#runners-up

Hues If True - Monochrome is Where the Heart is Runners-Up

Break out your rose-tinted shades and bask in the glorious redness of our runners-up this week: @bread-into-toast, @grornt, @stupidstupidratcreatures!

Cobble Up - @bread-into-toast

I appreciate all the restraint that went into this card’s design. Four mana sorcery that only hits permanents feels like a very nice place for a limited removal spell, and the Jump-start is just icing on the cake. I also adore how it cares about lands in graveyard, given how well it synergises with the ability printed on the card as well as the gamut of abilities printed on other separate land-pitching and sacrificing red cards. The templating is certainly nonstandard but you did justify it in your submission text so I’m absolutely willing to let that decision slide. Honestly, doing it this way makes far more sense to me than listing out every damageable permanent type, so good call there.

Retrofitted Anole - @grornt

Oh what a delightful lizard friend. I appreciate the decision to make this a colorless creature at face value, because in my experience, drafting monocolor decks kind of requires the inclusion of some number of artifact friends to make the deck function. That you can run this (albeit less effectively) in any color of deck is all upside in my opinion, and the use of a very mana-dense monstrosity cost greatly helps in nudging the drafter into The Right Color. I also love the use of monstrosity as a method of conveying these small lizards’ tendency to puff out their neck pouch, presumably to seem more intimidating. If I have one concern with this card, it is that the monster cost feels like just a smidge too much value? It definitely looks borderline, and I definitely think I’d need to play with or against the card before decrying it as obscenely overpowered or anything, so I think you’re doing just fine there regardless of my paranoia. Overall, great lizard, would run in all my green (and possibly even non-green) limited decks.

Illlulia of Nighthearth - @stupidstupidratcreatures

Being that the contest is weeks away now, I thought I’d review the national final runner's up to see how they compare to the songs that won and be representing their nations.

ALBANIA:  Rrëfehem -  Lidia Lufi

Comparing the runner up for Albania is not easy as the song is very different to winner. The song is interesting, has drama and a lady with a decent voice. I don’t think it compares to the song that won this year, This song is more stunted and has the weird pause music through it that I don’t enjoy.

AUSTRALIA:  2000 And Whatever - Electric fields

A great many people enjoy this song. I have stated many times that I love Kate and her performance. I have come to appreciate 2000 and whatever more since I saw the live performance. I like the indigenous words and the beat of the song, They probably needed to tune the song a little more so everything was clearer.

BELARUS: Champion -  BLGN & Mirex

It’s a very different option to what you expect from Belarus. Maybe if it succeeded it would have stood out. Nice deep voice, good upbeat tune which would have been attractive to the audience.

CROATIA: Tower or Babylon - Lorena Bućan

A very different song to The Dream and if I am to be honest, a better song. Much more lively, much more interesting, a better beat, a much more attractive singer. It is very verbal and Lorena doesn't see like she is keeping up. Maybe needed a better voice.

CZECHIA - True colors - Barbara Mochowa

Upon Further Reflection - A Dark and Stormy Knight Runners-up

May your applause fall in torrents-except at occasional intervals, where it is checked by a violent gust of wind which has swept up our runners this week (for they are @batatafilosofal, @deg99, and @hypexion!)

Guardian of Peace // Instigator of Chaos - @batatafilosofal I love where you're coming from with these, and I adore the flavor of this apparent hypothetical Ravnica-type situation. That said, part of me wishes the cast triggers were swapped? Hear me out here: While the Guardian of Peace detaining things very much makes flavor sense, practically speaking I don't think you'd ever really need to temporarily Arrest anything when you can just fly over any blockers and throw five toughness in front of any attackers. Whereas the Instigator would love nothing more than to make sure that This Thing Can't Block Right Now. Certainly, goad can tap things down, and 4/3 isn't terrible stats for blocking, but that all requires waiting at least a turn and the word 'haste' here really screams to me that this would much prefer to be attacking Right Now, Actually. And the 2/5 I am sure would adore being able to aggravate small things into attacking into its giant durable body more than anything. To be clear, I don't think you made any wrong decisions by placing the abilities where you did, I just find it interesting that they would most likely synergise better with the opposing trigger. The cards work plenty fine as-is, but that piqued my interest. Finally, I do have some very tiny concerns about being able to detain things at instant speed for the low low price of casting one blue spell. It's proooooobably fine when attached to a four mana double-white uncommon? I've definitely done more heinous things with a set of Snare Tacticians, and that card is probably a bit easier to trigger than this one is, so you're probably safe, but still. Regardless, lovely set of cards this week, these two definitely gave me a lot to think about.

