MTG Cardsmith Community Forums
Muraganda Park
Hello, fellow Cardsmiths!
The Ixalan block saw the return of the Dinosaur creature type. Since then, they have appeared several times, especially in Ikoria. Recently, that got me thinking. So here we are: a contest dedicated to creating dinosaurs and a dinosaur-themed park!
The challenge is, of course, based around dinosaurs, but that doesn’t mean they will be the focus for all of the contest. There will be several stages to the contest, with prompts ranging from dinosaurs to the park to human(oid) trainers.
At the end of each stage, I will award points to the participants and post the rankings for everyone to see. 3 extra points will go to the #1 cardsmith of the stage, 2 extra points to the #2 smith, and 1 extra point for the #3 smith. Each bonus challenge smiths complete also count for 1 point each.
At the end of the contest, the top three cardsmiths will get the following rewards:
1st place: 6 favorites on cards of their choice, a follow, and feedback on up to 3 cards from the contest of their choice.
2nd place: 4 favorites on cards of their choice, a follow, and feedback on up to 2 cards from the contest of their choice.
3rd place: 2 favorites on cards of their choice, a follow, and feedback on up to 1 card from the contest of their choice.
If I’m already following your account and you’re in the top three, I will instead favorite an additional 3 cards of your choice.
Other rules:
I’d prefer new cards for the contest. Otherwise, up to two old cards for each stage.
I’d prefer Cardsmith cards. You don’t have to enter the cards at the same time, though, so you can think about them for a bit.
Please post an image of the card(s) you’re submitting, with either the link to it embedded in the image(s) or below the image(s).
Edits are allowed, but only until I start judging the stage.
Only one Elder Dinosaur per cardsmith. Not everything can be an awe-inspiring ancient reptile, after all. Sorry to people who wanted to make a lot of Elder Dinosaurs.
Best of luck to you all, hope you enjoy, and Stage One will be posted shortly.
(A note: I’m using the term “dinosaur” somewhat loosely here, so pterosaurs, aquatic things like ichthyosaurs, and dinosaur-esque creatures such as Yidaro and the Tarrasque are acceptable as dinosaurs.)
Comments
Stage One
Where would we be without the premiere focus of our park? This stage’s challenge is to make a handful of dinosaurs for the park. The due date for this stage is Monday, October 11, 2021, so there’s a nice long period for you guys to make cards. I will start judging then, and release Stage 2 around that time as well. I should take about a week to judge everyone.
Prompt 1: A carnivorous or omnivorous dinosaur
Is your idea of a carnivorous dinosaur a fast hunter? A big attention-seeker? A carrion-eater? Show me!
Prompt 2: An herbivorous dinosaur
Where does a plant-eater find food? High in the trees, or low on the ground? Show me!
Bonus challenges:
Are these creatures true-blue Dinosaurs, or are they Dinosaur-adjacent? Create a Dinosaur creature that has another race.
What else lives alongside the dinosaurs? Create a non-Dinosaur creature.
Where do these dinosaurs generally live? Include a land among your designs.
Are these dinosaurs loners, or are they social creatures? Create a card that involves either one creature or several creatures.
How are you going to get these dinosaurs into the park? Are you going to trap them, hunt them, or entice them? Create a card that shows how a person would get these dinosaurs to go into a park.
Example: This stage requires a minimum of two cards to enter - a carnivorous/omnivorous dinosaur and an herbivorous dinosaur. There’s also several bonus challenges for this stage that earn you extra points, so you can enter up to seven cards.
For example, you might create a raptor, a small fast hunter - likely no more than a 3/3 with haste. However, if it’s a pack hunter, if might have something like “Whenever this creature and at least two others attack, this creature deals 1 damage to target creature defending player controls.” That way, you’ve knocked out the first prompt, as well as a bonus challenge.
Or, you might create a big, slow herbivore that blends a lizardlike appearance with a turtle’s shell, like Yidaro, creating a Dinosaur Turtle. That knocks both the second prompt and another bonus challenge.
Hopefully this clears up everything, but if it doesn’t, feel free to message me about it.
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/caustic-cadger
Here we have a simple little dinosaur that mooches of others and tries to get scraps of meat for free.
