inventors-fair

[inventors-fair]

Cross-Cultural Conceptualization

With the specter of Spider-Man looming on the horizon, for better or for worse, we've got a whole slate of Universes Beyond coming out for the rest of the year. For my part, that's not a complaint, even if the particular properties chosen aren't really my cup of tea. But at any rate, it means that Universes Beyond as a concept is going to be centered for a while, so let's work with that.

Design a noncreature, non-Saga enchantment card from a Universes Beyond set.

With most card types, transferring across IP lines is pretty simple: artifacts, creatures, and lands can just draw from objects, characters, and locations from the source material. Enchantments, however, have generally occupied a more conceptual space, which creates the central issue you'll be tackling this week: how does one take a concept from another property and turn it into a Magic card?

There are some nuances, which is where the riders from the prompt come in. Sagas are pretty tried-and-true in these sets by now, and it makes sense. Saga as a card type is generally focused on specifically distilling down historical events or mythology, which can very easily be retooled for retelling the plot of a crossover. No, I'm looking for something a bit more off the beaten path here.

And, of course, as with all Universes Beyond contests, please include the property you're referencing alongside your submission, because I do not in fact know everything. Well, that and I get curious what pieces of media you all are interested in, but that's a bonus.

That's about the gist of it. As always, get creative, and enjoy yourselves! —@spooky-bard

>> Desktop Submissions >> Mobile Submissions/Asks >> IF Discord Server

[inventors-fair]

Supporting Cast: Signpost Runners-up!

Our runners-up this week are @izzet-always-r-versus-u, @misterstingyjack and @nine-effing-hells!

@izzet-always-r-versus-u — Volzhosk, Hope's Dissolution

It's a little odd to have a small legendary Eldrazi considering the magnitude of the others. They made later legendary Eldrazi, sure—what constitutes one horrible monster as being more legendary than another unless they're the size of a mountain? I suppose it's up for debate. What's not up for debate is the fact that I absolutely love the processor mechanics in general, and this card's a real pain in the butt. There needed to be a little more awfulness in the Eldrazi, I think, and a big body like this could contest with its evasion in a way that BFZ really needed, or at least I think it could've been pretty great from what I recall of the block. That was...a long time ago, and the memories may be fuzzy.

What I know for a fact is that ingest was a very fun mechanic indeed, and stacking triggers is something that players need to learn about fast because hoo boy. I really like how you decided to make the signpost here something that displays the processor mechanic in a way that also shows off the fact that you want to be a bit more aggressive with your UB style of creature build. It contrasts with the RW aggro archetype for sure, but getting that card draw off of it and getting more things to process is really slick. I especially like how you don't have to deal damage with Volzhosk itself, just any one of your little ingesting creatures from earlier. Mean! And like, I know it's a great name. You and I know it's too long for that title box...

@misterstingyjack — Tersia, Stonesong Guardian

Gross! I love it. Okay, now backing up: I feel that the lands-in-your-graveyard archetype was one of the more out-there ones from MH1, and having drafted it recently, I can say that between all the available archetypes, it's the one that feels like it has the most vulnerability if you're not doing it right. That's just a feeling, though, and I'm read a review guide that had it as one of the most powerful archetypes. I could be totally wrong! I think that having a card like this in the meta might've changed my opinions for sure, though. It's beefy, it's evasive, and it can get all that more powerful early or late in the game as a blocker that can't be denied when it comes back to destroy your opponents.

I really do like how few lands you need to function in the late-game with this archetype and with MH1 in general. There were lots of ways to use your mana and they all felt so important, and here if you're being extremely aggressive you can go down to two lands on turn four to get this thing from your graveyard to the battlefield via a discard outlet or Winding Way or what have you. I mean, you probably don't want to do that, but you're certainly able to, and this card isn't one that I'd ignore. I think this card also could extend to Commander as a big land-sacrifice outlet for things like that new EOE Commander deck, just for extra value and a way to get a body back repeatedly. It's a curious elemental that resonates well in its flavor archetype as a long-lost ruin soldier, a body of the past. Really cool stuff overall and a good choice to fuel an already awesome format!

@nine-effing-hells — Petal, Survivor's Guide

Once more, I see a card and am reminded of a format where I didn't do quite as well as I would've liked a lot of the time (except for recently). Once more I am reminded of an archetype that could've used a little more love. And once more, I think: "this is gross and I wouldn't want to see this on the other side of the table." I think there was an inherent problem with the survival mechanic at my LGS where the people that played it really didn't know how to fully utilize it and they missed a lot of triggers. With this card, it would force them to learn, and to learn FAST. Ramping into the important 4-drops and the top end is one thing, but really, it's all about getting those tapped creatures when you don't have many good options to attack.

Getting the counters as well is surprisingly important if you need a war of attrition. Instant-speed tapping, instant-speed buffs and mana, extra survivor triggers afterwards—like, this card is surprisingly complex for what it can do in this specific archetype, even though it seems remarkably simple at first glance. That's pretty impressive! It's so dedicated to just being a good GW card as well, and maybe someone would try to build a budget Commander deck around it, who's to say? It might not have the card advantage that ever single counter deck seems to have these days, but heck, we don't need that in limited when we have all the other tools at our disposal. Love the name, by the way. Could've used a single line of flavor text, but like, I can definitely see them swinging from the rafters, rope in hand, ready to kick ass all the same.

