Weekend Art ChallengeClick 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.
I'm busy at Origins right now, but I prepped this challenge ahead of time. I hope that you all will try to give each other more feedback in my absence.
We're still in Tesla. My only requirement for this design is that it tells a story and/or sparks the player's imagination. To me, this art suggests many fascinating possibilities and I'm eager to see where each of you go with it. Appealing to Vorthos is this card's number one priority. Bonus points for either seriously kick-ass flavor text, or rules flavor so strong we don't need flavor text.
Surveyor's Landscape
ReplyDeleteLand - R
T: Add 1 to your mana pool.
When a land you control is destroyed, Survey. (To survey, reveal the top X cards of your library, where X is equal to the amount of land cards in your graveyard. Put all artifacts revealed this way into your hand and the rest into your graveyard.)
"Tesla's own lost and found was right beneath our feet"
The above design was after some consideration but not based on my initial reaction to the art. Something that closer resembles my immediate thoughts would be:
DeleteLandscape Investigation 1G
Sorcery - C
Choose artifacts or lands. Reveal the top 5 cards of your library and put all revealed cards of the chosen type into your hand and the rest on the bottom of your library in any order.
"Step 1: Know what you're looking for." - Surveyor's Guide to Teslan Treasurehunting
Green doesn't look for artifacts - that's blue's shtick. Land or creatures for Green.
DeleteI agree with zefferal. Additionally, survey seems too narrow for keywording. Just how many cards want to care about both lands in graveyard and the artifact density of your deck?
DeleteJust as Scars put metalcraft on Carapace Forger, we should strongly consider the possibility that green isn't just the anti-artifacts color in Tesla like it was in the original Mirrodin and previous artifact-heavy blocks.
DeleteIt's definitely true that a card like Landscape Investigation would normally be searching for lands and/or creatures, and while it does feel funny to consider artifacts here, it's something we should consider.
If Tesla ends up being The Factory Plane, we probably do want green to hate artifacts. If it ends up being a plane where artifacts grow on trees, we could swing that pendulum and make green love artifacts for a while. In retrospect, that seems like a big missed opportunity for Mirrodin, what with its copper trees and all.
My first thoughts when I saw this was the absurd:
ReplyDeleteWoodland Reformation
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant Artifact
Enchanted Artifact is a land and a forest in addition to it's other types.
Then I started to think seriously on what I saw. What is this forest was entirely artificial. So I came to:
Fake Plastic Trees 2
Artifact
T: Add G to your mana pool.
2, T: Target creature gains forestwalk and hexproof until the end of turn.
"as we progressed we left nature behind, only for absence to make the heart grow fonder" - Tahic, Elfborg Elder
Still pretty bad.
So then there's a third interpretation. A basic scout, locating a lost tracker that went off the grid, discovering a world long thought lost. The flavour text could easily convey this story, but I want a instant/sorcery that helps it.
Undiscovered Lands G
Sorcery
As an additional cost to cast CARDNAME, place an artifact you control on the bottom of your library.
Search your library for a land card that does not share a name with a land you control, reveal it and place onto the battlefield tapped. Then shuffle your library.
Artifacts with a green ramp spell. Go figure. (And yeah I do intend the artifact to be shuffled into the library)
Are you going with the last one? Is it uncommon or rare?
DeleteSeems like it's only good if you've got a nice helping of 0-mana artifacts in your deck...
Desolate Crashsite
ReplyDeleteLand - U
T, Exile a card from your graveyard: Add 1 to your mana pool. If the exiled card was an artifact, add one mana of any color to your mana pool instead.
“Scout pod 5XQZ reporting in. Area completely abandoned; no survivors.”
I'm not sure whether a land that needs cards in your graveyard to work is going to be that playable. Perhaps we could keep the big upside "exile an artifact, get any colour" but let it tap normally, such as:
DeleteDesolate Crashsite
Land - U
T: Add 1 to your mana pool.
T, Exile an artifact card from your graveyard: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool instead.
“Scout pod 5XQZ reporting in. Area completely abandoned; no survivors.”
Yeah, that def. makes it more playable, probably better overall as well.
DeleteFirst a question: what program do you use to format the submissions into the magic card format?
ReplyDeleteThen a submission:
Evanescence Engine 3{2/G]{2/G}
When Evanescence Engine comes into play, return all land cards from your graveyard to play.
Whenever you tap a land for mana it produces double that mana.
[i]Seconds after its activation the desolate moor was covered with vegetation[/i]
Magic Set Editor
DeleteI'm going to take a stab that this is a mythic rare enchantment. Both effects are very strong and getting the complete package for 5 mana this is potentially overpowered. The second sunrise effect wants me want some white splashed in there, but the mana is already pretty complex. A simple 3GW cost probably makes this OK.
