The Next Phase
Congratulations to our runners-up for this week: @starch255 for most unique answer to the prompt, @askkrenko for coolest card, and @misterstingyjackĀ for best overall design.
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@starch255 - Overzealous Janitors
Love the bit of levity there. In my blog post, I mentioned cleanup step as one of the steps not to mess with, though adding extra is better than removing them. I was surprised at how this card actually does a pretty fine job of adding more. It will get confusing to be sure, since the turn will end multiple times before it ends, but thatās just what happens. Somehow, doing a cleanup step after every step feels easier than doing it just once. This definitely feels like a real stretch into silver-border territory, but I donāt quite think itās too far in that direction. As for how the card actually functions, it seems... fine? You could try and build around it, but thereās not a ton of ways to abuse it. It really seems more like a hate card, shutting off things like Overrun and Falter, which is probably why you put it in white. Such a weird card, and will cause some headaches, but what else is a commander set for? This card is somehow right in the middle of incrediby complex and doesnāt do anything, and for that it seems the perfect runner-up for unique entry.
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@askkrenko - Melekās Mastery
My boy! I love Melek and miss him dearly. This is a really cool card that I canāt decide if itās too strong or not. Comparing it to thousand year storm or swarm intelligence it seems about on the level, but the extra damage from permanents is harder to judge. Skipping combat is a great way to signpost this as a spellslinger card, and if youāre just using it as a cheaper swarm intelligence it has no real downside. The last ability is really cool, but the templating is off a bit (āIf a permanent you control would deal noncombat damage to a permanent or player, it deals double that damage to that permanent or player insteadā). This is such a weird (pun intended) but powerful card, and I think itās a great way to trade off an important phase for a powerful effect. Out of all of the cards entered this week, this is the one I would most want to play personally.
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@misterstingyjack - Restrategize
Wow, this is the sort of card Iām shocked doesnāt exist! Itās a lot of text to just say ārewind to the beginning of combat.ā I think this is a really cool effect both for itās assumed usage, changing your mind about how you want to attack, and also the more combo-y usage of retriggering attack triggers. It reminds me of a flicker effect in that way: a clear intended purpose but with a lot of possible upside. I also like what it does in multiplayer formats like Commander Legends, where this lets you choose to attack different players, or get attack triggers like Hellriderās off at different opponents. My biggest complaint is the mana cost. Youāre going to be getting very little value out of this most of the time. If your opponent tries to blow you out with a pump spell, this can serve as a self-fog, but still doesnāt help against most removal. Itās also going to be a dead card if youāre on the defensive or have a small board. I think At two or even one mana this card would be fine, especially for a supplemental set. But itās hard to say that Iām totally right on that, and everything else about the card is impressive, both in the effect and the very well written templating. I highly expect weāll see a card like this some day in print.
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Thank you again everyone, and another hearty congratulations to our winners and runners-up. Commentary will be up in just a moment.
-Mod Mr. ShinyObject