Thank you all for your entries! Commentary will be worked on when I'm not on a mountain and/or covering for coworkers.

@abelzumi

[inventors-fair]

Named Characters: Signpost Winners!

Our winners this week are @grornt, @milfannihilator, and @thatonebjp!

@grornt — Tocasia, Artifice Advisor

It's weird to see a card and immediately think "Oh, I hate this," and have that be a massive compliment. I drafted more BRO than I wanted to, honestly, and from that I can say that the set was pretty Not Great for limited compared to some of the sets around it, but I did see a number of GW decks in my time. From that, I can say that a card like this was probably at least worth splashing for. And like, BRO was weird—really weird, lopsided, lose-out-of-nowhere kind of weird. Cards like this might not have changed much of the specific archetypes, but in terms of cohesion, compatibility, and good design? There's so much to love here. Tocasia's later iteration was definitely a flavor/commander card, and this preliminary version is a great display of how to show a less complex but equally rewarding side of history.

Getting two bodies: pretty great, especially if one of them is more evasive, which can also block if necessary. Getting an artifact entering trigger: yeah, that's a necessary part of the set, as reflected in the printed signpost uncommon. Getting that combat buff to also give vigilance: we're talking some mad fun stuff now. Excess noncreature artifacts that you have laying around can turn a stalled board state into a clock for your opponent, and if they can't do anything about your buffed flier, then they're in trouble. I said "I hate this" at the start because playing against this card means that the clock is real without that necessary interaction. I would NOT want to see this on the other side of the field, because that's my opponent's comeback story in a fair game of Magic. Maybe BRO didn't have that much 'fair' Magic in its limited, but I can dream of a world in which this kind of card was the norm.

@milfannihilator — Krendik, Jewel of the Dunes

And this is, I assume, from the MH2 Delirium archetype! I only got to do a couple drafts of MH2 because that was back in the day, but man, I really should've jumped at the opportunity. I think this card would've fit into that archetype decently, and at the very least would've been an annoying flier that basically draws you a card. Could there have been a moment to put a card into your graveyard? Perhaps—but I wonder if it would've been a little too strong to get one card to hand and one to grave of a certain type before being able to swing in with the four-toughness beater. Maybe and maybe not, this set was pretty wild. But probably too powerful, you're right, I dig it.

I do love talking about Horizons cards sometimes because they are purely on a mechanics scale. Like, I love how this card is a callback to Enigma Drake (I assume) but with a little more oomph on there. I love the name and the title and the not-quite-a-dragon feeling. And yet, this card's making me think about how this ties into the strong artifacts and/or the discard archetype and/or if this would see fringe play in some kind of midrange deck because it could pitch to Force and Subtlety (and no longer Fury, sadface). It's a great draft card that makes you consider deck construction and multi-typal cards, and even if I'm brewing in my mind, it's for sure draft-minded which is what this whole contest was about. Was it supposed to be able to get lands? Maybe that's a bend, but eh, it's Horizons, you can bend it.

@thatonebjp — Kodolaag, Mocturne Act

What a surprisingly pleasant card for, well, a not-very-pleasant-seeming kind of character. Minor demons in Rakdos would for sure have their little acts, and I'm a big fan of seeing a named demon have a relevant legendary card. Is it named in flavor text or something? [quick wiki check] Oh, man, that is a lot of reading that I should've done before this. Well, I'm going to assume a lot here instead and read that when I have a break today. Looking at this guy's ability to do some damage (metaphorically) when he enters and intimidate someone when he attacks, there's a little bit that's reasonable for a demon for that whole schtick, but this card's mechanics are where things are just plain pleasant to me. I drafted a fair amount of Rakdos in my day, and spectacle was a lovely tool.

If you do manage to get this on the play and on-curve with the whole spectacle cost, then you've got removal for their previous plays, probably and then more damage on the way. Even if you're on the draw, chances are you can get this thing down after a larger swing and then kill something second main having forced some combat damage through. Really, that's the beauty of it all, and this card might not be a Commander-focused design, but in a draft environment? It gets in damage, it removes the little annoying Orzhov ghosts, and it's a reasonable body that can fulfill the precise function of a Rakdos build in all its glory. Aggressive, simple, and right there to support the mechanics of the set: what more can you ask for? I'm quite pleased with this design.

Close race this week! Runners up soon. @abelzumi

[inventors-fair]

Sign Holders: Legendary Entries! ~

@bergdg — Gelom, Stele Pilgrim @bog-witch-extraordinaire — Amber, Lingering Savior @bread-into-toast — Inim-Gi, Azor's Riddle @curiooftheheart — Gravelgills, First Mate @deg99 — Orishi, the Archiver @fluffycattens — Leovold, Discerning Collector @grornt — Tocasia, Artifice Advisor @hypexion — Sazkin, Machine Crusader @i-am-the-one-who-wololoes — Belin Kos, Boros Recruiter @izzet-always-r-versus-u — Volzhosk, Hope's Dissolution @j2miner — Vuliev, of the Ghost Council @lanabutnotdelray — Fleng, Hurried Helmsman @milfannihilator — Krendik, Jewel of the Dunes @misterstingyjack — Tersia, Stonesong Guardian @nine-effing-hells — Petal, Survivor's Guide @reaperfromtheabyss — Cresa, Skola Vale Revelmaster @thatonebjp — Kodolaag, Mocturne Act @wildcardgamez — Eiko, Spirited Diplomat @xenobladexfan — Gesserith, Broker's Arm @yd12k — Taranika, Inspired Hoplite

Thank you all for your awesome entries!

