#you don't have to mechanically benefit from an interaction to appreciate the intent

[sevenredscugs]

Since this seems to be going around more than I remember and I really don't understand the mindset - it's 100% okay for you to hit that funney little heart button on my art, even if you don't reblog it? I would never turn down the interaction, or want to pressure people into sharing my stuff if they don't want to.

Even if it doesn't feed into any algorithms or anything like that, it means the world to me if people like my doodles enough to even consider giving it a like!!

[moomoog017]

headcanons ᯓᡣ𐭩 admire

Tech x gn!reader

Synopsis: tech often gets ignored because of his constant chatter but you sit down and listen.

Genre: FLUFF FLUFF FLUFF. One itty bitty pinch of angst

Word Count: 791

Warnings: none

A/N: just thought it'd be cute and wholesome. Can be read as platonic or romantic. :))

“Good morning Tech.” You announced, your voice running like honey. There was a grogginess to your words. Tech and you always woke up first, it had just become routine after the few weeks you'd been with the Batch. “Good morning y/n.” Tech replied, his eyes glued to the new project he was working on. His back hunched over in the chair. Curious, you make your way over to his side with a drink in your hands. “What are you workin’ on?" Tech moves his face a little closer to his project, “I’m working on a portable communication device; also known as a ‘com link.’”

“Can I look at it?” You spoke softly and genuinely interested. Your words hit Tech’s ears and he stopped. "Uhm sure, just don't touch it.” He swivels out of the way letting you come closer to investigate the item. He pushes his goggles up intensely watching you interact with his project.

“This is super cool!” You moved your face closer to look at all the intricate mechanisms of the device. Tech's eyebrows relaxed feeling a sense of pride in his work. "Thank you y/n.” No one ever really payed attention or listened to whatever it was he was making. He was slightly confused on why you were so interested. He analysed you and your actions, deciding to speak his hypothesis.

“Are you perhaps looking to create something similar?” You looked over at him, “oh kriff no, I don't have the talent you do Tech.” Your response baffled him even more so, “well thank you but then why the indulgment in my project?” Your eyes softened, “I just think it’s really cool.” Tech’s face was stagnant so you elaborated, “I appreciate the small details and knowledge it takes in order to basically build something mechanical from scratch. I admire it.”

He finally understood, “ah I see now, your lack of knowledge on basic mechanical systems fascinates you that’s why you're admiring mine.” Ouch you thought, but he wasn't wrong. You sigh, “I tried to word it a bit more poetically, but yeah.” You looked back at the device, Tech stayed silent he was debating something in his mind.

“Apologies if that was a bit harsh, I was just confused as to why you would be interested other than for your own benefits. I’m not used to…people being interested in what I’m doing or saying…” It was a heartfelt apology, you knew his brothers got bored of what he was saying, not out of malicious intentions they just weren't invested. Your face saddened at the device, “I forgive you Tech, I know you weren't trying to be mean.”

He released a heavy sigh of relief and spoke, “If you want to learn more about my technology and mechanics I could teach you.” Your eyes shifted, “sure.” You smiled knowing it would make both of you happy. Tech fixed his goggles and came closer to you and the device. “Well when’s my first lesson?” Tech grabs a tool, “right now.” You smiled softly, “so first it is undeniably important that—” His words drifted through the air as you absorbed them, taking in all the information and asking questions.

Time seemed to fly by that morning and you two were completely indulged in his creations. While listening you couldn't help but think how good it must feel to talk to someone who wants to listen to you. It only made you more eager to ask questions, and made you feel good. With your attention completely captured you didn't see the other men huddled together gossiping about it.

“Looks like they're getting along.” Hunter’s lips threatened a smile, seeing his brother happy. “I’m hungry!” Wrecker groaned in a whisper. “Let Tech have this a little longer, even I can only take so much ‘Tech talk.’” Echo rubbed his temple recalling all the moments where he had been close to drifting off to sleep while Tech lectured him about mechanics. Crosshair said nothing, only his typical scowl and toothpick in his mouth. He watched you two interact and he was totally going to tease you for it later.

A loud rumble was heard and it had disrupted Tech and your attention. It was Wreckers stomach growling, he sheepishly smiled. “Sorry.” You chuckled. “We’ll continue this lesson later y/n,” Tech spoke and got up placing his device in a safe space. “We're you guys just waiting?” You raised a brow. “You looked like you were having fun.” Hunter smiled.

