Poetry and Personification

Gaea. Uranus. Nyx. What do they have in common? Yeah, yeah, everyone knows that they were the primordial deities of Greek mythology, but what do they have in common with what we see? Personification. (Dictionary definition: The attribution of a personal nature or human characteristics to something nonhuman, or the representation of an abstract quality in human form.) They are the living embodiments of Earth, Heaven (Sky), and Night, respectively. And what relates to them? Poetry. That's right... beautiful old poetry. For example, we have the original poetic personification of Thanatos (Death):

"And there the children of dark Night have their dwellings, Sleep and Death, awful gods. The glowing Sun never looks upon them with his beams, neither as he goes up into heaven, nor as he comes down from heaven. And the former of them roams peacefully over the earth and the sea's broad back and is kindly to men; but the other has a heart of iron, and his spirit within him is pitiless as bronze: whomsoever of men he has once seized he holds fast: and he is hateful even to the deathless gods."

So what do I want you to do for this contest? Make a personified version of an inanimate action or item, something like LOVE or SUN or something along those lines. But that's not all... There's a twist! You must right your own short poem/epic as flavor text or side story to reference the personification of these elements.

Every week, starting next Sunday, I will make mini challenges to personify one specific thing. You can still enter the main challenge, the mini challenge, or both at the same time.


1. Cards must be both NEW (created for this contest) and ORIGINAL
2. The only card types allowed are Creature.
3. Only subtype allowed it Personification.
4. Credit the artist.
5. Mythic and Legendary only.
6. No joke cards, realistic only.
7. Unlimited Entries..


End Date is December 17th

Prizes!
1st Place: 5 Favorites! Trophy!
2nd Place: 3 Favorites!
3rd Pace: 2 Favorites!
HM: 1 Favorite!

Mini-Challenge Winner: 1 Favorite!
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Comments

  • edited November 2016
    Scrapped.
  • edited November 2016
    @Kinojitsu_Asahi, If it personifies Lament, the card name should be "Lament". The reason I mentioned Gaea, Thanatos, etc. yet said what they were was to explain their names translated to English. Thanatos is Greek for death. But really nice card still, but it's valid if you change it. I'll make an example card tonight.
  • edited November 2016
    Withdrawn.
  • edited November 2016
    Here are my examples

    imageimage
    Poetry often have hidden meanings... have you noticed the one in the second card?

    Extra points if you add a secret message to the poem!
  • Here's mine:
    image
    For all around us blows an ever-growing storm,
    a swirling tempest that will never fade. We
    hide inside the eye, but it always moves, always changing.
    Perhaps we ought to find a peak
    where storms can never touch.
  • edited November 2016
    .
  • @Xerxes, Nice! It personifies the lust of discoveries. The poem is really nice too. The way it makes sense, yet still broken up looks like it was a translated one.

    @ShadowKnight1224, Other than the P/T being a bit too OP, the card is really nice, and the flavor is really really good.
  • edited November 2016
    .
  • edited November 2016
    Revised first entry!
    image

    Building a wall is not too difficult for a hint I suppose ;). So does that mean I get the extra point? XP
  • I made a card not knowing about this contest, and then I was surprised that the card I created was like this. I created my own personified poetry and its name is like Dawn and Dusk. This is not an entry. I just wanted to show you and too bad it is rare, nonlegendary, and a beast: http://mtgcardsmith.com/view/beast-of-dawn-and-dusk
  • edited November 2016
    @Kinojitsu_Asahi

    Lament is a really good flavor, as it shows how it can recive the spirit with memories of the dead. Gameplay wise, this would be a fun troll to slow the game down.

