#cfac 45

@thanatyr:

Ah, BFGs.

This fella reminded me of a friendly old druid, wandering the world and making animal friends. Then came a way to have him make more friends while discovering secrets of the realm.

Freaking loved some BFG when I was a kid.

Add “where you scry the card to” to my list of “things I don’t thing the game could track but I’m really not sure.”Power level looks to be at an okay starting point, but I can imagine a scenario where it gets bumped up.3/1 haste wolf and 1/1 bird are good opposing options that are usually going to be clear on the better option, so that’s a bonus, too.

Thanks for the submission! Two points!

@palaguin:

I had wanted to make this a hybrid card for 1HH, but I wasn’t sure if it was a color pie break, so instead I went GW.  Prevent damage and draw a card, and avoids all the forbidden words, as well as give a reason to have Samite Healer. :D

At least we have one more month of these challenges.  I wonder if anyone else besides me have answered them all.

I think you and @noyan-dar​ are the only ones still actively participating that have been around since the beginning, but I can’t confirm off-hand whether either of you have missed a challenge. I know, because the two of you running away with it early is the reason we have the scoring system we currently do.

And in forty-five challenges, I think your designs earned the “most likely to make me question if we can actually track that in a game of Magic” title. This is continuing the tradition, because I don’t think this is something we currently track, but maybe we could? I don’t know.

I do know, however, that you’ve gotten a lot better at templating text on cards, even if you’re still using that freaking frame.

Thanks for the submission! Two points!

@thricexandvii:

The sunlight in this image was the main focus for me. Even more so than the creatures or the setting. So, I went with the idea that maybe the Druid is affecting the sunlight itself; lending it a magical quality that allows the bird to physically hold it.

So, what kind of magic could be represented in Green (since no other color seems to fit the art as well) that isn’t a +1/+1 counter since that seems waaaay too obvious? How about the “new” take on regeneration that has been floating around recently (and moved into Black as well)? Cuz that seems like a good fit to me!

Basically, this is a 1/1 for one with a “Mortal’s Resolve”-esque effect stapled on. That would work well in a set with things that go off on untap (Heroic-like effects) or perhaps as a counter to unblocked attackers having nasty abilities and this will let you be more aggressive on the attack the previous round. It seems like this could fit into a few different decks.

My only issue was the costing. My gut said {1GG}, but I wasn’t sure. I mean, a vanilla 1/1 with Flash for {G} is doable… though I don’t think there is one. So I think I’m at least in the right ballpark.

I think 2G is appropriately costed for a first pass, at least. I expect to see similar cards in future sets. I so quite like that it can’t target itself so it isn’t viewed as just a “free” flash-blocker.

Thanks for the submission! Two points!

@narset-translucent:

When I saw the card art, tutoring effects didn’t come to mind at all. I originally wanted to make it green/black, but the effect seems too lacking to beyond mono-green. I also wanted to do something with wolf tokens, but couldn’t come up with anything meaningful.

This card is making flying creatures: that alone means it can’t be mono-green. And giving you cards off of creatures dying has proven to be Black’s shtick in the past, so that’s probably where I would look for a second color. 

For power level, Fecundity is this ability (except on an enchantment) at 2G and Grim Haruspex is the black version (with morph); this ability also comes with a body and a free 1/1, so it’s safe to say this should cost signficantly more, probably close to 3GG.

Interesting design, to be sure, but a bit overpowered. Thanks for the submission! Two points!

@ozthearistocrat:

I’ve been thinking of a tarot based deck based around player’s libraries, and this challenge really got my mind going.

Fetchlands suddenly become mana ramp! I’m not sure shuffling libraries has enough design space to really be keyworded, but if it’s trackable in-game, I could get behind a one-off card looking at it. The unfortunate thing for this card, though, is how difficult it would be to cost. Too cheap and your opponent gets way too ahead on mana advantage, but too late and it’s worthless. Four mana leans toward that latter area, I would guess, so if this was something I wanted in a set, I would probably start it at 1GG.

Thanks for the submission! Two points!

@the-burnished-hart:

Here we have a very EDH playable card, but outside of Commander, it is probably too weak and too slow to be competitive.

I mean, being four mana and having basically no stats kind of condemns him from most constructed environments, but it also literally draws you a relevant card every turn! Like, that’s powerful!

If you wanted to cost it at a level where it might show up in constructed, you could maybe change “to hand” to “to top of library,” but that still may be too strong to let it see play...repeatable effects like this lead to monotonous games, and monotonous games aren’t fun for anyone.

@custommagiccardswithnonmagiclore:

The art depicts a druid in a trance, feeling deep in tranquil, which is why I use one of the earliest flavor for enchantment destruction.

The idea of price comes from the fact that the druid holds the crow (raven?) with light coming out of its mouth, with slightest faint, the whole trance would be done.

The white part comes from the fact that the abilities have taxing, which is a white thing.

Green also gives you access to slightly-more-powerful enchantment destruction, which this is. In fact, I would call it far too cheap for an enchantment boardwipe that can destroy more enchantment later on. I would want it to be at least 2WG, especially because the set that would want to play this would also have enchantment creatures. I also probably have them pay X where X is the creature’s converted mana cost rather than just say “its mana cost” so there isn’t much fretting for paying the right colors.

