Hi folks! We had such a good response for July nominations after the June winner was posted later in the month that we decided to try posting winners near the end of the next month. Hopefully that keeps the nominations coming.
Without further ado, congratulations to Gerrard's Mom for designing this month's winner:
Thoughtflock2(W/U)(W/U)
Instant (R)
Exile all cards in your hand and put that many 1/1 white and blue Bird tokens onto the battlefield. They each have flying and "When this creature leaves the battlefield, return target card exiled with Thoughtflock to its owner's hand." There is nothing so beautiful as the flight of a dream set free.
There are some templating issues, but we felt it was a wonderful blend of flavor and function that also produced a potentially powerful and well-costed card that Timmy, Johnny, and Spike can all enjoy.
Honorable Mention: onewholeword
Empty Words 1U
Instant (R)
Target spell card you don't control loses all text in it's text box until end of turn. (Even when it changes zones. IE. if that spell is a permanent card, it comes into play with no abilities and has no abilities this turn.)
This probably won't work as intended, but it's a very creative angle on a counterspell and the intended functionality creates a surprisingly balanced counterspel for 1U. This design also has the distinction of being the first card to receive more than one nomination.
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First to congratulate myself?
I did some extensive research on that templating, does anybody have a better suggestion? Tetravus was my basis for having a second sentence stating the abilities of the tokens, since they wouldn't read very well in the first sentence. Is there an issue with the ability that returns cards to hand?
Something fun I came up with here is that you can actually use the cards in your hand as the tokens, although I guess they print token cards for that now.
Empty Words is a great title and idea too, I guess you could try wording it somehow with a loss of abilities? I think Volrath's Shapeshifter is the only non-Un card that refers to a card's text atm, although I didn't check that at all.
I did some extensive research on that templating, does anybody have a better suggestion?
The big thing is you're missing "creature" in the token wording. (Which we would have pre-emptively fixed if I had noticed it before posting the thread.)
Other than that, I'm good with it though I'm not sure the Tratravus-like wording is necessary since your's is considerably less complicated. But I do think it reads well.
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Thoughtflock2(W/U)(W/U)
Instant R
Exile all cards in your hand and put that many 1/1 white and blue Bird creature tokens with flying onto the battlefield. They each have "When this creature leaves the battlefield, return target card exiled with Thoughtflock to its owner's hand." There is nothing so beautiful as the flight of a dream set free.
How can I make a card such as this? I found a site once that allows you to make custom cards, but certain things, such as the text and picture where not as good as you have here.
Edit: Hehe, sorry. Great card, I like the choices it allows.
The big thing is you're missing "creature" in the token wording. (Which we would have pre-emptively fixed if I had noticed it before posting the thread.)
Other than that, I'm good with it though I'm not sure the Tratravus-like wording is necessary since your's is considerably less complicated. But I do think it reads well.
There's another issue, though. In Tetravus, when it says "put onto the battlefield with Tetravus," it's self-referencing because the ability is on Tetravus itself. When the Bird token tries to target a card, it comes across the text "Thoughtflock" and says "WTF is that?"
Thoughtflock :2mana::symuw::symuw:
Instant {R}
Exile all cards from your hand and put that many 1/1 white and blue Bird creature tokens onto the battlefield. They each have flying and "When this creature leaves the battlefield, return target card exiled with a card named Thoughtflock to its owner's hand."
Alternatively, you could make it less awkward by simply letting them target any exiled card. I doubt it would be broken.
How can I make a card such as this? I found a site once that allows you to make custom cards, but certain things, such as the text and picture where not as good as you have here.
Go to the Software subforum and look for the Magic Set Editor (MSE) thread.
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I think a template similar to Malfegor reads better.
Thoughtflock :2mana::symuw::symuw:
Instant {R}
Exile your hand.
For each card exiled this way, put a 1/1 white and blue creature token with flying and "When this creature leaves the battlefield, return target card exiled with Thoughtflock to its owner's hand" onto the battlefield.
