Friday, May 19, 2017

Weekend Art Challenge 051917—InaWong

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 non-creature spell for this art.

40 comments:

  1. Heightened Senses 2GG
    Enchantment U
    X: Look at the top card of your library. If it's a permanent card with converted mana cost X or less, put it onto the battlefield. Activate this ability only during your turn and only once each turn.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cool.
      The risk/reward here is compelling and fun.

      Should it only hit lands and creatures to line up with Nissa, Steward of Elements?

      Delete
    2. PS, I think "enchantments don't tap" is a rule to be ignored for non-aura enchantments and "Activate this ability only during your turn and only once each turn" is why.

      Delete
  2. From A Great Height XR
    Instant (c)
    Target creature gets +X/+0 and reach until end of turn.
    ...heroically, comically, ironically, slowly,
    suddenly, disgustingly, charmingly, or...

    — Tom Stoppard, Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Added power and reach will often be a nonbo, but as an X-card, this has two modes that will come up more often: Enrage and Canopy Claws. It's been a while since Earthbind has been red, but with reach creeping back in, I think From a Great Height is plenty red. It will so frequently be used for attacking that I think players will be legit surprised when this is used on a blocker via a single untapped land. I think that's good/okay?

      Delete
  3. Implacable pursuit 1W/R (strongly hesitate for 2W/R)
    Instant (u)
    Untap target creature. That creature must block target creature you control this turn and can’t use its activated abilities until the end of turn.
    "Once I catch you, you’re going to lose more than just a few feathers."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Provoke with a stifle? Could this just be instant speed fight with a stifle?

      Delete
    2. Stifle is great with a provoke effect so you can kill tappers.

      I'm not really feeling the white on this card. Could this just be mono red? Or green/red?

      Also, could this be a sorcery?

      Delete
    3. Yeah, it is quite true that the white isn't really there. And I could see it being mono red. But I'm still wondering if I should make it a sorcery for 1R, or an instant for 2R. I don't really feel the G in the card. That would be more of an instinct aspect that I wouldn't find on the art. But that's my feeling. What do you guys think ?

      I like the instant aspect since it gives it a lot of polyvalence, but it's true that it could be a sorcery.

      Delete
    4. For the last submission :

      Implacable pursuit 2R
      Instant (u)
      Untap target creature. That creature must block target creature you control this turn and can’t use its activated abilities until the end of turn.
      "Once I catch you, you’re going to lose more than just a few feathers."

      keeping it an instant for more polyvalence, but getting the white out of the picture and balancing the mana cost a little bit.

      Delete
    5. It has also bothered me that provoke doesn't work on creatures with tap abilities. I'm not sure why this needs to cost 3 or be an instant (like, yeah, that allows this to double as a surprise blocker, but it destroys this card's focus/identity).

      I wonder if it makes more sense to just staple "can't block this turn" to Prey Upon. Not quite the same.

      I like how this effect makes me feel like I'm the quarry the person in the art is looking at.

      Delete
  4. Endless Stair U
    Enchantment (Rare)
    Tap an untapped creature you control: put a step counter on ~. If the number of step counters is equal to its power, draw a card. Activate this ability only any time you could cast a sorcery.

    I nearly used tower counters like helix pinnacle, but decided "step" fit better. I like the idea, but not sure (a) if it captures the flavour (b) how big a reward there should be. If it were white, it could be "gain that much life"?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This is neat! Trying to get multiple cards out of it is rough, though, so I think you could probably axe the sorcery restriction or add another carrot.

      Alternatively, if this is in a set with creatures that can grow every turn - like a Veteran of the Depths, or some Allies, etc, this could be a high-powered pick as-is, since the same creature could keep re-stepping. Altogether probably a fun card for casual players and jennies alike.

      Delete
    2. Endless Stair is very neat. {U} might be a bit cheap for a spell that can draw you an unlimited number of cards, but the restriction is significant enough I don't think it's far off.

      I totally want to play this with Pheres-Band Tromper, or one of a number of oozes. I guess the fact that these ideal situations are still worse than Phyrexian Arena proves the cost is close to fair.

      Very novel card, with a challenge some players will enjoy quite a bit. (You really only need to draw two cards off it to make it worthwhile, but that may well cost you three taps.)

      This doesn't feel like the right match for this particular staircase illustration, but that you mechanized that flavor at all is pretty great.

      Delete
  5. Pinnacle Tower
    7
    Artifact - Uncommon
    Whenever a creature attacks you, exile it. Return it to the battlefield under its owner's control tapped and attacking you at the beginning of the declare attackers step on it's owner's next turn.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Neat flavor, and the incidental brand effect could come up in multiplayer games.

      Delete
    2. I wonder if the "brand effect" works with the rules? Can you have a creature you control attacking you? IIRC Act of Aggression and friends auto-remove the creature from combat...

