Apologies for being so late on this, but I'll be done before midnight on the west coast at least
Judgings are FINAL. Whine about them, or not.
Appeal: 2/3 - Timmy likes dragons costing 7 mana, but not donothing rocks. Johnny and Spike see 7 colorless mana as a magic number and get in on this for about the same reason.
Elegance: 3/3 - It's very orderly, very simple to understand.
Viability: 2.5/3 - This is pretty hard to judge, partly because of the push to move away from colorless artifacts, and -x/-x is a black effect more than anything. That said, This probably fits within the narrowness of effects wizards is willing to give colorless, especially since it only affects colorless cards. I would prefer this be black and will mark down for that, but forego the usual extra half-point deduction related to the subchallenge because it's really just borderline. Mythic feels right.
Balance: 2/3 - This is an interesting card for what it hoses. In a vacuum it's an incredibly inefficient removal engine, but it's a potential mirrorbreaker in tron and obliterates the affinity matchup besides. In commander it might get use as well, but other than that I can't see many people wanting it over things like Lux Cannon.
Uniqueness: 3/3 - There's a few one-shot -x/-x effects and a few static power and toughness reducing effects, but nothing on this scope that I'd feel willing to draw enough parallels to justify docking you for it.
Flavor: 2.5/3 - the text is a bit smushed with the length of flavor text you have, so there's a deduction there. I do like the flavor you have though - it doesn't explain everything, just enough to make me want to know a bit more.
Quality: 3/3 - No errors here!
Main Challenge: 2/2 - In a vacuum of just this and just emmy, end result is one dead emmy. Main Challenge is met.
Sub-Challenges: 2/2 - Both sub-challenges met.
Total Score: 22/25
Appeal: 1.5/3 - Timmy HATES everything about this card. Johnny LOVES everything about this card. Spike...he sees the utility but he's not thrilled about it. He'll still play it though when push comes to shove.
Elegance: 2.5/3 - There's going to be the standard confusion over what CMCs *actually* are of various stuff that's going to make this a pain at FNMs the world over. Even though the effect itself is elegant, in practice the application is very messy.
Viability: 2.5/3 - Again, there's precedent for this effect to be black (see Disembowel) but there's enough justification to also be colorless in historical precedent that I can't justify the extra half-point I normally would take. Rare is...probably right, I could see mythic as well.
Balance: 2/3 - It's four mana to destroy all tokens on the spot, wiping a field of 1 and 2-mana beaters is also hyper efficient. This is a card that will stifle aggro decks pretty badly, but a good aggro deck should have a control deck close to dead by then, and it in theory creates a shields down moment. In practice...it's going to be a card you hate to see.
Uniqueness: 1.5/3 - It's like Toxic Deluge and Ratchet Bomb had a one-night stand, and this is what came of it. The influence is obvious.
Flavor: 2/3 - Artifact Enchantment and the diefic reference makes it obvious this is supposed to be from Theros. Having a name more suited for Tarkir (Mongolian, the internet tells me) bugs me for several reasons. Also the flavor text cuts off at the bottom of the card, it's a bit too long.
Quality: 3/3 - Everything's in place here. Nice work.
Main Challenge: 2/2 - Short of indestructible there's no way this doesn't kill Emmy. Main Challenge is met.
Sub-Challeges: 2/2 - Subchallenges are met.
Total Score: 19/25
Appeal: 1/3 - Timmy shudders at having to give up one of his creatures. Johnny wants to abuse this with Abyssal Persecutor. Spike sees the advantage of a one-mana blue kill spell, then realizes doing so 2-for-0s himself and promptly loses interest.
Elegance: 2.5/3 - Switching is fine, stealing is not. There's a tiny bit of confusion on who "it" in "its owner" refers to as well as the CMC of things like a 6/6 Hydroid Krasis, but play it once or twice it'll clear up.
Viability: 3/3 - Everything here is in blue's wheelhouse. Donating stuff, switching control of stuff, exiling creatures with a downside. It's perfectly placed, and rare makes great sense.