I love this card, looks like the one of the most fun outside of un-sets since Fact or Fiction.
If you don't mind me tweaking how the card works a little bit, here's my shot at wording that I think might make it more intuitive:
Thoughtflock2:symwu::symwu:
Instant (R)
Put each card from your hand onto the battlefield face down. As long as these cards remain on the battlefield, they are 1/1 white and blue bird creature tokens with flying and "If this creature would leave the battlefield, put it into its owner's hand instead."
I don't think you can actually target an exiled card. I would word it like this:
Exile your hand. For each card exiled this way, put a 1/1 white and blue creature token with flying and "When this creature leaves the battlefield, return a card exiled with Thoughtflock to its owner's hand." onto the battlefield.
I don't think you can actually target an exiled card. I would word it like this:
Exile your hand. For each card exiled this way, put a 1/1 white and blue creature token with flying and "When this creature leaves the battlefield, return a card exiled with Thoughtflock to its owner's hand." onto the battlefield.
Thoughtflock :2mana::symuw::symuw:
Instant R
Exile all cards in your hand and put that many 1/1 white and blue Bird creature tokens with flying onto the battlefield. They each have "When this creature leaves the battlefield, return target card exiled with Thoughtflock to its owner's hand." There is nothing so beautiful as the flight of a dream set free.
That or you could just make Thoughtflock an instant shroud enchantment with Colfenor's Plans style wording
I think regardless of the statements saying that the tokens would not know what Thoughtflock is afterwards the effort to adjust the wording to compensate is not worth the common sense instilled from the wording currently.
Ultimately i would dumb it down to make it simpler, and a bit more spicy.
It still keeps the flavour, but just let other stuff that has gone into the "void of fantasy" be reclaimed.
Which would make johnny alot happier, possibly also enabling a endless combo in older formats...
I agree with all of this (in fact, I suggested the same thing in my post above).
Infinite combo? Thoughtflock, Yawgmoth's Will (or anything to exile the Thoughtflock card itself, but that one has the most potential for additional interactions), Doubling Season, Phyrexian Altar, at least 5 other cards in hand.
I think regardless of the statements saying that the tokens would not know what Thoughtflock is afterwards the effort to adjust the wording to compensate is not worth the common sense instilled from the wording currently.
Unfortunately, "common sense" doesn't dictate what happens in a game of Magic. In its present incarnation (or the one you suggested), the card doesn't return exiled cads at all because its text is meaningless to the Rules. So it is indeed "worth" rewording if you want the card to do that.
It's not really a big deal, but I've got to disagree with the "any exiled card" suggestion. I think the exiled zone should only be dipped into with very narrow cards; we already have the graveyard as the "kind of gone" zone and there needs to be a place where cards stay gone for the most part.
I don't think targetting exiled card is wrong but probably unnecessary, "return a card exiled with ~this~" would do the same thing without you having to fear opponent unmorphing Willbender (which I believe is the only card that can change targets of triggered abilities). You could compare this to the cards that let you play cards from unusual zones like Colfenor's Plans or Yawgmoth's Will.
Hmm this card reminds me of how broken spectral procession can feel at times. only difference is this can be combined with blue draw, is at instant speed, and makes chump blocking with the tokens worth your time. Don't get me wrong, i love the flavour of the card, but it could end up being somewhat more powerful than intended.
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Morquedeas: krump?
wikachaw: thats black people for good
wikachaw: my black friend tuaght me so its not racist
I don't think targetting exiled card is wrong but probably unnecessary, "return a card exiled with ~this~"
To be more clear, you can't target a card that is exiled face-down. As with cards like Burning Wish, etc., you simply "choose" a card and put it into your hand.
