted to be playable.
- IanLowenthal — Startle (Flash-matters) #35 Dungeons & Mazes (RBG)
This pack has a very interesting and unique subtheme of counting your untapped lands as a way to entice you to play at instant speed. It’s quite original and goes wonderfully with the flavour of traps you’ve chosen. The effects in themselves are all consistently flavourful and play well with that theme. There are a couple of instances on your higher rarity cards where I think they could be improved. Namely, that rare looks too oppressive and would probably bring the game to a stall but it woudn’t require much to make it work, adding a mana cost to this sounds like the obvious option. The back of the Mythic card is a bit disappointing as a reward but still works and, from a templating perspective, the front could have been worded in a much simpler way by using a tap symbol instead of checking if the land is untapped. But other than that, I think the flavour win and intricacy of the mechanical subtheme is really what comes out of this pack and the things I didn’t like as much are only small bemols.This pack made an amazing use of a usually forgotten and difficult-to-work-with mechanic in the perfect way. Seeing the stars aligned, going for it despite the risk and managing to pull off something of that quality was truly brilliant. The effects are all well-balanced and flavourful for a Rogue deck and your higher rarity cards are doing some really interesting stuff. In particular, the Mythic one is my single favourite card in this whole contest. Giving Prowl as a way to replace that you can play the card from exile, to replace the colour fixing, and to replace the fact that you need to hit the opponent Robber of the Rich-style was so elegant it blew my mind off. My only little bemol is that the first ability of the rare is a terribly convoluted way of writing “deathtouch” but other than that I found this pack stellar.
This pack does an amazing job at tying the design and flavour restrictions together by adding a super original legendary lands subtheme. This creates a unique feel throughout the whole pack, and the Legendary Land at rare really ties it together by being a really cool design that’s well worth its rarity and acts as a proof of concept. I also really like the way the uncommon scales its protection effect in a very original way. I do have a couple bemols on the common and Mythic though, which I think are too strong. The common is a bit on the line, I just think that it’s too close to a solid repeatable removal despite the 1-damage part being fine. The Mythic is really broken though, in my opinion, because of how strong the second ability is. Also, I found its activated ability weirdly weak; Why does it cost so much mana if it can only be activated once? It’s still a pretty cool pack overall with an unique feel thanks to that super original sub-theme you invented.
- Temurzoa — Signature (names matter) #33 Detective Stories (UBR)
If we put aside the confusion around the design theme, this pack offers some really interesting synergies for Investigate. I’m especially fond of the way you reinvented rummaging using clues with your common, your Mythic is quite original and “Mouting Evidence” is just the perfect pun for this effect. I do think there are a couple issues with your higher rarity cards though. The Mythic one is incredibly swingy as it will just investigate 99% of the time (which is fine) but if you ever hit the right card the reward is crazy powerful, probably too much by a wide margin. As for the rare, it doesn’t work because, if you have no clue, whenever you investigate it enters the battlefield as a 0/0 and dies on the spot —but that’s an easy fix, just remove the word “other” and it’s good. Overall, I really liked how the effects emphasised the flavour of investigating in original ways through the mechanics.- Vardus — Shield (hexproof/ward-matters) #24 Angels (BRW)
This pack weaved beautifully the Angel and hexproof/ward themes in a way that made sense thematically and led to some original and flavourful effects. As you mentioned, the balancing is a bit all over the place though. The main problem throughout the entry is that you heavily used effects that hate on black decks as the main selling point of the cards instead of treating it like the flavourful but niche little bonus that it actually is. This makes the rare almost useless for instance, and certainly not worth a 4-mana rare slot. In general, the cards were all severely under-powered and needed either an additional stronger effect, to cost several mana less, or both. The pack was still interesting to read because you went with some original effects and I can appreciate the core concept behind them, but the execution would need to be redone to make the cards more playable.THE PODIUM —
Finally, here are the winners of this second edition of the Custom-Start contest!
— THIRD PLACE —
IanLowenthal
Design Pack: Processor (Digital-only abilities)Flavour pack: #30 Humans (GWB)
The main selling point of this entry for me was the uncommon and rare cards. I just loved that you took advantage of the Seek and Conjure mechanic to put the spotlight on really obscure cards and creature types. I had a lot of fun reading through them and, with a more streamlined rare and a couple minor adjustments such as more dynamic illustration choices, you'd definitely have a shot at an even higher spot on the podium.
— SECOND PLACE —
Arceus8523
Design Pack: Images (Copies matter)Flavour pack: #44 Art & Music (RGU)
This pack was just super clean and full of really elegant and clever ideas. I feel like this is one of the more realistic pack of this contest as a whole in the sense that I could totally see some of these cards being printed without anyone batting an eye. It was a tough call between you and first place, the determining factor ended up being Reverberation Zone that probably should have switched rarity with the rare, but it really came down to details.
— FIRST PLACE —
LyndonF
Design Pack: Levels (Alternative costs)Flavour pack: #05 Rogues (UBR)
I was really dubious at first when I saw all your cards had prowl because it's a very old and parasitic mechanic. But it was just the perfect fit for the context and you managed to bring it into a very modern era of MTG design. All your cards were realistic, well-balanced, original, and flavourful from the start and the fact that you made my favourite card from this whole contest—Volah, the Stalker—definitely didn't hurt. Congratulations!
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And that's it for this second edition of the Custom-Start context! =D Thank you so much to everyone who participated, even people who opened packs but couldn't make it in the end, it was a really fun two weeks for me as I was waiting to see what weird combination was going to emerge from the next participant's choice XD
Now for the winners, time for the rewards:
@IanLowenthal — Which 1 card would you like me to favourite?
@Arceus8523 — Which 3 cards would you like me to favourite?
@LyndonF — Which 5 cards would you like me to favourite?
Thank you again everyone! =D
See you for the next edition
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Favourite distributed =D
Yeah, about the trapper, I think it's in the same situation than the uncommon: it relies on cards you'd rather not put in your deck XD So, I think it might have wanted to conjure a random card of one of these types instead of seeking it. The rare is already a second conjure card so you could have used Seek with that one instead maybe?
Here's my personal try, for sport, which is inspired by the Hunted cycle:
The idea here is that you get a really undercosted creature while your opponent gets two probably terrible creatures in exchange. In addition, if by force of a miracle they actually conjure one of the rare good creatures from that batch, you can just eliminate it right away.
By the way, I counted 6 that would be somewhat problematic if the opponent conjured them out of 49 and I'm being generous with some of them xD:
I decided on Prowl rather quickly after knowing the design / flavour combination, though I didn't refer much to the actual Prowl cards for ideas. I designed Volah to meet the "give other cards an alternative casting cost" requirement. Since the flavor was Rogues, I wanted something that stole cards from your opponents. It took me a handful of iterations to get to the current Volah, but I'm glad you liked it ?
Congrats to other winners!
Favourites have been distributed