Design (9/10) Creativity – This card is certainly the result of "What's the biggest, splashiest effect I can do with this mechanic?" I really think that created a pretty unique, interesting effect. Elegance – I wish this was an instant. I feel like doing this in response to a board wipe would have to be one of the sweetest feelings in the world. As it stands though, the flavor still comes through as reaping the benefits of things that have died, and it's a cool use of a new mechanic. Potential – Would definitely be a big hit for Timmies and Johnnies. It has a big splashy effect that can be built around for some huge potential.
Development (6.5/10) Viability – I'm pretty sure this would be fine without the blue. Creatures cantripping when they come into play is pretty green, and getting resources off of things dying is pretty black, as is the whole reanimating thing. Balance – I'm fairly happy with the mana cost on this. It needs some help in order to get any value off of it, but if you can get a sacrifice outlet out, you can recycle all the ETB effects in your graveyard with just one creature, not to mention all of the sweet, sweet card draw. It's possible that I may be overvaluing the amount of setup needed and undervaluing the benefits of going off with this, but I like the card as is. Creative Writing – I think a small tidbit of flavor text could have fit in there. I'm not thrilled with the name, as I think carnage isn't really the best word to use for the card. I would have preferred "Reap the undead" or something along those lines.
Polish Challenge (2/2) – Good. Quality (2/3) – The second "has" is unnecessary and the period at the end should be inside the quotation mark. The reminder text should say "return the creature card" or "return the card".
Total: 19.5/25
Design (5/10) Creativity – Definitely a unique card, as very few cards can return other cards from exile, especially a group of cards. That being said... Elegance – Returning cards from exile is typically avoided, and for good reason. When your returning cards from exile to any zone, your essentially just making it a second graveyard that's harder to get to. Aside from that, the flavor of the card doesn't really make sense to me, since I don't get how returning cards from exile can kill something. I'd also prefer this say "face-up" to stay consistent with other cards with this sort of effect. Potential – A pretty Johnny card, since it works well with all the flashback/compost/unearth/whatever cards.
Development (7/10) Viability – It's hard to pin down the color that cares about stuff in exile, since it's kind of been all over the place, so I think this is fine. Balance – Clearly this card needs support to be any good, so assuming that support exists, I think this card is fine. With something like delve, it essentially becomes "Destroy target creature, return all cards from exile to graveyard." which seems good. Plus there is the value with other graveyard mechanics. Creative Writing – The name is way too close to Pull from Eternity. Also, I feel like the name and flavor text aren't really appropriate for a card that is essentially a kill spell.
Polish Challenge (2/2) – Good. Quality (3/3) – There's really no good preexisting template for this, so this looks good enough to me.
Total: 17/25
Design (6/10) Creativity – Pretty cool twist on Barter in Blood. Not much else to say other than that. Elegance – Mechanically the card is really cool and interesting, but flavorwise I struggle to see how an opponent controlling a planeswalker would prevent your creatures from dying. From that perspective the card falls kind of flat. Potential – As useful as other spells that cause multiple creatures to be sacrificed, so there is almost certainly a use for it, especially with how much people like planeswalkers.
Development (8.5/10) Viability – Yep. Balance – It's not that hard to figure out that this is well costed. It's one more than Barter in Blood, but has a conditional upside that can be a huge swing. Seems good. Creative Writing – Other than the fact that the flavor text and name don't really connect to planeswalkers at all, the flavor is pretty good on the card. There is the typical death-loving demon flavor text, and a pretty sweet name to boot.
Polish Challenge (2/2) – Good. Quality (3/3) – I'm not taking off for one missing period.
Since the main challenge was to create a new, evil race for Magic, there will be a higher emphasis placed on flavor for this challenge. Having a card that doesn't represent the appropriate flavor will have a much more negative consequence than normal.