[inventors-fair]

ENTRIES CLOSED

Thank you for all your submissions this week. Entries for the current contest are now closed.

A list of all entries should go up soon, and winners/runners up for that contest will be announced Saturday barring extenuating circumstances. Commentary should be available either in the upcoming days and/or on Discord. Ping a judge with any questions.

[inventors-fair]

24 HOUR WARNING

Don't forget to submit your entry to this week's contest! This post will be reblogged one day before the inbox for the current contest closes. Check back on the midweek bump for a reminder of what the current contest is!

>> Desktop Submissions >> Mobile Submissions/Asks >> IF Discord Server

[inventors-fair]

Vital Signs

Remember Innistrad? Original Innistrad, I mean, the set that I keep bringing up because of how awesome it is. Well, now you're going to hear about it once more, because Innistrad's first set had something that all other sets that followed had to some extent: signposts! Uncommon cards that directed people into their color pairings, those little things. Nowadays, as you can see with Edge of Eternities, there are multicolored signpost cards that specifically direct people into draft archetypes, and those are pretty darn cool.

Part of those archetypes has coincided with the rise in formats like Commander, and we've seen plenty of legendary creatures at lower rarities to fill in some of those gaps; I recently had a great draft deck with Arabella from Duskmourn, for example, a signpost legend that cared about the RW archetype for the set. But that's a fairly recent development, and wouldn't come into true fruition until (IMO) the cycle of uncommon two-color legends in Dominaria.

What if...

Design an uncommon signpost legendary creature...for an archetype that hasn't used one before.

Before asking clarifying questions, read on!

Yes, you're looking back in time here.* There are actually a lot of sets that a) had signposts and b) didn't have uncommon legends, but they've felt a lot more prevalent recently. Do a little digging and see what you can find.

*Or like, not that far back in time if you don't want to, because sets like EOE didn't have legends for all of their archetypes, so that's fair game. Something like OTJ would be just wholly off-limits.

Signpost uncommons are either multicolored themselves or have a multicolored bend. Perhaps treat your designs like you're perhaps replacing a signpost non-legendary uncommon from that past set with your legendary creature.

Why this contest? In part, it's because you should design with the knowledge that Commander is popular, but limited is the gold that makes Magic what it is for a lot of folks. It's fun to design legendary creatures, too! Get some brain juices goin'. Have fun!

@abelzumi

>> Desktop Submissions >> Mobile Submissions/Asks >> IF Discord Server

[inventors-fair]

Vital Signs

Remember Innistrad? Original Innistrad, I mean, the set that I keep bringing up because of how awesome it is. Well, now you're going to hear about it once more, because Innistrad's first set had something that all other sets that followed had to some extent: signposts! Uncommon cards that directed people into their color pairings, those little things. Nowadays, as you can see with Edge of Eternities, there are multicolored signpost cards that specifically direct people into draft archetypes, and those are pretty darn cool.

Part of those archetypes has coincided with the rise in formats like Commander, and we've seen plenty of legendary creatures at lower rarities to fill in some of those gaps; I recently had a great draft deck with Arabella from Duskmourn, for example, a signpost legend that cared about the RW archetype for the set. But that's a fairly recent development, and wouldn't come into true fruition until (IMO) the cycle of uncommon two-color legends in Dominaria.

What if...

Design an uncommon signpost legendary creature...for an archetype that hasn't used one before.

Before asking clarifying questions, read on!

Yes, you're looking back in time here.* There are actually a lot of sets that a) had signposts and b) didn't have uncommon legends, but they've felt a lot more prevalent recently. Do a little digging and see what you can find.

*Or like, not that far back in time if you don't want to, because sets like EOE didn't have legends for all of their archetypes, so that's fair game. Something like OTJ would be just wholly off-limits.

Signpost uncommons are either multicolored themselves or have a multicolored bend. Perhaps treat your designs like you're perhaps replacing a signpost non-legendary uncommon from that past set with your legendary creature.

Why this contest? In part, it's because you should design with the knowledge that Commander is popular, but limited is the gold that makes Magic what it is for a lot of folks. It's fun to design legendary creatures, too! Get some brain juices goin'. Have fun!

@abelzumi

>> Desktop Submissions >> Mobile Submissions/Asks >> IF Discord Server

[inventors-fair]

Shell of a Card: Carcinization Runners Up

Our runners up this week are @curiooftheheart, @harunakonomi, and @izzet-always-r-versus-u!

~

@curiooftheheart — Hardshell Fiddler

A fiddler crab being a literal fiddler is very clever. What's also clever is that effect, because wow. That really puts the likes of Conquering Manticore and its ilk to shame, dialing up the effect to eleven and then some more for good measure. The cast restriction is highly appreciated here, because the ability to easily reuse this would be absolutely terrifying. The mana value restriction rather than just snatching the entire board Insurrection-style creates a lot more interesting decision making and is just generally more engaging. All in all, this is really the kind of card that can turn the tides, so to speak.

