#randomita

@linvala-the-memer:

We don’t have many Ooze lords so heres one. It was originally not a lord, and you just gained life equal to the converted mana cost of what you destroy. But i forgot about the challenge! So i changed it and made it flavorful. This ooze is moving in so it can make room for a bunch if little oozes. Less room for little oozes, less oozes. 

Kind of weird to call this a “lord” when it doesn’t directly buff or help or care about Oozes at all, but I see what you’re getting at. I like the homage to Acidic Slime, and I like that it gives you a bit of help towards filling your opponent’s graveyard. It’s not obnoxiously slapping you in the face with its ability, but it’s got some synergies there and it lets you decide if you want to go removal-heavy or do more of a mill-your-opponent style.

Thanks for the submission! Two points!

@runeofecstasy:

So my first thought was silver border because there are so many fun ways of tracking how long the game’s been going on. Then I thought about the piece and challenge itself, and what’s more villainous than taxes? And what happens when you don’t pay your taxes? So we have an evil (and probably overpowered) card. For awhile, this card was just named ‘Rhystic Study on Steroids’, and I think that’s a pretty accurate description.

I played Rhystic Tron a few times; it’s clunky and takes forever to play (especially online) and isn’t fun for anyone involved.

And you are correct, this card is far too overpowered as it stands, and other than the name referencing literal tax collection this card doesn’t feel very silver-bordered to me; an easy name swap and this is a Black-bordered card.

The first ability is really awkward to me: they cast a spell and you either get a counter or a card that you probably can’t do anything with, since you can’t cast spells outside of the color of mana you have and you can’t get the lands off of it (which is basically what they’re going to exile) so it makes weird, swingy situations like landfall did. I would actually cut the exiling and casting thing entirely, and just put a counter on this when your opponent casts a spell, no choice.

I actually like the second effect, even if it’s obnoxiously overpowered: I would probably have your opponent choose a certain number of permanents (five, perhaps) and you gain control of them, because leaving them with one land is basically ending the game in a way that’s going to draw it out for everyone.

I get the thought process behind the card, but like taxes, it ends up unwieldy and unnecessarily complicated.

Thanks for the submission! Two points!

@custommagiccardswithnonmagiclore:

The vibe of the card tells me to make a Soul card from M15, but the Soul doesn’t fit with the idea of slow growth so instead I came up with this idea.

Its first ability is how the red part of creature and player damage interwined with black’s gain life.

Its second ability is the reason it used +1/+1 counter, animating the soul to fight. I don’t think animating enchantment is a blue thing, but I chose blue because it’s the most proper color for the card after the other two color has been taken.

I think the last ability being blue is perfectly fine; it’s animated things before. Hey, if Awaken can be pushed into the color, I’m sure this is acceptable.

What I’m actually not so sure about is the first ability. It scales up so much over time, I would be afraid it would be run just as repeated creature removal that you don’t have to invest any more mana or resources into: pay three and let it do its thing, and even though it may be behind curve for when it hits the field, the fact that you’re gaining life will keep you alive long enough for this to spiral past your opponent’s creatures. It’s a very powerful effect, and ultimately detracts from what this card was going for.

I like the putting a +1/+1 counter on it, and I like paying to animate it, but there needs to be a different effect occurring when the counter goes on: what that could be, I’m not sure of, but it should definitely be something other than a slow-building repeatable removal spell.

Thanks for the submission! Two points!

@voicesofchaos:

So a land would make the most sense with this art but then the power level would be capped unless it had some massive drawback and art this cool feels like it needs some power to it. The next logical choice would be my beloved land aura or even the Futrue Sight mechanic Fortify but neither really fit the idea I had. So we are going with the actual tower being an artifact which is a little bit of a flavor stretch but it has been done before.

So Ferocious was one of the lowest rated mechanics in Khans Of Tarkir but that set had a lot of awesome stuff going to distract from it and I think in a more proper environment it could shine here.So here if you have a big villain (a creature with power 4 or greater) you can fill your base fodder minions or activate deadly traps.

I almost took the life loss off because this card has a lot of text and it felt a bit Black but I felt it helped balance it a little and made an interesting choice where you don’t automatically put the counter on if you don’t need another villain. The first effect was almost a Black skeleton but again wanted to keep this card colorless. The mana ability originally was going to have the rider that the mana could only be used to cast spells or activate abilities that target attacking creatures to really represent setting off “traps” but it seemed unnecessary as anything could be a trap, even summoning big creatures.

There is a lot going on here and a lot I almost changed but this time around I decided to trust my gut quite a bit.

I like this, I really do. It feels like an artifact, does a lot of cool things, and shows off a mechanic in a way that it couldn’t in its first execution. You’re right, though, that paying a life for the counter feels really weird, and I don’t think it needs that balancing touch: you could cut it and be just fine. I feel like I might have called it something other than “Villain’s Lair” because that sounds very land-like, but that’s something that can be roughed out over time; cards rarely keep their names forever when they go through design.

Thanks for the submission! Two points!

@thekillershrub:

Silver Border card. A good cartoon villain always has an unnecessarily large Doom Cannon and witty banter. Cheap and nonlegendary because the evil villain always has more, and always gets away! Think weird Darksteel Reactor.

I rarely ever get silver-bordered cards, and now I have two in one post! This must be a new record.

I definitely like the flavor you’re going for here: the big mastermind invention that the villain is going to (eventually) use to destroy the world, and like the classic cartoon hero, your opponent will have plenty of time to deal with you (or this) before it goes off. Ideally, the lava would be oozing out of the frame and into the textbox, but I don’t have the time to fancy it up like that.

Really, my biggest problem with this card is that you don’t have to say “Muhahaha” every time you put counters on it. I mean, come on! We’re going for an Un-card here, right? Keep the wackiness up!

And for those following along at home, it would be ten turns of doubling (without any tampering) for this to reach 1000. So if you played it on turn one, it goes off on turn 11. As a serious balancing concession, since most control decks wouldn’t be able to deal with this, I would have to push the mana cost up to three so there would be a reasonable chance of countering it.

Thanks for the submission! Two points!

@randomita​:

no commentary

Pretty interesting design, essentially gathering counters from your creatures as they fall of, and eventually turning them into a massive effect. My first real qualm with it, though, is that they need to be some kind of counters, not just “counters;” charge counters is the default, but you can also use a custom one, as long as the name doesn’t bleed over onto another mechanic. Second, it feels like you have the power level of the two abilities completely backwards: it costs a ton and you have to sacrifice it for a little life drain, while it can be repeatedly used as a reanimation tool, as long as you can keep the counters flowing. The reanimation ability is the one that should be one-shot, and the draining really shouldn’t cost ten mana.