DeleteYup. MSE. A must have for every Magic designer.
DeleteI'm guessing artifact, but I agree this is strong enough (in a deck that puts lots of land/cards in its own graveyard) to be mythic.
Fading, would you like to clarify?
I'm always cautious with cards like this. The fact that their more powerful effect looks dependent upon one that needs to be built around leads a lot of players to be disappointed with it even when it's doing good work. People want to feel like they're getting their full card effect, which can lead them to leave Breaking//Entering out of their mill deck because they're not running red.
DeleteSorry, yes Evanescence Engine was a mythic artefact (probably a legendary one too)! Well guessed.
DeleteI agree that the mechanic might be a bit deceptive, but I felt inspired by the art, thinking of what a machine that returns a desolate landscape to a fertile state would do...
Suspicious Cache - R
ReplyDeleteSorcery (Rare)
Flip a coin.
If you win, put three +1/+1 counters on target creature and draw a card.
If you lose, target opponent chooses a land and a creature you control. Sacrifice those permanents.
"The Daxi were notorious for booby-trapping their escape pods after a crash, but that seldom discouragd Gavindi scavangers after valuable scrap."
I like the flavour and originality here but I can't help feel that the downside, particularly the way it can help my opponent destroy indestructible/hexproof permanents would mean it's a card I be happier to see my opponent play, than actually play myself. How far do you think you could increase the upside?
DeleteThere's a lot going on here and most of it is questionable. Red card draw, the opponent choosing, the land being affected, sacrifice, etc. Consider one of these?
DeleteSuspicious Cache R
Sorcery (unc)
Flip a coin.
If you win, put three +1/+1 counters on target creature. Otherwise, CARDNAME deals 3 damage to that creature.
Suspicious Cache 2
Artifact-Equipment(unc)
Equipped creature gets +3/+3.
Whenever CARDNAME equips a creature, flip a coin. If you lose the flip, sacrifice that creature.
Equip 2
Relying on flavor text to tell a story is a crutch. Let's try to be as Vorthosian as we can without it.
ReplyDeleteCrashpod Explorer (uncommon)
(G/W)(G/W)(G/W)
Creature - Human Scout
When you cast CARDNAME, search your library for a basic land card and put that card onto the battlefield tapped. Then shuffle your library.
When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, put a Scrap artifact token onto the battlefield.
1/1
This pretty much gives us everything we see in the picture, but it does require us to have lots of other cards in the set that care about Scrap artifacts. Should WWW really get us Farhaven Elf?
DeleteTime Capsule - 1
ReplyDeleteArtifact
When ~ ETB, search your library for a card and exile it face down. Transform ~, then shuffle it into your library.
----
Remnants of a Lost Society
Artifact
If ~ would be placed into your hand, graveyard, or exile from your library, instead reveal ~ and put ~ onto the battlefield.
When ~ ETB, you may cast all cards exiled by cards name Time Capsule without paying their mana cost.
T: Transform ~ and shuffle it into your library.
I'm not sure what I just read, but I kind of love it. But beware, the set is already using DFCs in a slightly different way.
DeleteThis card would require the rules to be rewritten so that cards can remain "night side up" while in your library, which would have undesirable implications when applied to other transform cards (for example, my Howlpack Alpha gets Ousted. When I draw it again, I can't cast it, because it no longer has the mana cost of Mayor of Avabruck).
DeleteMaybe a turns requirement (upkeep trigger?) to represent the passage of time?
Keep the INN transform cards with Day / Night Symbols.
DeleteGive these Artifacts On // Off symbols. You can then do SolForge style upgrade cards. The cards have to be off unless specifically turned on in game.
Upgrade Worker - 2
Artifact Creature - Construct
Upgrade - When ~ dies, instead transform ~ and shuffle it into your library.
-----
Factory Boss - 2 2/U
Artifact Creature - Construct
Upgraded artifacts cost 2 less to cast.
2/3
So many logistical problems, but they did DFCs, so who knows.
DeleteI think I may have found a way to capture the original intent of Time Capsule in a less gimmicky way:
Time Capsule 1
Artifact R
When ~ ETB, cast all cards exiled with cards named ~ without paying their mana costs. Then search your library for a card and exile it face down.
T: Shuffle ~ into your library.
I love this idea as a use for DFCs. It would require some tweaks to the rules, and something to distinguish between INN DFCs, but the upside may well justify it. What ultimately kills this idea for me in Tesla is the fact that we're already using DFCs in another way: It would waste DFC "newness" to use both in the same set.