@harunakonomi — Ephemera Triops

It's not a fossil, but a living fossil is still enough for me to get excited. It's a really cool concept, a flighty little thing constantly bouncing between zones. It's maybe a bit too annoying, what with having no restrictions on being a constant flash blocker. Still, the applications seem interesting enough that I'm willing to mostly let it slide. I still feel like this could probably use a restriction of some kind somewhere on the card. Not sure what, but something to have in mind. The funny little guy is permitted to go fast, so don't worry.

@izzet-always-r-versus-u — Caridean Seer

I'd bring you to task over mantis shrimps not being true shrimps, but I have no idea what else you'd type this as, so...you get away with it this time. Still, focusing in on a mantis shrimp's unique perception of color as a color-matters effect is inspired, and explores an element of the animal that I feel like is really underrepresented. Specifically requiring monocolor permanents as a way of disallowing a five color permanent from fulfilling the whole restriction is unusual but eminently sensible, given the power of the effect. It does pretty drastically change the way you have to approach deckbuilding around this card, but in a way that I think is more interesting than the alternative. There's also probably an argument that some decks would be mostly content with putting it in three colors to get the draw, even if it's less exciting. Very cool all around, from top to bottom.

~

And that's the end. If your creature isn't here, and you simply must know what I think about it, feel free to drop into the Inventor's Fair discord for the next 12 hours and ask me. I'll see you all there! —@spooky-bard

[inventors-fair]

King Crabs: Carcinization Winners

Our winners this week are @genericaura, @grornt, and @tanknspank!

~

@genericaura — Homarid Ancient

Huh. In a lot of ways, this is basically just a landfall ability, but shifted very noticeably to the side. Attaching it to and end phase trigger that makes sure you've been hitting your land drops therefore encourages a consistency rather than just dumping as many lands onto the battlefield at a time. On the other hand, you can also just do that, and coast on the glut of lands for a while. Much to think about. If anything I worry the flavor text is too good at explaining the flavor behind the mechanics. It's definitely not on-the-nose enough to be an issue, but it is distinctly brushing up against it. Still, that's a cool critter you've got here.

@grornt — Clattering Carapace

Immediate kudos for the idea of making a Crab Skeleton into just an empty carapace reanimated and scuttling around. The flavor text, then, goes the extra mile in selling the card even further, creating a palpable feeling of genuine menace for a concept that is, at its core, kind of silly. The card's overall solid, too. I love self-mill cards that chip into both aspects of the deck: namely, they both help with milling yourself and feel good to mill. Opting to return to the hand rather than battlefield is smart given how considerable the body is, but even with that handicap in place it seems like a noticeably strong common.

@tanknspank — Zagoth Crawler

So, correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the fun fact this creature is based on goes something like this: lobsters are technically biologically immortal, and can live forever if they can keep molting. The problem is, they usually can't eventually for one reason or another. And while being indestructible is a little different than not aging, the card maintains the spirit excellently without many words. In fact, it even has the ability to technically stay indestructible forever, despite the fact that realistically you'll eventually run out of creatures big enough to evolve it. Methods to remove counters to keep this invincible for longer would probably pay dividends, methinks.

~

Huh, I somehow managed to include one of each of the types here. Whoops. Well, anyways, look out for the runners up! —@spooky-bard

[inventors-fair]

Carcinization Entries

~

@bergdg — Ironcap Scuttleshell @bread-into-toast — Tonguestubber @cumulativeupkeep — Runaway Carcinization @curiooftheheart — Hardshell Fiddler @deg99 — Gec, Abyssal Nemesis @dimestoretajic — Mindsnip Crab @genericaura — Homarid Ancient @grornt — Clattering Carapace @harunakonomi — Ephemera Triops @helloijustreadyourpost — King of the Pot @hypexion — Zonot Scuttler @i-am-the-one-who-wololoes — Homarid Settler @izzet-always-r-versus-u — Caridiean Seer @j2miner — Diramoh, Tide Caller @lanabutnotdelray — Shrimplifier @misterstingyjack — Crustclaw Veteran @mrcatfishing — The Flood of the Viscerids @nine-effing-hells — Permit Crab @sparkyyoungupstart — O'Brine, Misfortune Fiddler @tanknspank — Zagoth Crawdad @wildcardgamez — Bloodletter Homarid @xenobladexfan — Malakos, Apex of Evolution @yourrightfulking — Benthic Murkshell

Thank you for all your entries!

[inventors-fair]

ENTRIES CLOSED

Thank you for all your submissions this week. Entries for the current contest are now closed.

A list of all entries should go up soon, and winners/runners up for that contest will be announced Saturday barring extenuating circumstances. Commentary should be available either in the upcoming days and/or on Discord. Ping a judge with any questions.

[inventors-fair]

24 HOUR WARNING

Don't forget to submit your entry to this week's contest! This post will be reblogged one day before the inbox for the current contest closes. Check back on the midweek bump for a reminder of what the current contest is!

>> Desktop Submissions >> Mobile Submissions/Asks >> IF Discord Server

[inventors-fair]

Birthday Commentary: All in a Year's Work

Whew. Good afternoon, everyone. It's been a heck of a week and change and I appreciate everyone's patience as I'm getting through this. Changing weather means I'm both sleeping more and sleeping worse. Or maybe I'm just getting older! Honestly at this point it's both demonstrably true and could explain a lot. That said, this was definitely a more silly and more indulgent contest, so I greatly appreciate everyone who submitted this week. We're going to be going into a weird place with Spider-Man coming up, so I'll take all the in-multiverse Magic that I can up to that point.