Design (8.5/10) Creativity – The new mechanic is pretty cool. It kind of feels like flanking meets wither. Caring about -1/-1 counters is new aw well, so very good here. Elegance – I'm not the biggest fan of giving a -1/-0 effect based off of -1/-1 counters. I feel like it could be a bit awkward having different things effect P/T like that. But that is minor quibble for what is otherwise a very nice design. You really get the feel of something nasty spreading around. The counter-lord effect is a good idea to pair with the mechanic, and I feel like the mechanic would lead to some interesting play. Potential – Probably the most potential is for some Johnnys who like messing around with -1/-1 counters, other than that it's not the most exciting card outside of limited play.
Development (6.5/10) Viability – While doling out -1/-1 counters tend to fall under black's umbrella most of the time (and probably should be the main color for the race), it certainly can extend out to other colors in certain circumstances (wither, infect, etc.), so that and the ability make it find for blue. Rarity seems good. Balance – It seems kind of annoying for limited play, but probably not anymore so than wither/infect was (I wasn't playing at the time, so I wouldn't know). This probably wouldn't be a good constructed card (doesn't need to be), but in limited I could see this being fairly powerful. Essentially giving -2/-1 to any creature before it deals damage is powerful, and I think the stats are appropriately low to reflect that. Creative Writing – Virus feels weird as an evil race. It reflects something biological in a fantasy game, and it just kind of seems out of place. I would of liked an original name for the race, since the mechanics convey the flavor of a virus well enough. Flavor text conveys the virus-ness well, but I think it should be quoted by someone else (probably the sick person).
Polish Challenge (2/2) – Good. Quality (2.5/3) – A better template for contagion would be "Whenever this creature blocks or becomes blocked by a creature, put a -1/-1 counter on that creature." It's been used before (Inferno Elemental, e.g.), has the same meaning, and is a bit cleaner.
Total: 19.5/25
Design (8/10) Creativity – The mechanic doesn't do anything crazy, but it's still pretty unique. Kind of feels like a twist on bloodthirst. Elegance – It's good. It's a fairly simple mechanic to understand, yet still feels interesting and unique. The flavor of the mechanic also fits nicely with someone who enjoys others' pain. I would like the mechanic to be loss of life since it still feels like it makes sense flavorwise. Potential – Definitely one for red aggro players. Not the biggest Timmy or Johnny potential.
Development (7/10) Viability – No problems here. Everything looks fine. Balance – Very happy with this card here. A 2/1 for 3 with first strike is acceptable, but not great. Once it starts growing, however, this card becomes much more powerful. Obviously not a constructed card, but I think this would be a good card for limited. Creative Writing – Not thrilled with the race name, since "Inferni" makes me think burn spells. The card feels pretty sadistic, so that's certainly a plus. Flavor text is a bit too tongue-in-cheek in my opinion for something that is supposed to portray evil.
Polish Challenge (2/2) – Good. Quality (2.5/3) – Bunch of small stuff - "S" in first strike shouldn't be capital, and "the" and a comma are missing in the painbound reminder text.
Total: 19.5/25
Design (8/10) Creativity – The mechanic is pretty cool. There aren't very many mechanics that are death triggers (at least not off the top of my head), I think this is an interesting way to do it. Elegance – I like the mechanic. It really gives the feel of a creature that feasts off of the deaths of other creatures. The mechanic and ability are a little weird to wrap your head around, but nothing too crazy. I think the first strike should automatic if it consumed a creature. Having to check for color seems unnecessary. Potential – This really works well with stuff like milling and sac outlets, so there's definitely some potential there.
Development (4/10) Viability – If unearth is fine in red, so is this. Uncommmon seems good for this, though it's possible common is OK. I'm not convinced this works as a replacement effect, but I'm not convinced it doesn't/couldn't, so I'll let it slide. Balance – I really want it's consume cost to be higher. I feel like if your going to be constantly recurring this from the graveyard whenever something dies, there has to be a real cost to it. Either that or consume should just be a one time thing. Creative Writing – In a challenge where flavor is very important, the lack of flavor text is pretty inexcusable. The name is nice and the flavor still comes through well, but it still needs flavor text.
Polish Challenge (2/2) – Good. Quality (3/3) – I'm not sure, but I think the wording for caring about the consumed creature would be fine.