To be explicit about my entries:
- Stalking Leosaur ~ Carnivore + Dinosaur with an extra subtype
- Roaming Frillcrests ~ Herbivore + Social dinos
- Watering Hole / Secluded Prairie ~ Habitats
- Migration Guide ~ Non-dino creature + She brings dinos to the park (usually when they're displaced from their natural habitat or something else is wrong with the ecosystem, such as a problematic predator invading)
I think that covers everything!https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/marching-manasaur
Featuring a new custom mechanic:
Instigate - At the beginning of combat on your turn, you may pay {cost}. If you do, this creature must be blocked this turn if able.
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/surviving-carnodon
Not actually a dinosaur, but associated with them enough for the creature type. Uninteresting card though.
Check some of these out:
http://www.lazerhorse.org/2014/09/14/dinosaur-art-models-interesting-depictions/
Bonus challenges: Create a card that involves either one creature or several creatures.
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/sunderclaw-duo
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/pteron-predecessor
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/stinging-lashvine
These are used as natural barriers in the park to contain the dinosaurs.
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/craning-brontodon
Now that we have the main attractions lined up, how is the park going to hold them? Now, we don’t want to be cruel, but we also don’t want these dinosaurs to escape their enclosures.
Prompt: Make up to three ways to prevent the dinosaurs from leaving the park.
Bonus challenges:
Are trainers for the dinosaurs? Create a non-Dinosaur creature that provides a bonus to Dinosaurs.
How are the dinosaurs going to keep themselves entertained? Create a card to entertain the dinosaurs.
Example: One enclosure might have its only entrance or entrances be labyrinthine, so it would make it so no more than one creature can attack each turn. There might also be an enchantment that has an ability such as “G, tap an untapped Dinosaur you control: Put a +1/+1 counter on target Dinosaur”, which knocks out the second bonus challenge.
@Jadefire since Stinging Lashvine technically counts for this stage, do you want me to count it for this stage, or do you want it to count for Stage 1's scoring?
@Everyone here are the rankings! But first, here are the top three cardsmiths for the stage.
1st place: cadstar. I enjoyed the cards you submitted, and you did your best to address all the bonus challenges. Plus, I felt all your cards were what I was looking for.
2nd place: jpastor. Though you submitted less cards than either cadstar or Jadefire, both your cards were interesting both mechanically and lore-wise. I found your Instigate mechanic especially interesting, since it’s a little more open-ended than cadstar’s Provoke mechanic from Stalking Leosaur.
3rd place: Jadefire. I was pleasantly surprised that you predicted the next stage of the contest before I introduced it. As well, I enjoyed that you decided to bridge the gap between dinosaurs and birds.
Points
cadstar369 - 10
Jadefire - 6
jpastor - 5
Korandangels - 1
The due date for the second stage is Monday, November 1.
Lava Surrounding the Perimeter.
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/lava-enclosure
Woods so dense, no creature can pass through them at any time of year.
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/impassible-woodlands
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/archway-of-the-colossus
It satisfies the requirement of the prompt but I made it line up with the mechanics of Ravnica for flavour purposes. Hopefully, that's not an issue.
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/mechanized-prey
The secret power of ancient monoliths!
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/monolith-alignment
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/constricting-bridge
I didn't realize how ambitious Tenki was in its current form until I broke the character limit for the card maker, so I have a dummy version in my set (the image provided is from MTGDesign).
Edit: Added Beloved Tender.
To be explicit again:
Well, now that the dinosaurs are here at the park and we’ve figured out where they’re going, now for different activities! With the park opening, we have to create interest for the park beyond just “a zoo with dinosaurs”. It’s time to show off what we’ve got.
Prompt: Create up to two cards depicting public events that might happen in the park involving the dinosaurs.
Bonus challenges:
Have some of the smaller dinosaurs escaped and now wander the park and interact with the patrons, similar to peacocks? Create a small wandering dinosaur for the park streets.
What’s there to eat? Create a card that creates Food tokens or a small treat artifact.
Does the park cater to a specific type of person? Create a typical patron of the park.
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/savage-feeding
There's always a public feeding for animal-based attractions.