If you notice some cards missing, that's because I gave some commentary over on Discord on the nights that I had some extra time free! Don't worry, everyone got some various words with various degrees of yappery from me.

On that note, I feel that this was a week of feeling less competitive and more celebratory, so if you're keeping track at home, I'm gonna give everyone an honorary Judge Pick this week! That, and narrowing cards down was genuinely overwhelming. So have fun reading through, and thanks again for a great week, everyone.

@bergdg — Explosive Cracker

I suppose a few birthday-themed cards aren't too bad. In terms of wording, there's some discrepancy that I've seen between "you may play it" and "you may play that card" on various impulse effects. Is there a single answer? Probably, but frankly I don't know the exact scenarios where you would do one over the other. Either way, if I'm being pedantic about flavor, there's the question of whether breaking open the cracker is what's doing the damage OR what's being demonstrated by the sacrifice-to-impulse. You can't have it both ways! Unless, of course, one interprets this card as being merely a cool representation of a party favor without dissecting the minute details. I do go too literal sometimes, I know.

And let's be real: this card's pretty fantastic as a card. It's a removal spell and usually a draw spell on top of it. It's a combination of ability-word-flavor and generally awesome mechanics that end up being great for draft on top of things. Maybe it acts more like a delayed sorcery, but you can always play it in a way to maximize that draw power if you so choose later in the game, to get advantage at parity over a staler state. Or perhaps you can be more aggressive in a lower-cost deck, OR or you're using top-card-manipulation and you're controlling the spells for maximum delivery. There's no wrong way to use this card's mechanics, and that's something worth celebrating for sure!

~

@curiooftheheart — Zinnia's Seranade

The smallest of notes is that "serenade" has three Es in it. The second smallest of notes is sort of about the flavor text, because—well, memes are memes, and I smiled once. You and I both know that it's not in the ballpark of my usual quippery, but now I wonder: how willing is WotC to do this kind of thing, really? The fact that they might actually have memes in cards is... Well, some of us saw Maro's Spider-Man preview post, so I guess we've got that whole thing coming. I'm moaning and grousing, though, and speaking of grouses, there was a slightly higher than average number of bird-themed cards this contest, wasn't there. Hey, I'm not opposed! Especially when it's done right like this.

I mean, offspring or not, this is a stellar and powerful example of how to be a UW draft player and really make people feel the cold sting of long games. Tap my creatures, get a creature that taps your creature, or maybe one that draws me a card, or maybe one that exiles one of your creatures until mine leaves—and so on and so forth. Enchantments are notoriously difficult to remove pre-sideboard so you've got some nasty possibilities there, and for two mana? It's slow and calculated, but damn, this is a lovely piece of work sitting right on the edge of complexity. Huge kudos there. Weirdly enough, I think the rules text should say: "Create a token that's a copy of a creature tapped this way, except it's 1/1." and so on and so forth. Regardless, I'd love to frustrate people with this card. I'd probably lose because every creature in the world has value these days, but it's worth it.

~

@deg99 — Curse of Self Loathing

And the Bread rises once again, eh? I actually had a really hard time coming up with what I thought was a good design when I was first looking at this piece in particular. Is it a creature, is it a vibe? The abstractions gives it a kind of interpretability that you utilize well in this card. What's beneath the surface but a little poison and a loss of humanity. I think there's a fine line between utilization and flavor here, and I wonder how much the protection aspect would turn into a weird boon instead of a curse; the only scenario that I can conjure to mind would be to use this on one's self and then cast Blasphemous Act. ... Ah, but you can't enchant yourself. Almost missed that one.

I mean, this does feel like a fun-for-Commander-somehow card more than it is a standard card, but it could find an interesting place in a set, I'm sure. I wish there was an easier way to do the wording on this one, because—wait, hold on, does protection stop equipping too? [checking] Wow, that makes sense, but I wasn't sure because of how it predates equipment. Wild! Anyway. I feel that you actually didn't need the cycling reminder text on this one, and the mana cost probably could've used a blue instead of a hybrid. Those are just the little things, though, because this is a novel idea that's definitely swinging for the fences, and less as the presented face of a set's archetype. Pure control, and pretty great flavor text too. Would I necessarily run it over Dismiss into Dream? Probably not, even with the player-protection-from-a-player thing. But I'm sure it would be much more frustrating in practice than it is in concept. In a good way!

~

@helloijustreadyourpost — Swiftpaw Master

I do wish that this card could be worded any other way, just because R&D's change to "this" and "it" and "these" makes things feel so accidentally repetitive—I grok it, though, 100%. The intent of mentorship being passed down via pseudo-mentor almost makes me remember where Mentor came from. Legit, I had to look it up, I totally forgot it was a Boros mechanic. Oof. But if we're talking about just draft implementation, it's a creature that wants to attack and beef up smaller creatures. Absolutely nothing wrong with that, and the offspring helps too. I like the fact that eventually if you just have the Master and the Offspring, they'll eventually be buffing each other equally.