Total: 17/25
Design (8/10) Creativity – Returning stuff from your graveyard to your hand is obviously not the most unheard of ability, but the mechanic is a pretty nice twist on that concept. Elegance – The card mechanics do a fairly nice job of displaying the flavor of the card, so that's pretty good. The mechanic itself is interesting since it gets a card back without giving you card advantage, though it does feel a little bit clunky. Potential – The day people stop trying to abuse graveyard mechanics is the day Magic dies, so I'm sure people would try to use this.
Development (7/10) Viability – This is borderline between common and uncommon, and since they just bumped up Gravedigger to uncommon in recent sets, I think that's where I would put this too. Balance – Certainly very powerful in limited, and possibly playable in constructed. Bears have always been good for limited, and this is a bear with upside, so there's not reason it wouldn't see play there. In constructed, being only two mana to get card selection from your graveyard is pretty potent, so there's a small chance it might show up there too. Creative Writing – The flavor of this reminds me a lot of the Gruul, which I don't really consider that evil as much as just civilization hating. Still, the flavor text is very nice and has the right feel too it, which makes of for that fact a little bit.
Polish Challenge (2/2) – Good. Quality (1.5/3) – There are varying degrees of issues here. The smallest issue is that reminder text should be after the period not before. You also put the wrong card name (Sandscourger instead of Dune Reviver) in the rules text. The biggest issue, however, is that the mechanic needs to be a replacement effect instead of a triggered ability. Drawing a card during your draw step happens before any abilities triggers, so the actual ability doesn't currently work as is. I don't know the appropriate wording exactly, but I'll leave that as an exercise for the reader.
Total: 18.5/25
Design (6.5/10) Creativity – The mechanic is pretty unique. Caring about a specific P/T has been done a little bit with 1/1's, but definitely not 2/2's. Elegance – I find the mechanic to be interesting mechanically and kind of a flop from a flavor perspective. Mechanically, caring specifically about 2/2's is really interesting an unique and leads to some interesting deckbuilding. From a flavor perspective, it seems odd that it benefits so many creatures that are so different from itself. For example, it could affect a Wind Drake, a Traveling Philosopher, and a Huntmaster of the Fells (and its Wolf). It just seems odd to me. Potential – Pretty Johnny, as it rewards you for trying to really build around it. Unique enough that there's probably some good potential.
Development (4.5/10) Viability – Seems good for the most part. I think the amount of 2/2's in a set would determine whether or not this needs to be uncommon or rare, but without that info I think uncommon is OK. Balance – The card itself is OK, but the problem is that you only can play it with cards that are really weak, which seems kind of problematic for not just the creature, but for the mechanic as a whole. There are ways that this could be made powerful (a set with a VERY large amount of 2/2's, for example) but overall it just doesn't seem worth it to me. Creative Writing – Completely misses the mark on the whole "evil" thing. It just seems like a pack of wild animals. The name and flavor text are OK, but in terms of what the challenge asks for, it whiffs.
Design (5.5/10) Creativity – Land altering effects aren't new (Spreading Seas and so on), but I think glaze is a pretty interesting twist to that sort of ability. Elegance – Let's start with the good: glaze is a very good ability for the land altering desires of your race. It just feels right. The problem is that there are some mechanical issues. First off, it should be "until your next turn" probably, not "your opponent's next end step". It doesn't cause problems in multiplayer and is more clear. Second, I don't like that the counter is temporary. It causes a lot of memory issues that can be easily avoided. While being permanent is much more powerful, I think there are ways to work around it that could make it work. Potential – The best use I could see is as a Blood Moon-type card that punishes greedy mana bases. Other than that I don't see that much potential.
Development (4.5/10) Viability – I'm struggling to see the white in this card. With the flavor text I get it a little bit, but mechanically this card feels very red, especially since white doesn't typically interact with lands. Can probably be common too, since this is one of the more basic ways to demonstrate the ability. Balance – Bad. It can be good if your opponent is already having major mana issues and can't play anything, but that's a situation you are already winning. It has terrible stats, and the effect isn't that devastating if it connects, so this looks pretty unplayable to me. Creative Writing – Oh how I wish the rest of the card didn't falter so much, because the flavor text on this card is a home run. It's just perfect. A small issue I have is that the name of the race and the ability are so similar. I would like one of the two to be more different.