“And Tech most of all.” Crosshair finally spoke pointing his toothpick at you. Tech heard this and a the edge of his lips lifted ever so slightly. Your ears heated up, you grinned. “Stow it Crosshair,” Echo hissed. You just chuckled enjoying the mens antics.

[inventors-fair]

EDH Redesign Commentary: Rise and Shine

I think this was a really strong week overall! Let's get the highs out the way first: I've been in a deckbuilding spirit, and I've been feeling really great about how the best cards here made me want to build decks with them and/or build more into the design process. I'm not surprised that a few of the same mechanics made appearances, like myriad, and how cards made it clear whether or not they were more interactive or more self-contained with a multiplayer mood. There was so much variance this week as well!

With that variance, I feel that some designs got mildly myopic in their balance and explosive factor. Many cards had very interesting ideas that for whatever reason missed the polishing mark because of wording, minor exploits, or overcomplication. But that's part of what designing for a format like Commander entails. Lots of past precedent means you're essentially designing for Vintage where thousands more cards happen to matter. Each designer also brought something that they love about their multiplayer experiences to the forefront. I greatly appreciate contests where we can let a little bit of that loose, let people feel freer. Constraints are fun, but there's gotta be love behind it.

Judge Picks (and one other card, we'll get to that) are cards with specific qualities that I wanted to highlight and/or cards that were close to podium-ing. Clash on!

@bergdg — Livonya Silone, Mythcarver (IT'S-COMPLICATED PICK)

I don't usually venture into the workshop during the weeks where I run contests. If I had, I would've seen The Master, Multiplied and the rules complications going into that card. I had written at the beginning of the week all of this card's ambitions, the rules citations for how it wouldn't work, yadda yadda, and I completely missed the fact that yes indeed, this card works and it works very, very well. That's entirely my fault for overestimating my rules knowledge and intent without proper background checks.

Had I done the proper work, this card probably would've been a winner, so here's an inaugural award for Winner By Default, The Default Being Abelzumi Didn't Do His Homework. Card time. I am genuinely sorry about that.

Of course this card kicks ass. How could it not? The ability to have multiple swings with equipment switching turns an otherwise volatile Voltron strategy into a massive and precise distribution of power on the board. Everyone has to be prepared to block but everyone's also at the mercy of Livonya's trigger deciding to hammer this or sword that. The mono-red equipment build has been tried and true with other commanders such as Godo. The difference is that maximizing you damage output becomes so much more intense and thoughtful. It's a fantastic card to build around that just begs for broken things to be done with a rich skill ceiling and an accessible floor of "put all your best stuff on the field and switch as you want to." Bringing back a relatively unknown legend with metal flavor and a metal name was already a strong choice, but this card also asks everything that a legendary creature can of its commander builder. I liked it even when I was wrong about it and I love it now.

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@bread-into-toast — Defame

The design sense is strong per usual. This card in particular is just kind of weak for the cost. Basri's Solidarity + Cower in Fear isn't a weak combination by any means, but as a rare for a weird overload, I'm a bit on the fence about it. Honestly, if there was somehow wording for one more mode then I'd be down. As it stands, slightly better sorcery-speed Subtle Strike isn't grabbing me as strongly. as it could. Compared to other five-mana effects for the cost, you can see how there's room to push.

That said, let's go back to the design sense, because this is an excellent card from that perspective. The modal methodology still allows for you to benefit if you don't need both, but with the overload there's no reason not to choose both either way. Getting around creature hexproof/ward is fun as well, although paying five mana for that, well... All the same, I also love the flavor that you've put into this Silverquill student. Either they go after the specific vendetta, or they're going to slander a whole clique. Excellent name for the flavor and a great comparative sense of their spellcasting.

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@corporalotherbear — Lazav, Dimir Guildmaster (JUDGE PICK)

Super inconsequential note: I'm personally of the opinion that Flash should always be on its own line because of what kind of keyword it is—like the first printing of Samut. Regardless of whether or not that's precedent, we have a really interesting card here at the very least. What I like the most is this card's ability to be a great limited build-around. Legends-style drafts are apparently out of vogue, but if you're in a graveyard shell you can use this as your commander and have any kind of graveyard-midrange strategy at the ready. Lazav has always been kind of a one-and-done dude in terms of his designs; personally, the OTJ one is the most creative to me, but that's just me.

