Friday, May 31, 2013

Weekend Art Challenge 053113—eWKn

Weekend Art Challenge
Click through to see this weekend's art and the design requirements for your card submission, due Monday morning. Every submission warrants feedback, which I will try to provide, and which everyone is welcome to provide as well.

If you choose, you may use that feedback to revise your submission any number of times. I will post and review the most recent submission from each designer some time on Monday, life permitting. To help ensure I recreate your design accurately, please use CARDNAME instead of ~ and don't use the {} symbol images in your submissions.


This week we're back in Tesla, a world for which many ideas have been suggested, but the only thing set in stone is the presence of giant robot-like mecha. The challenge is to create a land card. You have free reign from there. Will you make a splash rare? A build-around uncommon? A keyworded common? Something completely different? Don't be shy. Think as far outside the box as you like.

Bonus points if there's something ironic about your design.


75 comments:

  1. Do we reply in the comments section with our ideas or submit them somewhere else?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Reply here. Check the archive for past challenges.

      Delete
  2. Mountain
    Land
    (T: Add R to your mana pool.)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You're thinking of (T: Add U to your mana pool.)

      Delete
    2. Whoops, unintentionally nerfed it a bit:

      Mountain
      Basic Land - Mountain
      (T: Add R to your mana pool.)

      Delete
  3. Decrepit Factory
    Land - Uncommon
    (CARDNAME enters the battlefield tapped.
    T: add 1 to your mana pool.
    T, Sacrifice CARDNAME: Add 1 to your mana pool for each artifact you control.)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This reads fine, but I don't imagine it prospering in any Constructed deck except a degenerate artifact combo deck. How do you imagine it playing in Limited?

      Delete
  4. May look for some others later, but my first inclination:

    Salvaging Plant
    Land (U)
    T: Add 1 to your mana pool.
    3, T, Sacrifice an artifact: Put target artifact card in your graveyard on top of your library.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Trash for Treasure on a stick, eh?
      I like how you hid the card cost.

      Delete
  5. Brutalist Paradise
    Land - Rare
    2, T: Add 4 to your mana pool.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Seems familiar...
      (and a good fit)

      Delete
    2. Less clean, and only appealing to Melvin, but

      Brutalist Wharf
      Land
      T: Add 1 to your mana pool.
      2/U 2/U, T: Add 3U to your mana pool.

      could exist if you wanted a five-land cycle, or had a Lead Developer who insisted that all lands need tap for mana. The hoop/payoff is much less convincing, though.

      Delete
    3. Weird that I can pay for 4 for 3U.
      Also, the simple version does tap for mana, just not on its own. But I'm not sure that's requirement.

      Delete
    4. Hmm I like this idea a lot.

      Island Factory
      Land - Factory
      T: Add 1 to your mana pool.
      2/U 2/I, T: Add 2UU to your mana pool.

      What I like about this is the options:
      You can tap for 1
      You can pay UU for 2UU as a mana boost.
      You can pay 2U for 2UU for it to be an island and
      You can pay 4 for 2UU as a type of "fixing"

      Could do a cycle of these.

      Delete
    5. Right, despite Grand Architect and Apprentice Wizard, I'd really only do it as a five color cycle to help heavy artifacts while still doing some color fixing, single-color-grotto style. If you do this, doing it as 2CC rather than 3C is definitely right.

      The question comes, if your deck is split evenly UB with a number of artifacts, do you play this?

      Delete
    6. Also my real submission (for the challenge) is the first one.

      Delete
  6. "Think as far outside the box as you like," Jay says, and now I'm really resisting the urge to make a planeswalker land.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Graceland
      Legendary Snow Tribal Artifact Planeswalker Land - Germ Tezzeret Island (cmn)
      (T: Add U to your mana pool)
      Whenever an equipment enters the battlefield under your control, put an 0/1 black Germ creature token onto the battlefield under your control and attach that equipment to it.
      -1: Shuffle your library.
      Starting loyalty: 1
      "I am a rock; I am an iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiisland"

      Delete
    2. The static ability is actually really cool. Shame there are so many other words there.

      Delete
    3. You said think outside the box...

      Delete
  7. You all better bring your A game, because I just brainstormed 7 distinct ideas for this.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Westinghouse Mechworks
    Land - Uncommon
    T: Add 1 to your mana pool
    2, T, Sacrifice an artifact you control: Choose target untransformed Construct creature with Head or Body that you control. Put a Module artifact creature token into play under your control, then untap and transform the chosen creature and connect it to the Module token. If the connected creature does not have a power and toughness, it becomes a 3/3.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 1) I have no idea if this will fit on a card.
      2) The mech terminology is still being shored up (are they head constructs or do they have "head"; do they connect, join, transform, flip, etc.), but I hope the intent carries through.
      3) Can also be named ConEd Mechworks for the ironies.
      4) The token that we'd put in the packs would be two-sided one side lining up like the heads do and the other lining up like the bodies do.