Also, effects that affect your entire hand don't usually state "each card in your hand." Instead, they just refer to it as a singular whole, IE: "your hand"
I believe this would be a correct wording for the card: "Exile your hand and put a 1/1 white and blue Bird creature token onto the battlefield for each card exiled this way. These tokens have flying and "When this creature leaves the battlefield, choose a card exiled with Thoughtflock and put it into your hand."
You could also mash the entire thing into a single line, but Wizards has actually avoided doing that in the past for a reason. Imagine how awkward it would be to read a card that read:
"Exile your hand and put a 1/1 white and blue Bird creature token with flying and "When this creature leaves the battlefield, choose a card exiled with Thoughtflock and put it into your hand." onto the battlefield."
Edit: Before anyone asks, the trigger in my bolded example does function exactly as intended (similar to the Wish set of cards), as a card that another player owns can never end up in your hand through any means.
Thanks everybody, especially Dodavehu for nominating the card! I was pretty pleased with it, and it's nice to have so many comments on a single design, something that doesn't happen very often.
I'll try to answer some of the templating questions based on my research.
I did certainly forget to add "creature" as the token type, and the targeting isn't necessary and may be impossible since it is a face-down card. Most of the other stuff, though, is fine if I'm not wrong.
Hybrid cost - this is more of a push for blue than white. White has all kinds of instant token generation, like Raise the Alarm. For blue, think of it as a divided Wormfang Behemoth with flash, and I think many will agree that it isn't out of the question. I thought it was also working in the same space as Dovescape.
"Exile your hand put that many..." - see Tolarian Winds, for example. Magic cards can tell how many "that many" is from the "hand."
"They each have flying and ..." - Cloudseeder was brought up, that's a great example. I feel it is clearest just defining the attributes of the tokens in the first sentence, then specifying their abilities afterwards.
So, overall I feel the correct card would be:
Thoughtflock :2mana::symuw::symuw:
Instant (R)
Exile all cards in your hand and put that many 1/1 white and blue Bird creature tokens onto the battlefield. They each have flying and "When this creature leaves the battlefield, return a card exiled with Thoughtflock to its owner's hand." There is nothing so beautiful as the flight of a dream set free.
As for a couple of other questions, you don't need to have art to get nominated or anything, I went looking for this art after being told I won, and I was lucky to find something reasonably appropriate. Almost nobody (except occasionallyme?) makes their own art for their own cards.
For the flavor text I just thought about what your hand represents and how to describe all of your thoughts becoming birds. Although WT didn't like the name iirc, I thought it was pretty good at describing the card as well.
As for a couple of other questions, you don't need to have art to get nominated or anything, I went looking for this art after being told I won, and I was lucky to find something reasonably appropriate.
To expand on this, M_E and I are happy to find an art selection for you or do the render ourselves if you don't have one. A winning designer isn't required to make their own render.
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** Current New Favorite Person™: Mallory Archer
She knows why.
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Without further ado, congratulations to Gerrard's Mom for designing this month's winner:
Thoughtflock 2(W/U)(W/U)
Instant (R)
Exile all cards in your hand and put that many 1/1 white and blue Bird tokens onto the battlefield. They each have flying and "When this creature leaves the battlefield, return target card exiled with Thoughtflock to its owner's hand."
There is nothing so beautiful as the flight of a dream set free.
There are some templating issues, but we felt it was a wonderful blend of flavor and function that also produced a potentially powerful and well-costed card that Timmy, Johnny, and Spike can all enjoy.
Honorable Mention: onewholeword
Empty Words 1U
Instant (R)
Target spell card you don't control loses all text in it's text box until end of turn. (Even when it changes zones. IE. if that spell is a permanent card, it comes into play with no abilities and has no abilities this turn.)
This probably won't work as intended, but it's a very creative angle on a counterspell and the intended functionality creates a surprisingly balanced counterspel for 1U. This design also has the distinction of being the first card to receive more than one nomination.
Current New Favorite Person™: Mallory Archer
She knows why.