Balance: 2.5/3 - This is going to be a total blank unless you're playing creatures. A mono-blue tempo deck might have a wide enough range to pick something off and live, but such a steep drawback even at one mana means you're going to look at everything else you possibly can before picking it up.
Uniqueness: 2.5/3 - A one-night stand between Reality shift and Donate, but this has a lot of interactions that neither of the other two cards can really compare with.
Flavor: 2.5/3 You need to use some imagination with this, for a one-word card name I'd like something more explicit. I also would like some flavor text, but there's not that much room to work with so you get a pass there.
Quality: 3/3 - No errors here.
Main Challenge: 0.5/2 - This is where I have to burst your bubble. Because the penalty for failing the scam is "you lose the game", you have to have a 13-mana creature to swap out. Your only option is...another Emrakul, the Promised End. Had the penalty been "skip your next turn" you would have been fine (and in color!), but the only end state after casting this card that keeps the game going is your opponent still has Emrakul still on board. (it's a different card but it's the same creature) Only in the most technical sense of the letter does this fulfill the challenge, and my initial suggestion was a 0 here. After review, I'm going to give you some credit because technically correct is the best kind of correct.
Sub-Challenges: 2/2 Both sub-challenges met.
Total Score: 19.5/25
Appeal: 2.5/3 - Timmy loves making his dudes huge, Johnny can't windmill slam this fast enough. Spike sees 4 colored mana symbols and dreams of back when you could just play swords to plowshares and be done with it.
Elegance: 2.5/3 - It's easy enough to understand once it's been played, but LKI is surprisingly hard to work out sometimes. There will be enough cases of judge calls to double check math that it'll get annoying.
Viability: 2.5/3 - This is peak blue/green, but normally blue exiling spells give your opponent something, not you. (See Pongify, Reality Shift and Rapid Hybridization). I also am pretty sure removal plus pump (especially if you're removing a big creature) should be rare.
Balance: 1.5/3 - This card is going to be picked over a LOT of rares in draft, just because it's clean removal that not only invalidates your opponent's bomb but gives you a giant beater to counter with. It warps limited something fierce, constructed can handle it but it's never not going to be a card you hate seeing every time you see it.
Uniqueness: 2.5/3 - Fits into the mold of blue "Exile a creature but..." spells, but also benefits you more than just being a removal spell. Very cool.
Flavor: 3/3 - Takes up all the space you have without taking any extra. You don't give an attribution, but it makes sense as a phyrexian and the colors fit as well. Nice job.
Quality: 3/3 - Ravenous Slime says the syntax of the second half of the ability is perfect.
Main Challenge: 2/2 - There are ways to stop it but in a vacuum that's a dead Emmy. Main challenge is met.
Sub-Challenges: 2/2 - Both Subchallenges met.
Total Score: 21.5/25
Appeal: 2/3 - Timmy will figure it out and likes his stuff killing puny wimpy creatures on your opponent's side. Johnny is all in on this, Spike sees upside but also sees card disadvantage.
Elegance: 2.5/3 - Any aura that's supposed to be put on the other side of the table is going to get people not understanding it, but in time it'll make sense.
Viability: 3/3 - It's got blue and green effects pretty cleanly. Most auras that do similar are commons (see Kasmina's Transmutation and Deep Freeze, but the extra removal clause I think warrants the rarity bump.
Balance: 2.5/3 - It's another card that's going to be picked over a lot of rares, because it beats most bombs. Cards like this are why enchantment removal is played in Arena limited maindecks, and at uncommon you're going to see it enough to be sick of it. Outside of limited I doubt it'll be too impactful. That the fight is mandatory also makes it less great in some instances.
Uniqueness: 2/3 - Clear hearkening back to those other auras that make a creature no longer a problem, but provides a way to answer the problem as well, ideally before they can Disenchant it is unique.
Flavor: 3/3 - There is a certain sublime essence to "Well if this doesn't work, it's still got meat" in Simic research mentality. I like this, and it doesn't squish the text box.
Quality: 3/3 - No issues here.