Mist Sentry // Miststrider - @deg99 As much as I have previously expressed a distaste for Skulk, it works well enough here that I'm willing to look past my seven-year-long resentment of the mechanic in order to appreciate what you're doing here. I love that you've managed to construct something simple enough to fit in the common rarity, and I absolutely adore that you've invoked a lesser known property of the White Knight/Black Knight relationship, which is that both parties are fully confident that they could easily beat their rival in combat, but can never actually prove this because they can never actually fight each other, so in spite of the shared vigilance all they can ever do is stare at each other from a socially acceptable distance, thinking, "Oh I could so totally beat that guy." Absolutely immaculate, I love them both dearly, excellent work.

Sucker for Plane - Runners-Up

@curiooftheheart — Saheeli's Beacon Some people might have noticed that I'm a sucker for flavor. Having cards that make the worlds of magic feel like a living place really entices me, as well as cards depicting characters acting in the world they're put in. This is a brilliant card that really pulls together lore and mechanics and a design that I already really like (Eldrazi Monument) into something I think would be really fun to play.

@piccadilly-blue — Dive In Wild to think that guy has a kid now. This is a weird one. but the wording "chaos ensues on" is already on a card. It also presumes that you're playing with the variant rule of Planechase, something that I'm going to address in the main commentary and really do apologize for not clearing up, but still I think this works as a planar Chain of Smog. The beginning should probably read "Reveal the top card," but aside from that there's not much to say.

@izzet-always-r-versus-u — Mine Through the World This entry is really cool, and not just because I've been on a Minecraft binge lately. I think that this is really flavorful, and makes use of the mechanics super well. I can honestly see this in like, a precon, and not even one specifically focused on Planechase. My favorite part of it is actually how non-random it is, despite wanting a lot of dice rolling. You still get to choose how much life you choose, and that's why it's here. Also, where's [name of urza's grandkid who got in a phyrexian portal whose name I can't look up because scryfall is down for maitenance]?

To Sleep - Expiration Date Runners-up

A deathly but still somehow congratulatory silence for our runners-up this week: @izzet-always-r-versus-u, @nine-effing-hells, and @yd12k!

Temporal Displacement - @izzet-always-r-versus-u Gotta say that 'Old Age' is not a cause of death I expected to see this week, nor would I have expected to find it so compelling, but here we are, with some assistance from time-travel shenanigans. I will not lie, it did take me a couple reads to figure out that you could, actually, use this to flicker your own stuff, without any concerns about adverse aging, and I do very much appreciate the flexibility that grants the card. I am a little afraid that it might be a bit too above rate as a result, though, given that they've done enough flicker at 2 mana that having it also double as a removal spell feels a little aggressive, cost-wise. Absolutely adore the flavor text though. Nice and snappy, doesn't feel like it needs to explain much more what is happening, I'm a fan.

Fall Into the Gears - @nine-effing-hells This week is gonna be a lot of me fawning over flavor text if I'm being honest. So please do not be surprised when I say Good Lord How Many People Have Fallen Into the Gears Already, Someone Call Fantasy OSHA, Please. Absolutely adore that flavor text. The name leaves no room for interpretation as to the cause of death, and you've done a delightful job of using the italics to paint in a bit of detail about the world this is set in (namely, that it is Unsafe, which I suppose is true of most Magic settings, but very few of those involve workplace hazards, so it balances I think). All that said, I do think it could use a bit more love mechanically. Tapping an artifact to grind something to death is lovely and all, but the amount of setup required to make this sorcery-speed two mana removal spell work in the first place feels a bit high to me. Certainly, mana-value-scaling cards like this can get a little crazy, but that craziness feels very much constrained already by the fact that this cannot go face, so I do think you could've maybe gotten away with making this a little cheaper, or at the very least given it a base amount of damage and have the size of the artifact be a nice lil bonus, maybe a little like Welding Sparks. Falling into gears is still gonna hurt even if they're stationary, I figure.

May of the Mechanism - March Madness Runners-Up

Raise the stakes in honor of this weeks’ runners-up: @deg99, @nine-effing-hells, and @squeezyboi!