I did some extensive research on that templating, does anybody have a better suggestion? Tetravus was my basis for having a second sentence stating the abilities of the tokens, since they wouldn't read very well in the first sentence. Is there an issue with the ability that returns cards to hand?
Something fun I came up with here is that you can actually use the cards in your hand as the tokens, although I guess they print token cards for that now.
Empty Words is a great title and idea too, I guess you could try wording it somehow with a loss of abilities? I think Volrath's Shapeshifter is the only non-Un card that refers to a card's text atm, although I didn't check that at all.
The big thing is you're missing "creature" in the token wording. (Which we would have pre-emptively fixed if I had noticed it before posting the thread.)
Other than that, I'm good with it though I'm not sure the Tratravus-like wording is necessary since your's is considerably less complicated. But I do think it reads well.
Current New Favorite Person™: Mallory Archer
She knows why.
GWU Rafiq
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Here's a template suggestion:
Thoughtflock 2(W/U)(W/U)
Instant R
Exile all cards in your hand and put that many 1/1 white and blue Bird creature tokens with flying onto the battlefield. They each have "When this creature leaves the battlefield, return target card exiled with Thoughtflock to its owner's hand."
There is nothing so beautiful as the flight of a dream set free.
Edit: Hehe, sorry. Great card, I like the choices it allows.
There's another issue, though. In Tetravus, when it says "put onto the battlefield with Tetravus," it's self-referencing because the ability is on Tetravus itself. When the Bird token tries to target a card, it comes across the text "Thoughtflock" and says "WTF is that?"
Thoughtflock :2mana::symuw::symuw:
Instant {R}
Exile all cards from your hand and put that many 1/1 white and blue Bird creature tokens onto the battlefield. They each have flying and "When this creature leaves the battlefield, return target card exiled with a card named Thoughtflock to its owner's hand."
Alternatively, you could make it less awkward by simply letting them target any exiled card. I doubt it would be broken.
No, we don't have an August winner yet. If you're asking where to make nominations, send me a PM with a link to the card you want to nominate.
Go to the Software subforum and look for the Magic Set Editor (MSE) thread.
Current New Favorite Person™: Mallory Archer
She knows why.
Thanks to PurpleD from Left Play Designs for the banner:D
Thoughtflock :2mana::symuw::symuw:
Instant {R}
Exile your hand.
For each card exiled this way, put a 1/1 white and blue creature token with flying and "When this creature leaves the battlefield, return target card exiled with Thoughtflock to its owner's hand" onto the battlefield.
High Number Death Game
20 Questions (with Magic Cards)
If you don't mind me tweaking how the card works a little bit, here's my shot at wording that I think might make it more intuitive:
Thoughtflock 2:symwu::symwu:
Instant (R)
Put each card from your hand onto the battlefield face down. As long as these cards remain on the battlefield, they are 1/1 white and blue bird creature tokens with flying and "If this creature would leave the battlefield, put it into its owner's hand instead."
Exile your hand. For each card exiled this way, put a 1/1 white and blue creature token with flying and "When this creature leaves the battlefield, return a card exiled with Thoughtflock to its owner's hand." onto the battlefield.
I love the flavor. Congratulation!
I thought the same thing, but the evidence is against us. For example, Pull from Eternity:
http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=106657
Nice work GM -- the mechanics and flavor really came together on this one.
Thoughtflock :2mana::symuw::symuw:
Instant R
Exile all cards in your hand and put that many 1/1 white and blue Bird creature tokens with flying onto the battlefield. They each have "When this creature leaves the battlefield, return target card exiled with Thoughtflock to its owner's hand."
There is nothing so beautiful as the flight of a dream set free.
That or you could just make Thoughtflock an instant shroud enchantment with Colfenor's Plans style wording
I think regardless of the statements saying that the tokens would not know what Thoughtflock is afterwards the effort to adjust the wording to compensate is not worth the common sense instilled from the wording currently.