Main Challenge: 0/2 - Because I have to be Prince Puppy-kicker and ruin everyone's hopes and dreams. The clarifications say that a non-creature permanent must always be able to take out Emrakul by casting it, the permanent entering the battlefield, or using an activated ability of the permanent. This sets you up to take out Emmy, but it does not on its own do the job. Therefore this card does NOT meet the challenge criteria, and is summarily disqualified.
Sub-Challenge: 2/2 - Both subchallenges met.
Total Score: DQ - Fails Main Challenge
Appeal: 2/3 - Timmy is okay with it but would like it a bit bigger. Johnny wants to machine gun people to death with pebbles, Spike will take a Goblin Cavaliers with potential upside after rebate, but he's not jumping up and down over it.
Elegance: 3/3 - The directions on this card couldn't be more simple. Do this, then do this. When this, that happens. It's very clean.
Viability: 2/3 - When it says "colorless" the immediate thought should be "artifact". Knowing Wizards' new design philsophy change that was brought up in round one, this is a clear twist on pie to get a challenge cleared, so the additional penalties are applied. That said, rare is right, and while Disciple of the Vault is a thing, Red is justifiable.
Balance: 2.5/3 - Disciple was banned for being OP because at 1 mana you could just go off incredibly fast. At 4 mana, it's much safer even if you can figure out an infinite loop, Modern says turn 4 infinites are okay. Not sure how well it'd play in standard or limited, Commander will love this but again, not SUPER overpowered.
Uniqueness: 3/3 - There's lingering elements of a few cards here, but overall it feels fresh, at least fresh enough that I can't justify a deduction.
Flavor: 2.5/3 - I get more of a goblin vibe from the action, but dwarf also makes sense. Being able to use "Numismancer" and making treasure tokens is a great touch as well. I only have to deduct a little because you really don't have any flavor text room, the box is cramped as it is.
Quality: 3/3 - Someone clearly looked at scryfall or Rapacious Dragon when designing this, because that's the only printed card with the now correct Oracle text. I'm honestly impressed.
Main Challenge: 1.5/2 - Meets the main challenge, but it's pretty clear this card's design is stretched to kill Emmy. Here's the deduction for that.
Sub-Challenges: 2/2 - Both Subchallenges met.
Total Score: 21.5/25
Group A:
IcariiFA - 22/25 - ADVANCING
netn10 - 19.5/25
Mr. Rithaniel - 19/25
Top 16 - 2012 Indiana State Championships Currently Playing: GBStandard - Golgari Safari MidrangeBG RBWModern - Mardu PyromancerWBR RLegacy - Good Old Fashioned BurnR
Judgings are FINAL. Whine about them, or not.
Elegance: 3/3 - It's very orderly, very simple to understand.
Viability: 2.5/3 - This is pretty hard to judge, partly because of the push to move away from colorless artifacts, and -x/-x is a black effect more than anything. That said, This probably fits within the narrowness of effects wizards is willing to give colorless, especially since it only affects colorless cards. I would prefer this be black and will mark down for that, but forego the usual extra half-point deduction related to the subchallenge because it's really just borderline. Mythic feels right.
Balance: 2/3 - This is an interesting card for what it hoses. In a vacuum it's an incredibly inefficient removal engine, but it's a potential mirrorbreaker in tron and obliterates the affinity matchup besides. In commander it might get use as well, but other than that I can't see many people wanting it over things like Lux Cannon.
Uniqueness: 3/3 - There's a few one-shot -x/-x effects and a few static power and toughness reducing effects, but nothing on this scope that I'd feel willing to draw enough parallels to justify docking you for it.
Flavor: 2.5/3 - the text is a bit smushed with the length of flavor text you have, so there's a deduction there. I do like the flavor you have though - it doesn't explain everything, just enough to make me want to know a bit more.
Quality: 3/3 - No errors here!
Main Challenge: 2/2 - In a vacuum of just this and just emmy, end result is one dead emmy. Main Challenge is met.
Sub-Challenges: 2/2 - Both sub-challenges met.