Golden-Scale Flamespitter - @deg99 Flametongue Kavu is back! And it's more terrifying and Dinosaur-shaped than ever. While scaling nonplayer damage is definitely among the safer effects to put at low mana values, and while most of the rares in this set do seem a bit on the high end of the power scale, this thing definitely feels like it's toeing the line as far as Being A Fair Magic Card is concerned. Certainly, it can't get much more egregious than your average Nekrataal, but I am a little afraid of the potential tempo this could generate in constructed formats, never mind how many limited games it could probably win you. Regardless, it is a very interesting spin on the convoke scaling mechanic seen on a few other rares in the set, even if the numbers may or may not need renumbering slightly.

Sigilboon Hydra - @nine-effing-hells Moving on from powerful rares to similarly powerful mythics, we have this delightful friend from Alara. I adore the use of backup X on a Hydra, honestly, that's the main thing that grabbed me about this card in particular. Something about that space feels simultaneously so obvious and yet strangely unexplored yet still satisfying to see delivered upon. The thing that makes me quake in my boots (and what likely makes this an appropriate mythic for the set) is that the backup effectively gives this absolute beast secret haste and vigilance if you just happen to have another attacker available, although just getting to double up on your counters is also a more than viable option. All that said, Voracious Hydra tells me that this probably not too far off from where the card wants to be mana-value wise, so you're probably good there? Honestly this is just a nice, clean, simple card that still effortlessly manages to feel very mythic, and I feel I should commend you for that.

Sole Mates - Hit Singles Runners-up

With full apologies for lateness, our runners-up this week: @dimestoretajic, @i-am-the-one-who-wololoes, and @stareyedesper!

Jinzu, Lonely General - @dimestoretajic Gotta say, I had some trouble grasping the intent of this card at first, but the more I look at it the more I like it. I appreciate how the indestructibility supports you using this guy to go wide or tall, and I absolutely adore the flavor here. All that said, I do still have some reservations about the potential feel-bads of this potentially losing indestructible mid-combat, in the event that you elect to attack with everything, or if your opponents happen to have enough removal to give your General exactly enough friends to where he starts feeling vulnerable. Regardless, I do think he's neat, and I'd love to build a deck with him and that one Hero's Blade riff that someone else submitted.

Ashark the Scavenger - @i-am-the-one-who-wololoes Just generally a big fan of this Askeleton, though I am a little disappointed that it lies about being a shark. While there aren't an amazing amount of Partners That Mill You, there are I think enough other respectable synergies in the partner pool for this druid of deception to get by with only self-mill in the 98. And to be perfectly honest, I think it's powerful enough at synergising with said milling to be a worthwhile inclusion regardless. Getting to double your mill effectiveness is just plain helpful in 100 card formats, and getting to recur stuff is delicious icing on this decidedly sharkless cake. I may be biased here, honestly. But I do really just want this card to exist, and I think that's at least worth something.

Wilding Out - Woe Tidings Runners Up

Congratulations to this week's runners-up — @stupidstupidratcreatures, @snugz, and @lanabutnotdelray!

@stupidstupidratcreatures — The Princess's Frogs

I noticed this during the week, and I have to say that this is a wonderful version of Heartless Summoning or Blood Funnel updated to use roles. This is a great include for enchantment, aura, and bargain decks, and I think this would be really great in a cube with Paraselene. The only reason that this is a runner instead of a winner is that it seems like it hasn't been done reasonably since original Ravnica.

@snugz — Provocative Party-Goer

Another lovely common, this time marrying the archetype that I was most excited for and the one I actually ran in prerelease. (WU Tapping down and RW Celeration, reaspectively) I think it's definitely on the upper end of commons, but that's not a deal breaker. Unfortunately, there's no real way to shove the other two white archetypes into this while keeping this common, which is what made me want to put it in the Runners

@lanabutnotdelray — Sheriff of Wealdrum

Another card that uses the bargain not-keyword, I love the mechanic tied with the Robin Hood flavoring you gave it. It's a lot worse against Bargain decks, but this being the same world that gave us a cycle of cards that hated on their own color, I think it passes. I also really like the Imodane reference in there, what with her status as a warlord for a bit. The only reason this is a runner rather than winner is that this is... very annoying to play against. That, and you missed the chance to make this a Knight! Why not a Knight? In the Knight place? With Knights! Knights!

Thanks for bearing with me y'alls, I'll try to do a little commentary each day so that I can get it out reasonably. In the meantime, have fun with the new contest.