DeleteZefferal's template does a good job recreating your intent using standard tech.
Purely for the fun of sharing wacky ideas, here are two other zany ways to do it that would also require new rules solutions:
Time Capsule 1
Artifact R
1, T, Sacrifice ~: Search your library for a card and shuffle it into your library, face up. When it is on top of your library, you may cast it without paying its mana cost.
Time Capsule 1
Artifact R
1, T, Sacrifice ~: Search your library for a card, put a time sticker on it and shuffle it into your library. The sticker has "You may remove this sticker from a card to cast it without paying its mana cost."
Here's the template I'm proposing:
DeleteWhen Time Capsule enters the battlefield, cast each card you own exiled by cards named Time Capsule without paying their mana costs.
T: Search your library for a card and exile it face down. Shuffle Time Capsule into your library.
Two ideas for this week, seeking feedback:
ReplyDeleteInto the Unknown (1G)
Sorcery (Rare)
Look at the top X cards of your library, where X is the number of lands you control. You may reveal a land card from among them and put it onto the battlefield. Then shuffle your library.
(No flavor text because it wouldn't fit.)
Nature's Endurance 3G
Enchantment (Unc)
Whenever an artifact is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, you may pay 1G. If you do, search your library for a basic land card and put it onto the battlefield, then shuffle your library.
Flavor text:
Did a life end here, or was a new life born?
I don't like into the unknown mostly because it's potential to hit is inversely proportional to its usefulness. I also don't like it with this card - are you really going to find a land hidden in the hatch?
DeleteNature's Endurance is a much better match for the art and a cool mechanic.
Uncovered Oubliette 3
ReplyDeleteArtifact (R)
Whenever a creature attacks you, you may sacrifice CARDNAME. If you do, you may cast an artifact card you own from outside the game.
"His ancestors lost their lives fighting to seal the mechs away. He doomed his world when he rediscovered them."
In this vision, the robots were an ancient society's hubris, sealed underground by their creators after a costly war. Millenia later, the robot myth is largely forgotten, and when they're found and dug up, the results are disastrous.
That sounds awfully similar to the Eldrazi.
DeleteCuriosity's Quest
ReplyDeleteG
Sorcery (C)
Search your library for a Forest card, reveal it, and put it into your hand. Then shuffle your library.
Ilin didn’t know what called him to these woods, but when he saw the capsule, he knew he had found what he sought.
I tried to make the card as much of a self-contained story as possible.
I also really like designing common cards.
Feedback appreciated.
There's a pun here about losing the forest for the trees or something similar, but I'm not going to tease it out.
DeleteThe design loses the focus on the weird artificial thing in the middle. You told a story, and I think it's very clever, but ultimately, the dude is focused on the pod thingy, not the trees surrounding it.
I think the art plays up the landscape personally, but here's my compromise:
DeleteCuriosity's Quest
2GU
Sorcery (U)
Search your library for a land card or an aritfact card, reveal it, and put it into your hand. Then shuffle your library.
Ilin didn’t know what called him to these woods, but when he saw the capsule, he knew he had found what he sought.
I think this would fit into Tesla quite nicely.
I zoomed way in on the art:
ReplyDeleteVeteran Test Pilot (Rare)
(2/R)(2/R)(2/R)
Artifact Creature - Construct
2/2
Other Construct creatures you control have haste. (They can attack and T as soon as they come under your control.)
2/R, T: You may put a Construct creature card from your hand onto the battlefield. Sacrifice that creature or Veteran Test Pilot at the beginning of the next end step.
Cool card, neat take on the picture. The only change I might consider is giving this guy haste as well, but perhaps that is pushing the power level a bit too much.
DeleteThe cost seems appropriate for the name and the power level of the ability, but the ability seems like it belongs to an Amateur Test Pilot, since he's always crashing his mech.
DeleteBut it's a controlled crash, since he can choose whether the mech is toast or he is. I guess I was thinking of a Crash Test Pilot, where destruction was inevitable.
DeleteChange the name to Crash Test Pilot if it's not too late to lock in.
Nature's Claim G
ReplyDeleteInstant (U)
Destroy target artifact or enchantment. Its controller gains 4 life.
... That gutsy enough for you? Without flavor text? :)
I had exactly the same thought!
DeleteTime Capsule 4
ReplyDeleteArtifact (R)
When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, exile any number of cards from your graveyard and put that many time counters on CARDNAME.
Whenever a card is put into your graveyard from anywhere, remove a time counter from CARDNAME. When the last is removed, sacrifice CARDNAME and return all cards exiled by it to your hand.