    Punishment has very good flavor, but I love the line "Punishment is the source of all damage." It sounds grammatically perfect, especially after I just came from a church bible study talking about "God's punishment is the cause of disease." It's such a coincidence!
  • I withdraw my submission from this contest.
  • @ShadowKnight1224, Why you withdraw? I was considering that card as a top card in the contest.
  • @TrippleBoggey3 I appreciate that and I apologise, but as I was trying to rework the card, I grew too frustrated with it and I decided to scrap it to avoid obsessing over it.
  • @TrippleBoggey3 I think this contest is a great idea, but I don't like the subtype restriction. Avatar covers most things like this (and elemental, god, nymph, djinn, spirit, and shade cover the rest pretty well).
  • @TrippleBoggey3

    I agree with @TheClayKnight. It's fine if you don't want to change it, but I would be much more likely to enter if you did. XD
  • @KimJongMartin, @TheClayKnight,

    New Rule

    You may also use the subtype Avatar, but then you must match the abilities. Avatar creatures have guidelines, so if your going to use Avatar, make sure you follow them!
  • What are the avatar creature type guidelines?
  • Avatar creatures are usually referred to embodiments of one's power, and they usually have equal P/T. Their P/T is usually 5/5 or higher, and they usually have very powerful abilities. Their costs are usually high. One more thing, they are normally considered evil.

    I wouldn't recommend using that subtype, since for me, it disrupts the purpose but for the sake of you guys, you may.

    PS. I would have still accepted the entry even if you didn't ask. I'm a bit "too" generous with my judging when it comes to DQing.
  • edited November 2016
    image

    Destitution and discord are the delusions of the dumb.
    Everyone's existence an effrontery, ending in ellipsis...
    Slaving and sweating so that society doesn't succumb,
    Ingenious inventors, irate at idiocy and idleness
    Gravitate to the great, garish grotesque gaudiness of
    Nihilism, nothing for nothing, neat and noted.

    Dying, Encapsulated Softly In Gentle Nether.
  • edited November 2016
    -Entry Removed/Reworked-
  • @TrippleBoggey3 Glad you liked those cards :D! This challenge is so awesome that I think I'm kinda addicted to it.
    image
  • @Racnoss, Excellent card for the first one, except you forgot the subtype. The second one is a bit too OP. 10 life for a 11? I'm in! Your cards don't have much flavor though. I'd recommend adding flavorful abilities.

    @Kinojitzu_Asahi, Nice flavor! "I declared I would do it and there's no stopping me!" Glad you love this contest!
  • For Design, I tried to fit the subtype on, but if you make it an artifact creature, Personification is way too long to fit on XD
    I can change it to just a Legendary Creature?
    Yeah, I understand how OPOP Body is, I'll rework that.


    As for the flavour of the abilities (tbh the main reason I did this was the poetry aspect, I think it's rly rly cool) I'm kinda just drawn to them for Personifications, because they should be the base of an entire aspect, I'll talk through my decisions:

    Design - Fabricate is obvious, it is designing something, and I thought that Convoke and a variable mana cost was the idea of "You get out what you put in." So either you pretty much have a sorcery which creates Servos, or you could get a pretty pumped up creature, created in part by the creatures you already control.

    Body - Too powerful, but I'll at least try to justify my decisions, it just needs a bit of balancing. Graft was another idea of "You get out what you put in." but in this case it's more a terms of sacrifice, a parent will sacrifice a lot for their child, a Body that they created, and the more care they provide for the child, the stronger the child should be. Cumulative upkeep combined with Graft means that, as you grow older, your body provides less (Graft counters going onto other creatures) but it requires more to keep going (Age counters etc.)

    If you want I can make more flavourful abilities for both cards?

    I'm happy to do anything really.
  • @Racnoss900, Out of fairness to the other members, I cannot give you exact advice, as I see Body can be changed into a very flavorful card, but I'm sorry, I can't give you specific advice. But I can still let you know that some improved flavor and better formatting would help too.
  • image

    Born of bored breeding and blissful benevolence,
    Of orgasmic ovations and obscure obsession.
    Death doesn't deny disgusting delight,
    Yet yields when the yonder yob yells.

    Being Older Depletes Youth
  • I've been looking at this contest for a while, finally mustered an entry:
    image
  • edited November 2016
    and here's another:
    image
    Edit: Poetry:
    What stays hidden
    Is forbidden
    What's uncovered
    Now discovered
    Consequence will come
    You will be undone
  • edited November 2016
    Probably should be an enchantment but:
    image
    Edit: Poetry:
    Enter the new
    Exit the old
    None do stay true
    Victory to the bold
This discussion has been closed.