The more I think about this card the more I'm warming up to it. There's more than just stealing cards, because if you're building around it, then you can stack your own graveyard with powerful ETBs and have the myriad actually matter. Other Lazav builds kind of rely on general value to become the best commanders that they can be, and it's a lot less interesting than what you've made here. I think that there were a lot of mechanical intersections this week, but I want to commend this card for doing a pretty cool take on a character that otherwise doesn't have a lot of variance going for them on official cards.

~

@dimestoretajic — Bruvac, Illustrious Orator

So if I'm not mistaken, any kind of non-legendary clone skirting makes this infinite. Because you don't specify "this ability" to me "any iteration of these words among cards you control," you could argue that a Spark Double'd Bruvac can mill, then trigger the other, and then that one triggers the copy, and so on and so forth. I understand what you were going for and it unfortunately breaks under that kind of scrutiny; with the right hand of mana rocks, it's a consistent turn three table kill.

What kind of wording would make this not infinite? My go-to would be to limit the trigger to once a turn, and then you could make it a little stronger, like: "Whenever an opponent mills one or more cards, you may have each other opponent mill that many cards. This ability triggers only once each turn." Then you could have the second ability be somewhat more relevant to the milling, because as it stands it's a little less exciting than it could be. I mean, yeah, it's Bruvac, it's not supposed to be an exciting character, but there could be at least a little hint about what to build besides just mill. Exiling cards from graveyards to goad creatures? There are options. The only other thing is that I don't hate the notion of the flavor text but it feels more like a sarcastic aside than an in-depth look at this Azorius character. What place does he really have in the world as a commander now? I'd like to see a little more of that.

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@hypexion — Elesh Norn, Grand Praetor

I was a little freaked out about the costs for those abilities until I remembered that there were the "compleated" planeswalkers, and then it's like, oh, that makes sense. And here we have Bant Phyrexians, a shard commander. From a mechanical perspective, this card's bonkers. I—hold up, what? Sorry, I'm doing a Scryfall search, and Blightsteel Colossus has been errata'd to a Phyrexian, but Consecrated Sphinx hasn't? That's dumb. Anyway. I'd want to build this deck, so that's a solid thumbs-up. There are lots of options and ways to build, great proliferation tech, and she's going strong.

Is the power level comparable to other Praetors or iterations? I mean, if someone told me, knife to my throat, "build a Bant Phyrexian commander deck," Chulane would probably be my go-to. But if this card were an option, yeah, I'd go for it. Just straight Phyrexian, though? That's a bit tougher. Sheer value is only as interesting as the imagination. In the end, I think I'd have a fun time building. The thing I want to understand more is how you're justifying the colors here. Honestly, it would make more sense for both symbols to be Phy-mana. Part of the Praetors' identities are their indomitable xenophobia even within their spheres. There are multicolored identity minions and whatnot, but the Praetors in their own perfection? Character-wise, I'm not buying the argument. If I was a more pedantic Phy-fanboy I'd also say that the Praetors also need to have punishing effects but I actually appreciate that you went a different direction here and broke from precedent to make a good card.

~

@justicefortyvarkell — Depala, Determined Racer

I was wondering "Why not just Vehicles myriad when you crew them?" but there would be some weird wording changes that you'd have to do. Let's see... "Vehicle tokens you control are Creatures in addition to their other types. // Each Vehicle you control has myriad. (RT)" Well, I'm sure there are other ways like the one that you did, but the only reason I would suggest something like the former is for wording/mechanical condensation. That said, the way that you wrote this card does make it fairly obvious what the intent is, and I respect that part of it.

In terms of Boros vehicle commanders, the original Depala is still probably the go-to for a lot of people for the consistency, although mono-white and Grixis AC decks are also up there. This card carves a bit of a niche in the multiplayer-specific aspect. I think myriad is going to be a mechanic a lot of people will use this week (I say, while writing this before every submission has come in but after already seeing at least two myriad cards). While it's not doing anything absolutely new with the concept of multiplayer damage, I personally enjoy Vehicles and would use this as a Commander if I played more multiplayer games. Great for ETBs, great for general smashing.