And that's where, I assume, the whole flavor of this comes in. It's odd, as much as Offspring is an awesome mechanic, it felt far more bottom-up than the vibe of Bloomburrow as a world. There's nothing wrong with that, of course, and I appreciate you trying to get that worked in more with the trainer-trainee relationship here between the two creatures. I suppose working that in adds a bit more, but Offspring in general is going to take mechanical precedent, and we end up with a pretty decent white attacker. Not much else to say on that front, though, just because there's not a whole lot of wiggle room with what this card is trying to do outside of what it says on the tin. I do feel that this card could've done without flavor text, partially because of space. But here, the depiction is good enough that if you did want FT, I'd rather see an interpersonal angle between the characters rather than an iteration of what the card's telling us.

~

@i-am-the-one-who-wololoes — Area of Prohibition

Meme flavor number two this week, or at least that's what my count's at so far in alphabetical order. Sheesh! Well, as an uncommon, this card has a basis for precedent: Summary Dismissal. For two mana, this one only counters instant and sorcery spells without exiling them, and it limits the abilities to those without a target. Hm. Notably, this can counter mana abilities that aren't at the time being used to pay the cost of a spell/ability. Is that worth it? I don't think so. Summary Dismissal's simplicity really puts a damper on this, and not just because there's the question of whether or not this spell counters itself, because...well, it would be an instant spell on the stack. As for whether or not this would happen, because it's not targeting...

I think this was an interesting idea brought down by the fact that a) it probably doesn't work as written, and b) there's already precedent for clearer spells. I'm curious what particular subset of cards this was aimed at, because the only situation that comes to mind are cards that have damage-pinging effects to each opponent whenever their controller casts a noncreature spell or something. Y'know? There are corner cases. Either way, I think this one really needed some extra honing and/or specificity, plus perhaps more directly dismissive flavor text. Look, references and I don't always see eye-to-eye.

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@izzet-always-r-versus-u — Abandoned Journal

Nine mana to draw four cards over a series of turns is a great use of mana, don't get me wrong. The fact that that's all this artifact does would lead me to believe that there's something in this theoretical set that would care about the graveyard and/or artifacts entering and/or sacrificing them AND and/or casting things from other zones. Lots of options there. Like, this isn't a card I'm windmill-slamming in a draft. Its definitely a card I would've wanted a couple weeks ago when I had a super nasty UW artifacts deck in EOE, but is there anything more that it could be? I feel that there's just a little more to be done.

Making it a clue, though, that's where I feel there's a bit of an interesting struggle. The clue adds some flavor context to the journal, right? You read it and discover more information, and if you've dug it up from the ground however many years later then it falls apart after you read it. Like, okay, I'm definitely digging the detective vibes, perhaps something a little more foreboding. By making it a clue, though, that adds the middle activation as baggage, where I feel this card could've been a bit more mechanically interesting if the sacrifice effect did...well, pretty much anything but just draw a card, and the first ability drew when it entered OR left the battlefield. ... No, specifically when sacrificed, not just leaves. My Brago deck would absolutely love this one if that were the case, sheesh. Either way, whatever the effect would be is up to you, but I think it could've used just a bit more.

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@misterstingyjack — Timely Distraction

This one is...frustratingly good to think about. The real question is whether or not it works, and I'm sure there's been workshop discussion about this, but now I'm going to delve into the CR and see about Gift. ... Well, a little bit of digging later, and I think I would word that middle ability: "If it's not your turn, you can't cast this spell unless you promise the gift." And that would mean paying the additional cost while the spell is on the stack, so there you go. Is it so different than your current wording? Kinda, but it's more of a clarity thing. There's a lot that goes into what these cards actually mean despite the fact that they seem obvious.

Ah, but that's where we get these fun little cards in the first place: learning and going nuts with the fact that there's always more to learn on both sides of the screen here. I was actually surprised that this wasn't the name of a card already, but "Timely" and "Distraction" have both been used in pretty reasonable contexts before so I suppose it's good to have a blended name like this. And I do like this card conceptually for sure; most people wouldn't know exactly how to use it, but the amount of control players that could benefit from having one combat phase stopped after a trick is cast in limited is hilarious. One turn can sometimes be enough, after all! And it could be a last-ditch counterspell if nothing else. Hey, I'm absolutely game for it.

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@nine-effing-hells — Gone Fishing

Well this card's pretty wonderful, innit. I actually wasn't familiar with the word "Grimnant" until now but that's a lovely juxtaposition here. There are quite a few cards that have O-ring text these days, but with the cost reduction there aren't too many of them that can exactly replicate it, and so variants must emerge. I contemplated mentioning a minor possible change, that being to exile the creature "if its mana value is 3 or less or if the gift was promised." But that leads us into a situation where you have an enchantment that enters and literally does nothing. Honestly, wouldn't be too weird of a situation considering that other O-ring effects also fizzle on occasion.

The really funny part of it is the fact that you can exile the fish to the enchantment itself for no value, and while that's hilarious it's probably also useless. Really, the fact of the matter is that it's efficient, it's great in limited, it's a funny vibe, and all-around there's nothing wrong with this card whatsoever. The twist on the banishing formula comes with a unique mood that's far less common on cards with similar effects, and that much should also be commended on top of the mechanics.

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@nyxbird — Promise Ring

If you were in the Discord, you saw my thoughts and feelings about named cards for gifts and the precedent set by a specific Arena-only card. As for this one, I'm a lot more lenient about it, in part because it tells you exactly what it's a copy of because it's, well, itself. Clone effects are a lot different than randomly named cards, and the fact that you can link them together is pretty reasonable. I can see a situation where someone would argue that they also get to draw a card, but that's fairly easily explained with the rules.