I'd either make this card suspendable or use a different name for counters. Is buried counters taken by something? I think this card would work at uncommon.
DeleteI vote for eon counters. (And I like the design a lot. Though maybe the capsule should exile itself? Things could get pretty crazy with two of these in play.)
DeleteExcellent suggestions! Spruced up version for submission:
DeleteTime Capsule 4
Artifact (R)
When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, exile any number of cards from your graveyard and put that many eon counters on CARDNAME.
Whenever a card is put into your graveyard from anywhere, remove an eon counter from CARDNAME. When the last is removed, exile CARDNAME and return all other cards exiled by it to your hand.
Time Capsule is neat, but it seems pretty easy to abuse massively. I'm not even sure playing it 'fair' is balanced.
DeleteTabula rasa GGGGGG
ReplyDeleteSorcery (M)
Shuffle your hand, graveyard, and permanents you own into your library.
You get an emblem with "At the beginning of your draw step, draw two additional cards. You may play up to two additional lands on each of your turns.
"Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible." -Saint Francis of Assisi
When I saw this art my first thought was that the guy had crash landed and was beginning his/her life again, only this time with far more possibilities.
DeleteHence the rather over the top card.
My only problem: this should cost UUUUUU. That and emblem's are a Planeswalker-only thing: http://dougbeyermtg.tumblr.com/post/52684565243/matt-tabak-said-on-his-blog-that-emblems-are-tied
DeleteIf you do make it blue, I would drop the additional land plays.
I don't think it necessarily has to be blue. Green has been known to get card-draw effects, and the flavor match is much better. I agree with Ben that the emblem and the land plays aren't quite right, though. What about replacing with the emblem text with:
Delete"Draw seven cards. You may play any number of lands this turn."
Different, I know, but probably easier to keep track of.
I don't think emblems have to be restricted to planes walkers. I feel like they're the aftermath of a particularly power spell (i.e. a planes walkers ultimate) and so could see print on big splashy mythic spells every once in a while.
DeleteAs to the colour it was originally WWUUUGG but I'm not sure where white fits in and I agree with Ipaulsen that card draw can be a mono-green thing.
Mechanically, this could be green, but the concept of Tabula Rasa is an expressly blue philosophy. That said, this can't be mono-blue mechanically (because blue doesn't get extra land drops), so I guess the card should either be blue-green or have a new name. Perhaps, "Start Again" "Born Again" "Start Fresh" "New Life"
DeleteI agree that emblems don't absolutely have to be restricted to planeswalkers (though exceptions should be rare and well justified). That said, this particularly spell feels like a planeswalker's ultimate ability to me.
If the card were to be WWUUUGG, the white part could be "Your life total becomes 20".
DeleteNot Alone (Rare)
ReplyDelete1GG
Sorcery
Search your library for a card and exile it face down.
Whenever an opponent casts a spell, you may reveal the exiled card. If it's a creature card with converted mana cost less than or equal to the spell's converted mana cost, you may put that card onto the battlefield under your control.
Inspired by the fact that there are already footprints leading *away* from the capsule (apparently someone else's). What else might have arrived on this plane? This version might be too wordy, though. Feedback welcome and appreciated.
Delete"Less than or equal" makes the card easy to use. I think too easy. At that point, I can search up a Dark Confidant and get it for free 98% of the time. If it's just "equal to" then it becomes a challenge for both players to guess what the other's thinking, and succeeding will feel better when it happens.
DeleteThanks for the suggestion! That actually makes it template a lot more nicely, and might allow it to cost less. I'm also removing an unnecessary "may" clause. Changed version:
DeleteNot Alone (Rare)
GG
Sorcery
Search your library for a card and exile it face down.
Whenever an opponent casts a spell, you may reveal the exiled card. If it's a creature card with the same converted mana cost, put it onto the battlefield under your control.
*same converted mana cost "as the spell"
DeleteSojourner Golem (Rare)
ReplyDelete5
Artifact Creature - Golem
At the beginning of your upkeep, choose target nonartifact creature or noncreature artifact. You may have CARDNAME become a copy of that permanent. If you do, CARDNAME gains this ability.
2/2
Flavor text: "It existed between the living and the inanimate, often blurring both boundaries."
DeleteWhy can't it become an artifact creature? (I like the design well enough, and the symmetry of the wording is neat, but I don't get the flavor.)
DeleteI don't get that either.
DeleteI guess my impression of the piece was the robot looking at this foreign artifact surrounded by nature and he feels like he is neither, so he instead becomes one or the other. He is just lonely and wants to belong. :-(
Delete