      Delete
    3. Other than that, though, I'm a big fan of this. I was considering:

      Creatures can't attack you unless their controller exerts them.

      Delete
    4. Ooo, I like that, much cleaner wording and a lot less strangeness with the (unintended) Brand side effect. It's slightly less powerful so I think shaving a mana off is fine.

      Updated submission

      Pinnacle Tower
      6
      Artifact - Rare (original was meant to be Rare too, oops)
      Whenever a creature attacks you, it's controller exerts it. (It doesn't untap during its controller's next untap step.)

      Delete
    5. Pinnacle tower is cute, much more interactive than moat or Sandwurm Convergence, and cleaner than the original design. I miss the Meandering Towershell reference, and the flavor that brought, but this is definitely easier to comprehend and still flavorful.

      Delete
  6. Angelic Training W
    Enchantment - Aura (U)
    Whenever enchanted creature untaps, put a +1/+1 counter on it.
    When enchanted creature has three or more counters on it, it has flying and vigilance.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. An inspiration-fueled Ordeal, the culmination of which is still an aura rather than a spell effect. Worth noting that this aura keeps generating +1/+1 counters after you reach its threshold.

      Angelic Training seems too strong for a 1cc uncommon, but Dev can worry about that. It's a very fun kind of aura. If the story it tells were approved by Creative, the flavor would be pretty sweet too. Make-a-Serra-Angel has been done, but why not do it again, if we've got a fun new way?

      Delete
    2. Though, you do need a tap ability to get the bonus after 3, since vigilance stops it from increasing naturally.

      Delete
  7. Hieghtened Senses G

    Enchantment Arua

    Enchant Creature

    Enchanted creature can target hexproof permanents your opponents control and it's abilities can't be countered.

    Enchanted greature gains "R T: deal 1 damage to target creature or player"

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The first ability reads a bit odd (creatures don't target anything, by default), but I actually love the flavor of "I'm invisible! Oh crap, the beast can smell where I am?!" and green is totally the place for that.

      The last line feels glued on. It's off-color, doesn't support the flavor of the first line (though it does enable the mechanics of it), and blurs the card's identity.

      I'd boil it down to:
      "Creatures your opponents control with hexproof can be the targets of enchanted creature's abilities as though they didn't have hexproof. Enchanted creature's abilities can't be countered."
      Maybe throw a +1/+1 in there, depending on rarity/cost.

      Delete
  8. Sword... red hair... climbing an evil tower...

    Top-down design it is, then.

    A Long Time Climbing WB
    Enchantment- Aura (Rare)
    Enchant Creature
    Enchanted creature can't attack or block, and its activated abilities can't be activated.
    Enchanted creature has "T: Put a tower counter on CARDNAME. Then if CARDNAME has five or more tower counters on it, exile it."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, nice flavour. But maybe it could just be W, and not evil?

      Delete
    2. ...but its activated abilities can't be activated!

      Delete
    3. Oops. Good catch.

      OK, mana cost to just W and remove the activated abilities clause. Seems pretty pushed, but the tower-counter threshold is always a knob to turn.

      Delete
    4. A Long Time Climbing W
      Enchantment- Aura (Rare)
      Enchant Creature
      Enchanted creature can't attack or block.
      Enchanted creature has "T: Put a tower counter on CARDNAME. Then if CARDNAME has four or more tower counters on it, exile it."

      Delete
    5. Nice. Dissolving Pacifism sounds like good gameplay. The counters are slightly annoying, but eh.

      I want to title this "Trapped in a Tower" but that evokes a very different illustration. Maybe it would be good to repurpose it like this.

      Delete
    6. Now I want a Cocoon I can use to boost my own creatures or temporarily trap my opponent's.

      Delete
    7. Krasis Incubation is along those lines.

      Delete
  9. Destiny of the Tower 2GG
    Enchantment (R)
    Whenever one or more +1/+1 counters are placed on a creature you control, put a quest counter on ~.
    Remove three quest counters from ~ and sacrifice it: Draw seven cards.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The quest is to get +1/+1 counters three times. The reward is... draw seven cards?! I know this is a four-mana rare that does nothing on its own, but that still seems like too much reward. (And while cards are always helpful and fun to draw, it also feels a bit generic. "I've climbed these steps for days and become a better person to fulfill my destiny... card advantage?"

      Delete
    2. Maybe "double the number of +1/+1 counters on your permanents"? "Get that many 1/1 soldiers?"

      Delete
    3. Draw cards = the sum power of the two strongest creatures you control? Doesn't fit the art but it's a uniqueish payoff.

      Delete
    4. I was just going straight Diablo type quest - Adventure deeper into the dungeon (higher up the tower), gain levels/equipment, rewarded with broad array of treasure. Cards as treasure is somewhat generic, but it's clean, on-color (given the creature requirements) and splashy.

      Delete
  10. What a fun and diverse array of submissions! Well done, Artisans!

    ReplyDelete