Total Score: 22/25
Elegance: 2.5/3 - There's going to be the standard confusion over what CMCs *actually* are of various stuff that's going to make this a pain at FNMs the world over. Even though the effect itself is elegant, in practice the application is very messy.
Viability: 2.5/3 - Again, there's precedent for this effect to be black (see Disembowel) but there's enough justification to also be colorless in historical precedent that I can't justify the extra half-point I normally would take. Rare is...probably right, I could see mythic as well.
Balance: 2/3 - It's four mana to destroy all tokens on the spot, wiping a field of 1 and 2-mana beaters is also hyper efficient. This is a card that will stifle aggro decks pretty badly, but a good aggro deck should have a control deck close to dead by then, and it in theory creates a shields down moment. In practice...it's going to be a card you hate to see.
Uniqueness: 1.5/3 - It's like Toxic Deluge and Ratchet Bomb had a one-night stand, and this is what came of it. The influence is obvious.
Flavor: 2/3 - Artifact Enchantment and the diefic reference makes it obvious this is supposed to be from Theros. Having a name more suited for Tarkir (Mongolian, the internet tells me) bugs me for several reasons. Also the flavor text cuts off at the bottom of the card, it's a bit too long.
Quality: 3/3 - Everything's in place here. Nice work.
Main Challenge: 2/2 - Short of indestructible there's no way this doesn't kill Emmy. Main Challenge is met.
Sub-Challeges: 2/2 - Subchallenges are met.
Total Score: 19/25
Elegance: 2.5/3 - Switching is fine, stealing is not. There's a tiny bit of confusion on who "it" in "its owner" refers to as well as the CMC of things like a 6/6 Hydroid Krasis, but play it once or twice it'll clear up.
Viability: 3/3 - Everything here is in blue's wheelhouse. Donating stuff, switching control of stuff, exiling creatures with a downside. It's perfectly placed, and rare makes great sense.
Balance: 2.5/3 - This is going to be a total blank unless you're playing creatures. A mono-blue tempo deck might have a wide enough range to pick something off and live, but such a steep drawback even at one mana means you're going to look at everything else you possibly can before picking it up.
Uniqueness: 2.5/3 - A one-night stand between Reality shift and Donate, but this has a lot of interactions that neither of the other two cards can really compare with.
Flavor: 2.5/3 You need to use some imagination with this, for a one-word card name I'd like something more explicit. I also would like some flavor text, but there's not that much room to work with so you get a pass there.
Quality: 3/3 - No errors here.
Main Challenge: 0.5/2 - This is where I have to burst your bubble. Because the penalty for failing the scam is "you lose the game", you have to have a 13-mana creature to swap out. Your only option is...another Emrakul, the Promised End. Had the penalty been "skip your next turn" you would have been fine (and in color!), but the only end state after casting this card that keeps the game going is your opponent still has Emrakul still on board. (it's a different card but it's the same creature) Only in the most technical sense of the letter does this fulfill the challenge, and my initial suggestion was a 0 here. After review, I'm going to give you some credit because technically correct is the best kind of correct.
Sub-Challenges: 2/2 Both sub-challenges met.
Total Score: 19.5/25
Elegance: 2.5/3 - It's easy enough to understand once it's been played, but LKI is surprisingly hard to work out sometimes. There will be enough cases of judge calls to double check math that it'll get annoying.
Viability: 2.5/3 - This is peak blue/green, but normally blue exiling spells give your opponent something, not you. (See Pongify, Reality Shift and Rapid Hybridization). I also am pretty sure removal plus pump (especially if you're removing a big creature) should be rare.
Balance: 1.5/3 - This card is going to be picked over a LOT of rares in draft, just because it's clean removal that not only invalidates your opponent's bomb but gives you a giant beater to counter with. It warps limited something fierce, constructed can handle it but it's never not going to be a card you hate seeing every time you see it.
Uniqueness: 2.5/3 - Fits into the mold of blue "Exile a creature but..." spells, but also benefits you more than just being a removal spell. Very cool.
