Friday, November 18, 2016

Weekend Art Challenge 111816—cobaltplasma

Click through to see the illustration and design requirements for your single  card submission, due Monday morning. Every submission warrants feedback, which you may use to revise your submission any number of times. I will aim to review the most recent submission from each designer.


Design a card for this art.

48 comments:

  1. Riquet, the Planar Flame 1RR
    Planeswalker - Riquet
    +1: Until your next turn, deal 2 damage to any creature that attacks you or a Planeswalker you control
    -1: Until your next turn, whenever a land is tapped or untaps it deals 1 damage to its controller.
    -7: Destroy all nonred permanents
    [3]

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Actually "Until your next turn, whenever a land is tapped it deals 1 damage to its controller." Is way more fair

      Delete
    2. That +1 is an absurd level of protection on a 3 mana planeswalker.
      Is the -7 intended to include lands?

      Delete
    3. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    4. Riquet, the Planar Flame 2RR
      Planeswalker - Riquet
      +1: Until your next turn, Riquet deals 2 damage to any creature that attacks or blocks.
      -1: Until your next turn, whenever a land is tapped or untapped Riquet deals 1 damage to its controller.
      -7: Destroy all nonred permanents
      [3]

      Delete
    5. Yeah, that art is a bit too big for a 3 manas card v anyway

      Delete
    6. Riquet, the Planar Flame 2RR
      Planeswalker - Riquet
      +1: Until your next turn, Riquet deals 2 damage to any creature that attacks or blocks.
      -1: Until your next turn, whenever a land is tapped Riquet deals 1 damage to its controller.
      -3: Each opponent gets an emblem with "At the beginning of your upkeep, this deals 2 damage to you."
      [3]

      Delete
    7. REVIEW
      Riquet's first ability seems odd for red, in that it punishes you for attacking or blocking too. You'll mostly remember to do it after your attack step, but preventing you from blocking for your planeswalker sounds un-fun.

      Manabarbs is a neat ability for a PW, but it's so asymmetrical here: You just cast your spells first, then activate this. I guess you can only do that for three turns before having to take a break (assuming you can protect your PW), but that still seems sufficiently better than Manabarbs as to warrant greater cost.

      The emblem is cool, but being able to make that immediately for {2}{R}{R} seems too strong.

      Dev can tweak the numbers so this is fair. The effects are all very burn-y, so while they don't necessarily combo beyond killing your opponent's face, it does feel like a cohesive and evocative whole.

      Delete
    8. Riquet, the Planar Flame 3RR
      Planeswalker - Riquet
      +1: Until your next turn, Riquet deals 2 damage to any creature an opponent controls that attacks or blocks.
      -1: Until your next turn, whenever a land an opponent controls is tapped Riquet deals 1 damage to its controllet.
      -5: Each opponent gets an emblem with "At the beginning of your upkeep, this deals 3 damage to you."
      [3]

      Delete
    9. Nice.
      Should 'any creature' be 'each creature' or are you only hitting one?

      Delete
  2. Do we need to work with the aspect ratio of the art, or can we assume a card where the whole image is visible?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Flaming Projection
    1RR
    Sorcery - Uncommon
    Create a token that's a copy of target creature. It gains haste. Sacrifice it at the beginning of the next end step.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Heat Shimmer? http://magiccards.info/query?q=Heat+shimmer+&v=card&s=cname

      Delete
    2. Yeah. Heat Shimmer's cool. Given this art, I could even see:

      Ball of Flaming Projection
      RRR
      Sorcery - Uncommon
      Put a token that's a copy of target creature onto the battlefield, except it's a 6/1. That token has haste and "At the beginning of the end step, exile this permanent."

      Delete
    3. Oh! Yes, I love "heat shimmer, but it's a 6/1". That's so red!

      Delete
  4. Spirit of Flame
    4RR (UNC)
    Creature - Elemental
    8/3
    Trample
    When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, it deals 3 damage to each other creature.
    When CARDNAME blocks our becomes blocked, it deals 3 damage to all creatures blocking or blocked by it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Even at 6 mana, Pyroclasm + a body on an uncommon is very good.

      Does it really need 8(!) power and all those other abilities?

      Delete
    2. How is this only uncommon? It's a partial-wrath stapled to a 8-power creature that can't be blocked at all by creatures with toughness 3-, and deals 11+ trample damage when it is blocked.

      The interplay between the block effect and the high-power+trample could be fun: Let's focus on that.

      Spirit of Flame
      {4}{R}{R} (rare)
      Creature - Elemental
      6/3
      Trample
      When CARDNAME becomes blocked, it deals 3 damage to each creature blocking it.

      Delete
    3. Yeah, this wandered too far from the original idea and ended up in a not-very-justifiable place.