I agree with all of this (in fact, I suggested the same thing in my post above).
Infinite combo? Thoughtflock, Yawgmoth's Will (or anything to exile the Thoughtflock card itself, but that one has the most potential for additional interactions), Doubling Season, Phyrexian Altar, at least 5 other cards in hand.
Unfortunately, "common sense" doesn't dictate what happens in a game of Magic. In its present incarnation (or the one you suggested), the card doesn't return exiled cads at all because its text is meaningless to the Rules. So it is indeed "worth" rewording if you want the card to do that.
--
Winner of the 2nd Design Survivor Contest
Creator of the Vorthos Card Contest
Winner of 12th and the 18th Short Story Contests
Creator of the Vs. Tournament.
--Runner of the Superhero Vs. Tounrament
--Runner of the Villian Vs. Tournament.
wikachaw: thats black people for good
wikachaw: my black friend tuaght me so its not racist
Seconded.
Having seen this card a second time, I reaffirm that Thoughtflock reeks of awesome. Well done, Gerrard's Mom!
To be more clear, you can't target a card that is exiled face-down. As with cards like Burning Wish, etc., you simply "choose" a card and put it into your hand.
Also, effects that affect your entire hand don't usually state "each card in your hand." Instead, they just refer to it as a singular whole, IE: "your hand"
I believe this would be a correct wording for the card:
"Exile your hand and put a 1/1 white and blue Bird creature token onto the battlefield for each card exiled this way. These tokens have flying and "When this creature leaves the battlefield, choose a card exiled with Thoughtflock and put it into your hand."
You could also mash the entire thing into a single line, but Wizards has actually avoided doing that in the past for a reason. Imagine how awkward it would be to read a card that read:
"Exile your hand and put a 1/1 white and blue Bird creature token with flying and "When this creature leaves the battlefield, choose a card exiled with Thoughtflock and put it into your hand." onto the battlefield."
Edit: Before anyone asks, the trigger in my bolded example does function exactly as intended (similar to the Wish set of cards), as a card that another player owns can never end up in your hand through any means.
Club Flamingo Wins: 1
War of the Betrayed
I'll try to answer some of the templating questions based on my research.
I did certainly forget to add "creature" as the token type, and the targeting isn't necessary and may be impossible since it is a face-down card. Most of the other stuff, though, is fine if I'm not wrong.
Hybrid cost - this is more of a push for blue than white. White has all kinds of instant token generation, like Raise the Alarm. For blue, think of it as a divided Wormfang Behemoth with flash, and I think many will agree that it isn't out of the question. I thought it was also working in the same space as Dovescape.
"Exile your hand put that many..." - see Tolarian Winds, for example. Magic cards can tell how many "that many" is from the "hand."
"They each have flying and ..." - Cloudseeder was brought up, that's a great example. I feel it is clearest just defining the attributes of the tokens in the first sentence, then specifying their abilities afterwards.
So, overall I feel the correct card would be:
Thoughtflock :2mana::symuw::symuw:
Instant (R)
Exile all cards in your hand and put that many 1/1 white and blue Bird creature tokens onto the battlefield. They each have flying and "When this creature leaves the battlefield, return a card exiled with Thoughtflock to its owner's hand."
There is nothing so beautiful as the flight of a dream set free.
As for a couple of other questions, you don't need to have art to get nominated or anything, I went looking for this art after being told I won, and I was lucky to find something reasonably appropriate. Almost nobody (except occasionally me?) makes their own art for their own cards.
For the flavor text I just thought about what your hand represents and how to describe all of your thoughts becoming birds. Although WT didn't like the name iirc, I thought it was pretty good at describing the card as well.
To expand on this, M_E and I are happy to find an art selection for you or do the render ourselves if you don't have one. A winning designer isn't required to make their own render.
Current New Favorite Person™: Mallory Archer
She knows why.