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@melancholia-ennui — Dakkon the Avenger

Dakkon is a cool dude and one of my current Oathbreakers (remember that format? Good stuff!) and I wouldn't worry about the grandfathered lands-matter aspects of his cards. I buy it. Wild that Dakkon is still alive... Anyway, reading up on the soul-stealing aspects of the sword, I totally understand where this card is coming from and how powerful it can be. For this cost and with these abilities, I feel that you could have gone so much more aggressive with it. Six mana for an otherwise creature that has to connect combat damage and pay even more mana for the effect... This card demands a push that isn't quite there yet. I might be 202X-Magic jaded, but right now it almost feels like an uncommon. Not a bad one, mind, but not a rare power-wise.

Complexity is another issue, though, and I don't mind where you've gone with it. The thing to keep in mind is that, well... It's not a trigger. It's a replacement effect, so the last sentence isn't necessary. Even if it was a trigger I don't think it would be necessary. Lemme brainstorm... The first version I came up must be blocked and destroyed smaller creatures to turn them into lands, same kinda role. There are lots of cool ways to have this cool idea come to fruition. In my opinion, this one's a little clunky and overcosted, but has a solid core. I'd like to see an artifact-Voltron deck that runs an updated version of this dude.

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@misterstingyjack — Craterhoof Yearling (JUDGE PICK)

I think this is one of the strangest, strongest, and most imaginative base designs that I've seen this week. There's a lot to be said for how much power you can pack into mono-green smashing, and the callback to Craterhoof Behemoth is awesome. The ETB here is strong; I actually don't know if this is the kind of finisher that this effect needs. Compared to where you want to play this in the game, it honestly feels like you can push the power a little bit more into a consistent finisher. A semi-Overrun effect is definitely strong. Where C-Behemoth is a one-and done demolisher, I think this design space has some more options.

The first thought that comes to mind is have this be both a enters for the +2/+2, and then at the beginning of combat on your turn the additional commander damage boost comes into play. It encourages long-term combat, especially if you're at parity in a Legends/Masters draft format. Explosive ETBs are fun, but I love the ability to have an even stronger board presence that immediately puts a target on you. In a 1V1 Commander game, it's kinda rough if you've already dealt any amount of damage, but putting a clock on as opposed to a one-time boost can raise this card to the power levels of contemporary Commander in a way that doesn't break it. I love this space, actually. What could other colors do with it? What would those effects look like? I'd love to see more.

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@nine-effing-hells — Taranika, Regent of Akros

I think this card is totally fine as an experience counter Boros big thing, even if Otharri says thankyouverymuch and annihilates the battlefield with it. Maybe it's not the absolute most imaginative thing for RW to do, but it does it well, and I want to respect that aspect of it. It was pretty close to being up there this week, I'll be honest; there's also the reality of making big attacks bigger doesn't have the most complexity to build with. How would one want to make this deck? Put in haste, get a few creatures, maybe a little protection, and it's an easy damage out. Of course you can build more into that notion, but the width and depth are at odds.

Still, what more could RW do with experience counters? The use of experience counters at all is, to the best of my failing and exhausted memory, the only one that we've seen for this particular contest. It's one that's very much exclusive to having creatures as your commander (unless, like me, you've been watching too much LSV and how the aforementioned Otharri goes into cube) and it's hard to spread out. I'm sure I could brainstorm other options, but I like the way that you chose to incorporate a flavorful mechanic to the Akroan troops that's been away for a hot minute. The whole card's feelings are absolutely radical, so let's put that icing on the cake. And of course, it's powerful as all hell. Assemble the Legion, anyone? I want to hear more about what could've been changed to make it more unexpected. What are the reasonable limits of experience counters, especially in this color combination?

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@sparkyyoungupstart — Scion of Alara

So if I bring this to a cEDH table facing Urza, Godo, Gitrog, and Heliod, I've got...a trampler. Woohoo! In all seriousness, this is a volatile commander that's asking a lot of playgroups and commits a cardinal sin: discouraging casual playgroups from running certain cards. Sometimes deckbuilding is self-contained and there are just matchups that make card matchups difficult (combo vs. jack, aggro vs. control). Gyruda, as a different example, might make players more aware of what values of creatures are in their decks, but it's not a card that necessarily discourages players from running even-MV cards. This card guarantees that your opponents' keyworded commanders make your five-color pile that much stronger. Or, it ends up being a 9/9 death-trigger card, which is...fine, but only as fun as Child of Alara is already.