Thanks for the submission! Two points!

@tarniyo:

For this card I wanted to try out something that had the flavor of an old, wise man who lives in the forest - he has a solution for every problem. I thought  a card where you can choose modes best fit that flavor, and escalate is a really fun mechanic i’ve wanted to design around for a while now

This is a solidly-designed card: the first and last abilities are spot-on for the costing. Unfortunately, there is a problem with that ability: Green and White don’t get to copy creatures that aren’t tokens. Green can have other creatures copy it, but it can’t go the other way. 

Now, if you wanted to add Blue to the mana cost, maybe that effect could work, but properly fixing the Escalate cost to reflect three colors would be a bit nightmarish (and it’s no fun if we leave out Blue!). Triple-Hybrid mana might would do the trick, but that’s gonna be pretty small...

Thanks for the submission! Two points!

@amtgplayer:

So, basically this is a green Ancestral Recall (aka cheap Harmonize) that demands you to jump through a few hoops. I actually made this card before the challenge, and it was named Summoner’s Quest. It turned out to fit the artwork pretty well, so I just changed the name to fit better.

Quest is an enchantment type with rules baggage (“each triggered ability printed on this card only triggers once”). I decided to make it a subtype instead of an ability so that referring to it is more natural: “Exile target Quest, then return it to the battlefield under your control” instead of “Exile target enchantment with quest…” If I ever want this ability on a creature, I can just have an Enchantment Creature - Quest Human Scout.

I dislike Harmonize being in Green, but this is an execution I can get behind. I love the “activates only once” aspect of this, though I think I would keep the subtype off of creatures because a creature being a “Quest” is a bit awkward to conceptualize. Also, “Enchantment Creature - Quest” already takes up a lot of space:

I don’t think you’ll be printing that.

I do really like the card, though I can imagine costing 2G would be a lot more likely.

Thanks for the submission! Two points!

@commandtower-solring-go:

The flavour is that an old friend of his had passed away (exiling the creature) but they still remain in contact. I feel that, while it may seem like a very powerful card, getting a creature into your bin before turn 2 is not only hard, but in any deck designed to do it wouldn’t want to them exile it. So I feel there is some balance within that.

I think there are more ways to meet that requirement than you think, and there are also ways to slip this onto the battlefield to get around that trigger. Plus, two-mana card draw engines are just too powerful, even ones with downsides like this.

However, this card did give me an idea for a cool design that’s super close to this, but gets around the pesky cast trigger to exile the creature (I would also bump up the mana cost to at least 1BB because Phyrexian Arena is a heck of a card):

At the beginning of your upkeep, exile target creature card from your graveyard. If that card is exiled this way, draw a card.

Boom. Recycles creatures in your graveyard into cards in your hand, one at a time, once per turn. It’s worded a bit awkwardly to make sure you don’t draw the card if this enchantment didn’t exile it.

Thanks for the submission! Two points!

@thekillershrub:

Immediately reminded me of Dosan the Falling Leaf. I know this is weird. I know this breaks the fundamental rules of magic. I know this is powerful. I know this causes shenanigans. I know other legends allow you to cast creatures with flash without opponents having access to it. However, I like the design and hope it inspires others.

So now, it’s sort of an anti-Dosan. Interesting. I can imagine the phrase “at your end step” would become very common in a format with this card. I feel like I would want the ability to be completely symmetrical, so you can’t play spells on your own turn, either, but I would love to make this part White and give it flash: imagine jamming it down at your opponent’s upkeep, Silencing them for an entire turn. That’s pretty powerful, and I’d love to see how constructed-worthy that may make this card.

Thanks for the submission! Two points!

@outerspace-messiah:

This card was entirely designed with limited in mind where early creatures can net you some life if your opponent is playing a slower game and 7 mana to draw three late game can be of use as well.

With a druid just chilling in the woods with his animal friends, I thought a flavorful way to have your creatures not attack or block. I went with that over preventing damage your creatures deal because that could lead to serious board stalls if both players happened to have one.

The druid also looks like he’s harmonizing with animals, so I thought that he harmonizes more if there’s more creatures there, hence the life gain. However, that’s a really weak effect for only once on your upkeep, so I had the life gain be every upkeep since you’re open to attacks from your opponent.

And of course there’d have to be a way to get rid of the enchantment, so I added Harmonize as the sac ability as a shoutout to it and a flavorful way to say “I learned a lot through that mediation” as green likes to do.

I personally hate Harmonize in Green: its card advantage is supposed to be tied to creatures or lands, so just getting “pay mana, draw cards” isn’t something Green should do. I’d rather this be a regrowth or maybe make some tokens instead of straight drawing cards, or you could keep the card draw and add Blue to the cost. 

I’m really not sure about the power level of this effect; it could be quite powerful if your opponent isn’t aggressive enough, but roughly two points per creature could be an easy rate to keep up with (depending on how wide you’re going on creatures). My biggest concern is that, if this card is working well, it’s just going to prolong the game in an agonizing way, so that’s something to keep an eye on.