On a small note, precedent does say that you don't actually need "token" on there, but that's a small note. This card's functionality feels a lot more Commander-oriented than limited, I think. Promising an opponent extra mana in 1v1 is pretty rough compared to Commander, but the card draw can make a difference. Whether or not it's worth it to give them permanent acceleration is questionable. Assuming that everyone is hitting every land drop, on the play you're letting them untap and getting four mana's worth out of their turn, and then you'll have five, and so on and so forth; on the draw, they'll be starting turn four with five mana... Yeesh. If this was, like, a Treasure token, I'd be more inclined, but I honestly don't think that the card draw is worth it for an opponent who really knows how to use their mana.

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@stareyedesper — Birthday Cake Basher

I want to tweak these numbers a lot—like, a lot. For a single human assassin, I don't think there's a lot of situations where an eight-mana creature is going to make a lot of sense. That said, every mechanical gist of this card feels conceptually cool. Ball Lightning effects are always pretty neat for aggro decks and I like the way that they force your opponent into deciding how or if they're going to come back from some pretty nasty attacks on your part. The ability to also just have a larger creature late in the game is pretty fun as well, so heck, you've got that going for you as well. I think that this ratio is good, but I'd lower the numbers. Let's see...

A five-mana 4/3 with a 2RB emerge cost might not be out of the question? But that's just what's come to mind and I'm sure there are better options for this kind of card to keep it more relevant to the battlefield and perhaps to the archetype. And like I mentioned before, I kinda expected a few birthday-themed cards to get in here regardless—I don't think I understand the flavor text of this one at all. Presumable, they're the "last words" because the assassin is coming out the cake to kill them, but why specify cartography? Is this a character we're supposed to know? What 'house' are they in? Are they expecting, uh, someone of a different profession, or are they just excited for cake? Really scratching my head on this.

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@tanknspank — The Party Never Ends

You know, it's not birthday-themed, but I think that there's something to be said for taking a party aspect of a world and really running with it. The Cabaretti at the center of this are definitely the best choice for some kind of New Capenna return, or maybe this is closer to the Aftermath feel, a hidden glimpse into the world behind the curtain post-Atraxa's-defeat. I can instantly think of at least three Commander players I know who would be so excited to play this card, seriously. It's great for tokens, Treasure builds, and probably some enchantment builds on top.

Building around in limited would probably be stronger than it seems. I don't know how much repetitive Treasure creation there was in SNC—so lemme take a look! [looking] Hm. Well, sorta ten, but most of them were conditional. Glittermonger and Black Market Tycoon were the exceptions, and both of them would be ridiculous with this card. I mean, heck, you don't necessarily have to have things that make Treasures each turn, because you'll have quite a few Citizens made from them regardless. Yeah, no, I'm still a big fan of this card as a mythic with a lot of flavorful oomph behind it. Very fun!

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@the-gboi — Nest Parasitism

This one got a lot of love in the chat and workshop. And to be clear, I'm also on board with this card's concept in general. The thing I have the most questions about is the place where this card would want to be printed, and that's tripping me up a bit. Without the Kindred type, I can see a world with non-anthropomorphized birds having a typal theme in a standard set. Something about Kindred really locks in a specificity that's...perhaps a future tool, but is that something that we need? There's the real question: what about this card needs the Kindred typing? I feel it adds baggage, especially for a standard design, that opens up more questions than answers. I am curious about your thoughts here.

As for wording, the O in offspring should be lowercase, and the reminder text should have been refitted to match the fact that it's other spells being cast. The name of the card should be "this enchantment" (a decision I disagree with but that's new wording for ya). Lastly, "you control" is extraneous at the end there. The real question: is it playable? That's also up in the air. For strong ETBs, you'll have a grand time, as well as with token synergies. Eventually, though, you're going to run out of nontoken Birds, and then you're left with 1/1 copies of all your best creatures. If you're losing as many flying bodies as you're gaining, and the bodies you're gaining are mostly likely not as strong as the ones you're losing, is it worth it to have the copies? This card satisfies an excellent portrayal of nest parasitism in birds. However, that portrayal harms you in the game state enough that I don't know if I'd play it without a strong reason.

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<3 @abelzumi

[inventors-fair]

Carcinization

Yeah, I can't imagine how I'd possibly introduce this one, so...

Design a Crab, Homarid, or Lobster.

You could theoretically say I did this to celebrate Lobster finally becoming a black-bordered type, but nah, I mostly just felt like doing this.

Pretty straightforward, but a few notes. First of all, there's plenty of crustaceans that don't currently have types. If any of those particularly strike your fancy, feel free to just make your own types. Do be sure it's actually a crustacean, though. I know the game categorizes horseshoe crabs as crabs for the sake of convenience, but it's my contest, and I get to be annoying about taxonomy.

(Also, Kindred cards with any of the above types are completely fair game if that's what you want to do.)

Bottom line is that it actually needs to have one of the relevant creature types in its type line; something like just creating a Crab token—for example—is not enough. With all that in mind, the world is your oyster, if you don't mind me saying.

Get out there and show me how shrimple it is! —@spooky-bard

>> Desktop Submissions >> Mobile Submissions/Asks >> IF Discord Server

[inventors-fair]

Carcinization

Yeah, I can't imagine how I'd possibly introduce this one, so...