      Delete
    2. I figured it would be up there. The mech's in their current form just have too much rules baggage to make a card that simulates parts. Here's crack number 2, an imprint variant which doesn't say imprint on it (because who needs another artifact set with imprint)

      Westinghouse Mechworks
      Land - Rare
      T: Add 1 to your mana pool.
      CARDNAME enters the battlefield tapped.
      When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, search your library for an artifact card with Head or Body and exile it.
      5, T: Put a token into play that is a copy of the exiled card (both sides are copied).

      ---

      5 may be too cheap, but TDP.

      Delete
  9. Factory
    Land - Factory
    T: add 1 to your mana pool
    1, T: Assemble a Contraption

    ReplyDelete
  10. Bleak Workhouse
    Land (R)
    Bleak Workhouse enters the battlefield tapped.
    T, Sacrifice a nonartifact creature: Add BBB to your mana pool. Spend this mana only to cast artifact spells.
    Flavor text:
    "One of our finest mechs, you say? Even if it costs me an arm and a leg, I'll have it to you before sundown!"

    It originally had a normal T: Add B mana ability, but I wanted to fit in the flavor text. It's probably less broken this way, anyhow.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. As a one-off, I like it. Should appeal to the older formats.

      Delete
  11. Automated Production Plant (U)
    Land
    T: Add [1] to your mana pool.
    T, tap an untapped artifact creatures you control: Add [2] to your mana pool.


    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The artifact restriction seems unnecessary for flavor: Can't a living worker do the same work?

      Delete
    2. I started off thinking about the shared mana producing design space between artifacts and lands. I didn't want the card to just have metalcraft or "metalcraft but..." so I thought it should be a land that gives some extra utility to your artifacts.

      Then I thought about a factory where the owner replaced his employees one by one with automatons, until one day he had no human workers left. Then the automatons realized that with their precision and inability to tire they didn't need to managed. And soon the last living factory worker, the owner himself, was thrown out on the streets.

      But I couldn't figure out a way to tell that story in the flavor text. The best I could do was a bit long:

      "He replaced his workers with automatons one by one. When he was done, his workforce realized they didn't need an overseer any more..."
      -Parable from the Green Tome

      Delete
  12. Disused Workshop (uncommon)
    Land
    When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, put a Scrap artifact token onto the battlefield.
    T: Add 1 to your mana pool.
    T, sacrifice an artifact: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If we can turn Scrap into a thing, maybe this would be a mechanic and other land that could show up alongside it:

      Powerstone Foundry
      Land - Rare
      Allocate (when this card enters the battlefield, exile any number of nonland cards you control. For each card exiled this way, put a charge counter on this card. When this card leaves the battlefield, return all cards exiled this way to the battlefield)
      T, Remove a charge counter from Powerstone Foundry: Add two mana in any combination of colors to your mana pool.

      ---

      A champion variant that shows dedication of a group of resources to a project. A set with scrap will likely have a few sac outlets to get rid of the thing once it's out of charge counters.

      Delete
    2. Seems unplayable in Limited without multiple sack effects.

      Delete
    3. Fair, but not every design needs to be playable in limited.

      Delete
  13. My first thought from the art was "Urza's Power Plant reprint," but this is a design challenge, not a "match the art to a card to reprint" challenge.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If it would be a perfect reprint for the set...

      Delete
  14. Overclock Factory
    Legendary Land - Mythic
    CARDNAME enters the battlefield tapped.
    At the beginning of each of your non-main phases, if CARDNAME is untapped, add 1 to your mana pool.
    ~The sound emanating from its depths constantly changes, but never stops.~

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I like where you're going with this, but do we really need mana in the untap phase?

      Delete
    2. Technically, anything that would trigger during the untap step triggers during the upkeep instead. So you'd get the mana at the right time to pay for an ability like cumulative upkeep.

      Considering that it's already legendary/ETBT, would it kill to have a "T: Add 1" ability as well? A land that I can't use to cast 90% of spells doesn't feel very mythic.

      Delete
    3. My version was:
      ETB tapped. T: Add 1. Each upkeep, add 1.

      Delete
    4. I misread this when I first saw it, and thought it triggered during each of your main phases instead. That seems like an interesting yet balanced variant: You only get 1 mana the turn you play it, and 2 split-up mana every other turn.

      Overclock Factory
      Land (R)
      At the beginning of each of your main phases, add 1 to your mana pool.

      Delete
  15. Clockwork Island
    Land
    CARDNAME enters the battlefield tapped.
    When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, you may untap another target land.
    T: Add U to your mana pool.

