GDS3 Discussions: Scott Wilson's Challenge 2 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 Scott's submission on his official GDS page)



CONTESTANT COMMENTS
When I think of circuses, three things come to mind: excitement, variety, and rainbow colors. I felt the best way to express all three was with the escalate mechanic. Escalate captures the flavor of growing excitement, gives variety with its options, and can have a multicolor component with differently colored escalate costs (like flashback in Innistrad).

I divided the circus into color pairs (acrobats in white-blue, magicians in blue-black, clowns in black-red, strongmen/women in red-green, and animals/tamers in green-white), and made at least one card from each "faction."

Unlike Ravnica/Khans that want you to play only one faction, Bigtopia wants you to play as many colors as possible. Trapeze Artist gets a bonus if you're playing other colors, Circus Tent helps play multiple colors but not more-demanding single-color costs (it's legendary to prevent paradoxes in multiples), and the multicolor escalate cards encourage splashing to get more oomph.

Circus Peanuts is a complex/unique uncommon, but as a cycle of "concessions" I think it could work similar to Amonkhet's "brick counter" cards. It being a colored artifact is a different flavor than Esper or New Phyrexia; it's to show that the circus is so vivid, even the artifacts have colors.

The planeswalker Mitsi is a swindling illusionist who makes your opponent's cards disappear, your opponent's creatures disappear, then your opponent disappear when she turns them into an illusion. Cyrus, the five-color leader of all the circus factions, is at his best when all the colors come together to make the greatest show possible.

1) Seltzer Bottle (common)
1R
Sorcery
Escalate 1B
Choose one or both —
• Up to two target creatures can't block this turn.
• Seltzer Bottle deals 2 damage divided as you choose among one or two target creatures and/or players.

2) Trapeze Artist (common)
1WU
Creature — Human
2/2
Flying
Trapeze Artist gets +1/+1 as long as you control a black, red, or green permanent.
Trapeze ropes alone cannot hold the circus together.

3) Circus Peanuts (uncommon)
2G
Artifact — Concession
Circus Peanuts enters the battlefield with three snack counters on it.
T, Remove a snack counter from Circus Peanuts: Add one mana of any color.
When there are no snack counters on Circus Peanuts, sacrifice it and create a 3/3 green Elephant creature token.

4) Lion Tamer (uncommon)
2GW
Creature — Human
1/1
When Lion Tamer enters the battlefield, create a 2/2 white Cat creature token.
1, T: Target Cat gets +3/+3 until end of turn.
The whip turns them from kittens into beasts.

5) Feats of Strength (rare)
1G
Instant
Escalate 1R
Choose one or more —
• Put two +1/+1 counters on target creature.
• Target creature gains indestructible and trample until end of turn.
• Target creature you control fights target creature you don't control.

6) Cyrus's Circus Tent (rare)
Legendary Land
T: Add C.
T: Add one mana of any color that other lands you control couldn't produce.
"Any ringleader worth their weight makes sure all colors of their circus shine bright, and let me tell you, I weigh a lot."
—Cyrus McBride

7) Cyrus McBride, Ringmaster (mythic rare)
WUBRG
Legendary Creature — Giant
When Cyrus McBride, Ringmaster enters the battlefield, exile the top X cards of your library face down, where X is the number of colors among other permanents you control
At the beginning of your upkeep, reveal one of the exiled cards at random. If it's a land card, put it onto the battlefield. Otherwise, you may cast it without paying its mana cost.
5/5

8) Mitsi Wylde, Magician (mythic rare)
4UB
Legendary Planeswalker — Mitsi
5
+1: Target opponent exiles the top card of their library. Until end of turn, you may play that card.
-3: Exile target creature. Create a 2/2 blue Illusion creature token with "When this creature becomes the target of a spell or ability, sacrifice it."
-7: Target opponent gets an emblem with "When you become the target of a spell or ability, you lose the game."