      The art was *so* imposing, I wanted something powerful, with a cost of killing *your* team. And then I added the pseudo-first-strike to fit that.

      But then, having it *only* kill your team felt perverse, but making it symmetric made just too strong an effect that the rest of the card was too much on top of.

      Delete
  5. Audience with Fire {3}{R}{R}
    Sorcery (Rare)
    Target opponent chooses one for you:
    -- Audience with Fire deals 10 damage divided as you choose among any number of target creatures, players, and/or planeswalkers.
    -- Create a 10/10 Avatar creature token with haste, menace, and indestructible.
    -- Discard any number of cards from your hand, then draw until you have 7 cards in hand. Add {R}{R}{R}{R}{R}{R}{R}{R}{R}{R} to your mana pool.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. the dream of this card is you get an overpowered effect but never the ideal one; you're dealing with some external, legendary, fickle force. i'm not totally happy with the actual effects -- in particular the messiness of the token and the pseudo-wheel-of-fortune of the last one.

      one definite change: 10/10 red Elemental creature token.

      i see this as a weird sort of counterpoint to the XX Command cycle of spells.

      Delete
    2. I like this a lot. Having trouble thinking of situations it's correct to choose #1 in, though.

      Delete
    3. I like the idea, although with those effects I'd expect the card to cost 8 at least.
      @Ipaulsen I think 1 is probably the preferred option unless it's going to kill you. 2 might be OK if you have lots of blockers. 3 is the last ditch effort when 1+2 will instantly kill you.

      Delete
    4. Agreed with Wobbles, this is uncomfortably easy to cast.

      Say you're a generic Standard red deck. If you deal 10 damage to them, they tap out to wrath on turn 4-5 and you cast this turn 5, they're just donezo. They can't take the damage because it goes to the face. They can't take the token because it has haste, and even if it didn't, the indestructible is a killer unless they're running white. If they take the Wheel you get to reload your hand AND mana to burn them out, assuming your draw isn't the stone worst. You can even draw into another Audience + 6 blanks and be better off than when you started.

      On the other hand, this seems like great fun for an EDH supplemental product, where multiplayer politics exists and the 10 damage isn't as immediately threatening.

      Delete
    5. REVIEW
      I like the core idea of a browbeat card that's rare-worthy no matter what your opponent chooses. Guaranteeing you're satisfied you cast this spell regardless of their choice takes away the feel-bad surprise.

      The problem with Audience with Fire is that all three modes are much too strong for five mana regardless of the game state. Also, all three effects are entirely unique and deserve to separate cards in their own right. We could price this at {5}{R}{R}{R} and it might be fair, but it's still not terribly interesting as an opponent-chooses card because they really don't have a choice: One or two of the effects kill them on the spot, and the other probably does too. Especially since it'll often chain into another copy of this spell, with some extra cards and mana left over.

      Consider this:

      Audience with Fire {3}{R}{R}
      Sorcery (Rare)
      Target opponent chooses one for you:
      • Audience with Fire deals 6 damage divided as you choose among any number of target creatures, and/or players.
      • Create a 6/6 Avatar creature token with haste and menace.
      • Discard any number of cards from your hand, then draw that many cards. Add {R}{R}{R}{R}{R}{R} to your mana pool.

      All those effects are still quite good for {3}{R}{R}, but less game-winning and more dependent on the game state.

      Delete
    6. Or, if we want to stick with over-powered stuff, we can make them more conditional, so the opponent can actually choose one effectively:

      Audience with Fire {5}{R}{R}
      Sorcery (Mythic)
      Target opponent chooses one for you:
      • Audience with Fire deals 10 damage to target creature or player.
      • Create a 10/10 Avatar creature token with haste and menace.
      • Draw cards until you have 10 cards in hand.

      Delete
  6. Unbound Efreet 2RR
    Creature- Djinn
    8/8
    Trample
    At the beginning of your upkeep, choose one at random:
    - CARDNAME fights target creature.
    - CARDNAME deals 8 damage to each player.
    - Target opponent gains control of CARDNAME.

    Was thinking of adding more abilities, but it got too texty.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Choosing randomly between three options is logistically really tricky.

      I'd also opt to make the card/effects smaller. As is, the card is super swingy. Maybe a 5/5 that fights, deals 5 or trades control until EOT?

      Delete
    2. Can this please be 'random creature (you don't control)', 'random player', and 'random opponent'? All the randoms!

      (Also solves the 'what if everything in the chosen mode has hexproof' problem)

      Delete
    3. I love the idea of breaking up the traditional good/bad binary: Why not offer two good possibilities and one bad? Risky doesn't have to mean 1:1 odds.