    Trying to capture "clockwork" flavor with tapping/untapping. Feedback welcome and appreciated.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Not sure how you went Island with this art, but I can imagine a set where this land is worth printing.

      Delete
    2. My bad, thought the greyish stuff in the foreground was waves. Changing to:

      Mire Factory
      Land
      CARDNAME enters the battlefield tapped.
      When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, you may untap another target land.
      T: Add B to your mana pool.

      Delete
    3. I think this is really interesting design space for land. Got a Plains and this card in your opening hand, and a creature that costs WW? No problem! I'm unsure if this should be common or uncommon.

      Delete
    4. Wow, those really can look like waves. Okay, I'm fine with U if you prefer.

      If this is fun enough at all (and I imagine it is), I'd prefer it at common, at least to start.

      Delete
    5. A cycle of these at common with various "T: Do something neat" lands at uncommon & rare sounds like a good start for a factory-feel.

      Delete
    6. I just realized that "haunted factory" is oozing with U/B flavor.

      Delete
  16. Coal Plant
    Land (C)
    CARDNAME enters the battlefield tapped.
    T: add 1 to your mana pool.
    Overtime (once on your turn you may untap this. It doesn't untap during your next untap step.)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Apart from memory issues, I like it.

      Delete
    2. Given the drawback of only producing colorless, I'm not sure this needs to ETB tapped. Nonetheless, Overtime is a cool mechanic if Tesla is indeed a battlecruiser set.

      Delete
    3. I tried some wordings for Overtime using counters, but they get awfully wordy. There's still a problem where you can use Overtime to double up on abilities one turn, next turn it doesn't untap in your untap step, but you can keep using Overtime every turn to untap, which wasn't really the intent.

      This version of Overtime lets you instead pay at the end of your turn to get a second shift out of the permanent.

      Coal Plant
      Land (C)
      T: add 1 to your mana pool.
      Overtime 0 (At the end of your turn, you may pay 0. If you do, untap this.)

      Delete
  17. My first instinct is something like this:

    Beaten Down Factory
    Land - Uncommon
    CARDNAME enters the battlefield tapped and doesn't untap during your untap step.
    Whenever an artifact enters the battlefield under your control, if it's the first artifact to enter the battlefield under your control this turn, untap CARDNAME.
    T: Add 1 mana of any colour to your mana pool.

    My last design also used enters the battlefield tapped and doesn't untap so I kinda want to do something different though. Thoughts?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The flavor is that the factory is only open after someone else has sold a manufactured good?

      Considering the drawbacks, so we need to limit the untap trigger?

      Delete
  18. Parts factory - Common
    Parts factory enters the battlefield tapped, with 2 charge counters on it.
    T, add C to your mana pool
    3,T: add a charge counter to Parts factory, or move a charge counter from Parts factory to an artifact creature.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Counters on a land + 2 (really, 3) abilities is quite complex for common land.

      Delete
  19. Factory Inc.
    Land (C)
    T: Add 1 to your mana pool.
    Clock in--T, tap an untapped creature you control: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool.
    "Eh, it's a living."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This design seems imminently printable, though perhaps not optimal in an artifact set.

      Delete
    2. "Tap an untapped artifact creature you control"?

      I just like the phrase clock-in. Although if I changed it to "Operate--", would it suddenly fit Tesla perfectly? (I don't think so)

      Delete
  20. Redoubt
    Land (U)
    T: Add 1 to your mana pool.
    4, T: Prevent all combat damage that would be dealt to target blocking creature this combat.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Malzra's Factory (Uncommon)
    Land
    T, Tap an untapped Assembly-Worker you control: Add 2 to your mana pool.
    As long as you have exactly two or three cards in hand, ~ is 2/2 colorless Assembly-Worker artifact land creature.
    Master Malzra’s newly revived clone was building an army to combat a foe he couldn’t recall.

    PS - If not for the irony in design thing, this would just have "T: Add 1 to your mana pool."

    PPS - Master Malzra was the alias Urza used when he was running Tolaria. See the Time Streams book for details.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'd be excited to see a "two or three" subtheme.

      Delete
  22. Neverending Factory (Common, maybe even in the basic land spot)
    Land
    T: Add 1 to your mana pool.
    A deck can have any number of cards named Neverending Factory.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Teslan Power Plant
    Land — Power-Plant
    T: Add 1 to your mana pool.
    T, Remove an ore counter from a permanent you control: Put a charge counter on target Tower.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. that's a lot of counters that don't do anything on their own...

      Delete
  24. Supply Factory
    Land (C)
    T: Add 1 to your mana pool.
    T: Add 2 to your mana pool if you control more than one permanent named Supply Factory.

    Sort of a fixed Cloudpost.

    ReplyDelete