Let's be real: Child of Alara is already a pretty wild commander and while it isn't directly designed to do so, the absolute annihilation of its death trigger is pretty well-suited to multiplayer politics already. The fact that nobody gets death triggers but lands get untapped is...interesting? I think there were some interesting ideas in general going for this card but I don't feel the cohesion or direction that I need here. What is this card representing, exactly, and what sort of deck does it want to be? The charitable approach would be a control-ish sacrifice-ish deck. Maybe. I don't know, I don't think this card is meeting me halfway here. Minor FT note: "Each" would work better than "Every" because of the limited/name quantity of shards.

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@stupidstupidratcreatures — Erinyes of Death's Hunger

Maybe it's just the space, but this card feels pretty scant to me. I did put the reminder text on myriad in a mockup, so there's that, but—I mean, Kroxa already has "each opponent" in its rules text. Maybe myriad as a go-to multiplayer balance makes sense in general, but I'm not completely sold on why it needs to be this particular reference. But having nonlegendary callbacks to legendary effects isn't unheard of. I think ultimately I like what this card does, and I'll talk about that in a sec. Justifying it for this contest compared to its origin makes me ask what new thing it brings.

But as it stands, the power level is high and the bar is aggravatingly good. Without evasion, the nontoken version is fairly weak, but I suppose you'd run cards to get around that. It's an immediate target and a real pain to get around if there's even a single hit in. The typing of "Elder" is something I'd change for sure. That's a reservation for legends, and just feels out of place here. The whole card is generally fine and quite strong. Again, I just don't think this reference was the strongest choice.

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@xenobladexfan — Loran, Tocasia's Legacy (JUDGE PICK)

Emry has taught us one thing: casting artifact cards from the graveyard is super cool. Affinity has taught us something else: drawing an obscene number of cards is also super cool and also dangerous. I feel that the ability to generate Powerstones fairly easily will lead to combo cases where you run effectively all colorless eggs, draw a bunch of cards, and then use Unwinding Clock et. al. to untap your powerstones and crack your eggs and... Oh wait. Amulet of Vigor, cost reducer, eggs... Hooooo lordy you could draw a lot of cards. Or at least, with the right untap for Loran you could. So yeah, I want to build this deck ASAP.

I think the first ability should be "Whenever a player casts their first artifact spell each turn" because otherwise you're in a situation of ludicrous Powerstones and draw. Again, I wanna emphasize: with the right generic costs and a sac outlet or whatever, you can draw so many cards during each turn and it'd be impossible to keep up with. This was a card that I'm just worried enough about its power level to put as a Judge Pick, but it's damn close. I love it when there are Commander contests that make me want to build decks that don't exist yet. Even though I really don't get a chance to play Commander these days, I love the notion. Good on you! I also love the in-joke about how she'd want to play an "eggs" deck by holding a spatula. /j

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@yd12k — Sarkhan, Dragon Caller

Not to praise MAT too much, but it did give us a Commander Sarkhan for this niche, even if it wasn't designed for Commander as such. Don't worry, you're not getting docked for that. The reason I bring that up is because there's something about this design that feels a little bit difficult to rectify. The fact that a lot of people won't have dragons on hand—I mean, IN hand—means that you're basically creating an army of 4/4s for everyone right off the bat. Just to be clear: that's a ridiculously fast start to the beatdown even if you're for some reason not running any dragon advantage.

If you are, and if you have any kind of turn-one ramp, you can easily bring out Sarkhan turn two with a consistent advantage of cards like Lathliss, Klauth, Terror of the Peaks, Miirym—the list goes on. Even giving your opponents dragons isn't enough to stop the power you can bring to the table. I don't think this card is necessarily balanced, and I don't really know how to make this approach work for multiplayer in the way that you envisioned. What exactly did you envision for this, actually? I think the design space of everyone-gets-dragons is...in-character for Sarkhan, but gameplay-wise, I'm not sensing where the balance was supposed to be.

~

Enjoy the reflections this week, folks. @abelzumi