      The first ability is fantastic for you, provided an opponent controls targetable creatures. If not, you have to kill one of your own. If Efreet is your only creature, it kills itself.

      The second ability is bad for everyone, but you're red and were expecting this, so it's worse for your opponent. Oh, also you've got an 8/8 with trample, so unless they can block X-4 of that, where X is the damage you've already dealt this game, they just die.

      #3 is clearly awful, except they might just hand it back next turn, or continue to nuke players to your advantage (again, because you're red).

      Stepping through it, I'm mildly confident this is too strong at this size/cost, but Dev can tweak that. The design looks fun: Super Tammy.

      Choosing randomly between three things is easy if you've got a d6. Awkward otherwise. (But possible: d20%3, rerolling 19s and 20s.)

      Delete
  7. I've Come to Bargain 5RBU
    Legendary Enchantment
    When the turn ends, replay the turn.
    If the turn would be replayed, any player may instead pay all but 1 of their life to destroy I've Come to Bargain.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What does "replay the turn" mean? Is it different than "take any extra turn"?

      Delete
    2. It means that everything that happens on that turn is reversed.

      Delete
    3. I like the idea, but is there any sensible way of implementing that? It means both players have to memorise all life totals, creatures in play, cards in hand, etc from the start of the turn, when they don't know they'll need to, and, um, find cards in libraries which were shuffled in??

      Delete
    4. So, it can either be silver boarded, or:

      I've Come to Bargain 5URB
      Legendary Enchantment
      You can't win the game.
      When the turn ends, take an additional turn.
      Pay all but one life: Destroy I've Come to Bargain. Any player may activate this ability.

      Delete
    5. I still like the idea, but I'm not sure this works either.

      If you get infinite turns, you can always opt out as soon as they're on negative life. So they pretty much have to destroy this immediately.

      Delete
    6. REVIEW
      "When the turn ends, take an additional turn" sounds like you get all the turns for the rest of the game. But you can't win, so you destroy I've Come to Bargain the turn you're going to win, putting you to 1 life, and then win unless opponent had an instant burn spell in their hand and untapped land to cast it when you first played this enchantment. And if they don't, they just pay the price so you don't get any extra turns. Effectively:

      I've Come to Bargain 5URB
      Sorcery
      Target opponent's life total becomes 1 unless a spell or ability dealt damage to you this turn.

      What am I missing?

      Delete
  8. Being of Pure Fire 3RR
    Creature - Elemental
    As an additional cost to cast ~, tap an untapped creature you control.
    Menace
    8/8

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. REVIEW
      Green gets 8/8s for five at rare because it's the big-creature-color. It can be neat when another color (like red) borrows a shtick like that and does it in a distinctly red way. Tapping another creature to make it happen doesn't feel red to me at all, though, in fact, it feels like convoke, which is primarily green/white.

      Redder ways to do this:

      • Cast ~ only if a sorcery or instant you cast dealt damage [to an opponent] this turn.

      • When ~ ETB, it deals 8 damage to you.

      • If ~ would attack or block, flip a coin. If you lose the flip, tap ~ instead.

      Delete
  9. Rebirth in Flame XBRR
    Sorcery (R)
    Return target creature card with converted mana cost X or less from your graveyard to the battlefield. Rebirth in Flame deals X damage to each other creature.

    "Game Day Top 8 Promo" treatment:
    https://i37.servimg.com/u/f37/19/22/94/49/rebirt10.jpg

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. REVIEW
      Rebirth in Flame is Stir the Grave stapled to Starstorm. In a good way. Getting double use out of the X gives us a lot to dream about, but also justifies a slower start so this isn't a bomb at four mana. And, importantly, there's cool flavor tying these otherwise thematically unrelated effects together.

      At first, it felt odd this {B}{R}{R} instead of {B}{B}{R}, because reanimation is more uniquely black than damage is red, but the fact that this burns all creatures is a big deal—even moreso on an X-spell where you can set the threshold just right to spare any creatures you control tougher than your opponent's.

      Testing might show this could be mythic.

      Delete
    2. My thought process exactly on the color weighing, Jay!

      Originally this was mythic. But I really wanted a justification why this vertical art would have been chosen for this card, as I think the little dude at the bottom is one of the coolest parts about it (it's not just a giant flaming monster, it's a guy going out of his way to summon a giant flaming monster). Colorless frame treatment was right out because I hate devoid, the little dude didn't sell "planeswalker", card wasn't quite epic enough for Masterpiece Series, so that left some sort of promo card. I decided the Game Day frame would be a good fit, as it's a pretty cool one I've never had a reason to use before. Unfortunately, all Game Day promos are either uncommons or regular rares, so regular rare it was.

      Delete