GDS3 Discussions: Ari Nieh's Challenge 5 Submission

(These posts are being backdated for administrative purposes. They were not disclosed to nor published on this site prior to their publication on the mothership. You can read the judge commentary on Ari's submission on his official GDS page)



CONTESTANT COMMENTS

I chose Scars of Mirrodin because of its deep, evocative mechanics and rich worldbuilding. I aimed to capture and expand on its themes while maintaining low complexity at common.

My pack suggests a metalcraft that is slightly easier to attain [9, 11] and gives some bonuses [2, 12] that are less swingy and math-y than +2/+2.

I found blue's color identity in Scars of Mirrodin Limited to be rather unfocused. In my pack, blue has stolen the "artifactfall" theme that white had with Glint Hawk Idol [3, 4, 9]. White already has a clear identity as the aggressive metalcraft deck, and blue's version is more controlling.

Notes on specific cards:

[3] Counters removal, resets Tumble Magnet, undoes Infect, etc.
[5] Looks fairly weak. Stronger with infect.
[7] A natural extension of red's artifact sacrifice theme. Also, prevents other colors from easily splashing red's best removal spell.
[8] A hidden modality card.
[9] Part of a cycle.
[11] Part of a cycle.
[13] Originally 4/4 with three counters, but 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 = 10. Breaks the "no directly removing -1/-1 counters" rule, but without undermining infect's permanence.
[14] Exploration of the "artifact creatures matter" theme on Golem Artisan, etc. An aggressive Equipment card that infect can't abuse. If playtesting reveals frequent misreading, this could gain reminder text or switch to life loss.
[15] A "bigger Isochron Scepter," with less repetition and many tuning knobs.

I am, as always, grateful to my playtesters for their diligence and expertise.

1) Mountain (basic land)
Basic Land — Mountain
T: Add R.

2) Leonin Entangler (common)
1W
Creature — Cat Warrior
2/2
Metalcraft — Whenever CARDNAME attacks, if you control three or more artifacts, you may tap target creature.
Watermark: Mirran

3) Reconfigure (common)
U
Instant
Exile target artifact or creature you control, then return that card to the battlefield under its owner's control.
Watermark: Mirran

4) Vedalken Archivist (common)
1U
Creature — Vedalken Artificer
1/3
Whenever an artifact enters the battlefield under your control, target player puts the top two cards of their library into their graveyard.
Watermark: Mirran

5) Darksteel Slash (common)
1B
Instant
Target creature gets +1/+0 and is indestructible until end of turn. (Damage and effects that say "destroy" don't destroy it.)
Watermark: Mirran

6) Ish Sah Walker (common)
2B
Creature — Horror
1/3
Infect (This creature deals damage to creatures in the form of -1/-1 counters and to players in the form of poison counters.)
Creatures with -1/-1 counters on them can't block CARDNAME.
Watermark: Phyrexian

7) Junkheap Explosion (common)
R
Sorcery
As an additional cost to cast CARDNAME, exile an artifact card from your graveyard.
CARDNAME deals 4 damage to target creature.
Watermark: Mirran

8) Venomous Grasp (common)
1G
Instant
Untap target creature. It gains reach and infect until end of turn. (It deals damage to creatures in the form of -1/-1 counters and to players in the form of poison counters.)
Watermark: Phyrexian

9) Moonstone Locket (common)
2
Artifact
When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, draw a card.
3U, sacrifice CARDNAME: Return target nonland permanent to its owner's hand. Activate this ability only any time you could cast a sorcery.
Watermark: Mirran

10) Contagion Feeder (common)
3
Artifact Creature — Horror
3/1
Sacrifice CARDNAME: Proliferate. (You choose any number of permanents and/or players with counters on them, then give each another counter of a kind already there.)
Watermark: Phyrexian

11) Ghalma's Assistant (common)
5
Artifact Creature — Golem
3/4
When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, if W was spent to cast it, create a 1/1 Myr artifact creature token.
Watermark: Mirran

12) Neurok Sentinel (uncommon)
3U
Creature — Human Wizard
2/4
When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, untap target permanent.
Metalcraft — CARDNAME has flash as long as you control three or more artifacts.
Watermark: Mirran

13) Blighted Slith (uncommon)
GG
Creature — Slith
3/3
CARDNAME enters the battlefield with two -1/-1 counters on it.
Infect (This creature deals damage to creatures in the form of -1/-1 counters and to players in the form of poison counters.)
Whenever CARDNAME deals combat damage to a player, remove a -1/-1 counter from it.
Watermark: Phyrexian

14) Firelance Gauntlet (uncommon)
2
Artifact — Equipment
Equipped creature gains vigilance and haste.
Whenever equipped creature attacks, if it's an artifact creature, CARDNAME deals 3 damage to defending player.
Equip 2
Watermark: Mirran

15) Isochron Staff (rare)
2
Artifact
Imprint — If an instant or sorcery spell would be put into your graveyard as it resolves, instead exile that card.
5, T: Copy a card exiled by CARDNAME twice and cast those copies without paying their mana costs. Put that card into its owner's graveyard.
Watermark: Mirran