Design a Crab, Homarid, or Lobster.

You could theoretically say I did this to celebrate Lobster finally becoming a black-bordered type, but nah, I mostly just felt like doing this.

Pretty straightforward, but a few notes. First of all, there's plenty of crustaceans that don't currently have types. If any of those particularly strike your fancy, feel free to just make your own types. Do be sure it's actually a crustacean, though. I know the game categorizes horseshoe crabs as crabs for the sake of convenience, but it's my contest, and I get to be annoying about taxonomy.

(Also, Kindred cards with any of the above types are completely fair game if that's what you want to do.)

Bottom line is that it actually needs to have one of the relevant creature types in its type line; something like just creating a Crab token—for example—is not enough. With all that in mind, the world is your oyster, if you don't mind me saying.

Get out there and show me how shrimple it is! —@spooky-bard

>> Desktop Submissions >> Mobile Submissions/Asks >> IF Discord Server

[inventors-fair]

Late to the Party: Birthday Runners-Up

After a long and wonderful day, our runners-up are @grornt, @hypexion, and @yourrightfulking!

@grornt — Rakdos, Festivity Fiend

It's a big scary demon. What a present! In this present, I don't think that Wizards has the guts to print a mechanic for the Rakdos clan that would be so tongue-in-cheek. Considering that they're mostly about the dismembering of their membership, a mechanic that cares about nonland permanents entering would need a lot of flavor around it in order to really function. That said, it feels so iconic for the circus and for the cult, this genuine celebration of slaughter that brings with it a sense of sadistic glee, as seen on cards like Sadistic Glee... I absolutely ride with it, you know? I wish this was the true future of Ravnica: guild-based exploration of infighting, personal values, slices of life, and in the case of the Rakdos, slices of flesh.

And what do we get on top of it all? Like I said, a big scary demon! A seven mana 7/6 trample is pretty wild, and then the celebration on top of it...isn't actually that scary, and hear me out. Something about the fact that this is a curve-topper makes me realize: you're probably not going to be getting celebration off until the next turn, assuming that you haven't run out of gas then. Is a 7/6 trampling flying demon good enough? The fact that we have to ask that is...scary, honestly, but I'm also old enough to remember when Goliath Sphinx was a rare and not draft chaff. Oof. In the immediate future, I can feel that this card could be a fun thing to get off if you're reanimating it and then going ham. I honestly wonder if there could be another celebratory aspect to this card; could bumping off one mana work? I don't actually know, and I'm too scared to ask.

@hypexion — Doppel Duelist

Don't ever hit me or my angry son or my even angrier son ever again, is what I'd be telling people. Thank goodness for that reminder text, though, because there are other ways to word this card and I think that it's probably reasonable that you went with that side of it. "Offspring 1R and/or 1W" feels clunky, and this groks a lot better. I think you have a good head for grokitude and for the gist of what I personally like to see in my just-beyond-the-norm kinds of designs. You're not breaking any bones or boundaries, but you're giving something new to the old tech that feels like it would be really awesome to have seen when the tech was first introduced. I mean, Bloomburrow isn't "old," but you know what I mean.

A four mana 3/2 double strike by itself is actually really terrifying. If this was combined with Manifold Mouse in the original set to give it trample, plus literally any amount of combat tricks when combined with the extra bodies... Mice would be unstoppable. Mice were already pretty unstoppable before the standard ban and they're still really damn good, but I just love the pseudo-french-vanilla of this card's simplicity. Maybe paying eight mana for a few smallish bodies isn't that good unless you're playing in sealed or a really grindy draft game. Maybe I LIKE sealed and really grindy draft games, how about that? No, yeah, I'm down for this card's speedy sensations and awesome applications. Mice ahoy!

@yourrightfulking — Evidence Fisher

This card feels abusable, man. This card feels, in that second line of text, like it could go infinite with something that's really messing with my head, and I can't figure out exactly what it is. The only thing that comes to mind is, like, Hexavus and Urza—remove a counter, investigate, tap the clue for U, use that to move a counter back to Hexavus, rinse and repeat for infinite clues. Could it be easier than that? Absolutely. Do I want to spend a lot of time looking up the various combos? Hell no. Do I like this card for its mechanics more than its flavor? Well, kinda no, but that's just 'cause I was thinking about the flavor text and chuckling to myself at points where it wasn't really relevant, and there you go, a card that sticks with me.

Let's actually walk through this one! Shield counters and other kinds of counters as a UG overlap mechanic feel awesome. They did a few kinds of counters in Dragonstorm with the Abzan, and I was down for it then even if it ended up being mostly +1/+1 counters. Here, you've got the shield counters and the removal thereof, with moving counters perhaps being a subtheme of the counters in general, and I'd really love to see that happen. Investigation as a guest mechanic, which is what I would hope it to be, feels like an awesome spot for it. The name of this card is so excellent—someone loses their shield, this merfolk looks into it for their own cute lil' means. Which might be covering up a murder! Aw, they're adorable... Seriously, the nonchalance of the quote here just makes me feel like you hit the sardonic nail on the head. It's not for everyone, but you did an awesome job here. Please, though, add reminder text for non-evergreen abilities, I beg...

Whew. Thanks for your patience, everyone. Enjoy the rest of your weekend, and I'll enjoy being old as the hills. @abelzumi