Flavor: 3/3 - Takes up all the space you have without taking any extra. You don't give an attribution, but it makes sense as a phyrexian and the colors fit as well. Nice job.
Quality: 3/3 - Ravenous Slime says the syntax of the second half of the ability is perfect.
Main Challenge: 2/2 - There are ways to stop it but in a vacuum that's a dead Emmy. Main challenge is met.
Sub-Challenges: 2/2 - Both Subchallenges met.
Total Score: 21.5/25
Elegance: 2.5/3 - Any aura that's supposed to be put on the other side of the table is going to get people not understanding it, but in time it'll make sense.
Viability: 3/3 - It's got blue and green effects pretty cleanly. Most auras that do similar are commons (see Kasmina's Transmutation and Deep Freeze, but the extra removal clause I think warrants the rarity bump.
Balance: 2.5/3 - It's another card that's going to be picked over a lot of rares, because it beats most bombs. Cards like this are why enchantment removal is played in Arena limited maindecks, and at uncommon you're going to see it enough to be sick of it. Outside of limited I doubt it'll be too impactful. That the fight is mandatory also makes it less great in some instances.
Uniqueness: 2/3 - Clear hearkening back to those other auras that make a creature no longer a problem, but provides a way to answer the problem as well, ideally before they can Disenchant it is unique.
Flavor: 3/3 - There is a certain sublime essence to "Well if this doesn't work, it's still got meat" in Simic research mentality. I like this, and it doesn't squish the text box.
Quality: 3/3 - No issues here.
Main Challenge: 0/2 - Because I have to be Prince Puppy-kicker and ruin everyone's hopes and dreams. The clarifications say that a non-creature permanent must always be able to take out Emrakul by casting it, the permanent entering the battlefield, or using an activated ability of the permanent. This sets you up to take out Emmy, but it does not on its own do the job. Therefore this card does NOT meet the challenge criteria, and is summarily disqualified.
Sub-Challenge: 2/2 - Both subchallenges met.
Total Score: DQ - Fails Main Challenge
Elegance: 3/3 - The directions on this card couldn't be more simple. Do this, then do this. When this, that happens. It's very clean.
Viability: 2/3 - When it says "colorless" the immediate thought should be "artifact". Knowing Wizards' new design philsophy change that was brought up in round one, this is a clear twist on pie to get a challenge cleared, so the additional penalties are applied. That said, rare is right, and while Disciple of the Vault is a thing, Red is justifiable.
Balance: 2.5/3 - Disciple was banned for being OP because at 1 mana you could just go off incredibly fast. At 4 mana, it's much safer even if you can figure out an infinite loop, Modern says turn 4 infinites are okay. Not sure how well it'd play in standard or limited, Commander will love this but again, not SUPER overpowered.
Uniqueness: 3/3 - There's lingering elements of a few cards here, but overall it feels fresh, at least fresh enough that I can't justify a deduction.
Flavor: 2.5/3 - I get more of a goblin vibe from the action, but dwarf also makes sense. Being able to use "Numismancer" and making treasure tokens is a great touch as well. I only have to deduct a little because you really don't have any flavor text room, the box is cramped as it is.
Quality: 3/3 - Someone clearly looked at scryfall or Rapacious Dragon when designing this, because that's the only printed card with the now correct Oracle text. I'm honestly impressed.
Main Challenge: 1.5/2 - Meets the main challenge, but it's pretty clear this card's design is stretched to kill Emmy. Here's the deduction for that.
Sub-Challenges: 2/2 - Both Subchallenges met.
Total Score: 21.5/25
Group A:
IcariiFA - 22/25 - ADVANCING
netn10 - 19.5/25
Mr. Rithaniel - 19/25
GroupB:
Eventide Soujourner - 21.5/25
Slimytrout - 21.5/25
Hemlock - DQ (would score 20/25)
Currently Playing:
GBStandard - Golgari Safari MidrangeBG
RBWModern - Mardu PyromancerWBR
RLegacy - Good Old Fashioned BurnR
Clan Contest 3 Mafia - Mafia Co-MVP