Polish Challenge (2/2) – Good. Quality (2.5/3) – There are a bunch of really tiny issues. Rarity should be next to the creature type, the period should be after glaze, not the reminder text, and the P/T should be below the flavor text, not above.
Total: 14.5/25
Design (5/10) Creativity – That mechanic isn't striking me as particularly inspiring. The second ability is a bit more unique since it cares about multiple creature. Elegance – Well, if a you want to make a creature seem scary, having frighten be the mechanic isn't a bad place to start. Nothing about the card makes it feel particularly menacing, but that's just a consequence of the lack of art and flavor text (get to that later). I'm not particularly sure I understand the flavors of multiple Khepri dealing damage causing there to be more of them. Potential – It feels like a cool card to build around and get a bunch of tokens. Obviously needs tribal support to be interesting, but there is some potential.
Development (4.5/10) Viability – "Target creature can't block" is rules text that should really only be appearing on red cards, and having it being in green is pretty jarring, even if it is for a mechanic. Balance – It's power obviously depends on the amount of tribal support, but it can get through for damage fairly well and produce tokens, even if it's stats are a bit weak. With other Khepri I think this could be good. Creative Writing – This is a complete mess. The frighten mechanic and the token ability don't tie together at all, and there's no flavor text to really tie this all together. Nothing about this card makes me think it's anymore than a pack creature, and certainly not an evil race.
Polish Challenge (2/2) – Good. Quality (1.5/3) – Small thing - Frighten reminder text should be "whenever this creature attacks,...". Big thing - that second ability just doesn't work. It should probably be a triggered ability at end step that checks if creatures dealt combat damage that turn.
Phyrexian Cleric(B/P)(B/P)
Artifact Creature - Cleric (U) ((B/P) can be paid with either B or 2 life)
Whenever you cast a spell with Φ in its mana cost, each opponent loses 1 life and you gain 1 life. The healers of New Phyrexia should never be trusted.
0/1
Judges for each MCC sign up in a thread dedicated to judge signups. It is put up about a week before the start of the month by that month's organizers.
Organizers each month are much more of a "play it by ear" sort of thing. Usually someone will either volunteer themselves at some point near the middle of the month (or remind everyone that they volunteered), or one of the moderators for this forum (usually Moss_Elemental) will ask who is organizing for the month. (This is all done in this thread.)
I would not recommend organizing the MCC unless you've spent a month judging before hand, just to get a feel for things. Judging itself is pretty much open to anyone, provided that when they judge a sample card in the signup thread they don't completely mess it up.
Balance – Here we come to what I consider the major issue of this card: as it is, it only fetches you one card and that card must be five-colored. Paying 7 mana to fetch one card among just a handful in the game feels weak to me. I don't know if that was the intent, but if you want this to fetch five cards each of a different color, this needs to read "Search your library for a white card, a blue card, a black card, a red card, and a green card. Reveal them and put them into your hand. Then shuffle your library." I feel like that would be maybe too strong, but as it is, it's too weak. Either way, balance does not so good to me.
The intent of the card was what you figured it out to be - the card is meant to tutor for a single, 5-colored card. Having the activated ability be Conflux is way too cheap for only 7 mana.
Heart of the Maelstrom
Legendary Land (MR) 4, T: Add WUBRG to your mana pool. 2WUBRG, T, Sacrifice Heart of the Maelstrom: Search your library for a white, blue, black, red, and green card, reveal it, and put it into your hand. Then shuffle your library. Once the shards merged, chaos ruled over Alara.
Creativity – This card is certainly the result of "What's the biggest, splashiest effect I can do with this mechanic?" I really think that created a pretty unique, interesting effect.
Elegance – I wish this was an instant. I feel like doing this in response to a board wipe would have to be one of the sweetest feelings in the world. As it stands though, the flavor still comes through as reaping the benefits of things that have died, and it's a cool use of a new mechanic.
Potential – Would definitely be a big hit for Timmies and Johnnies. It has a big splashy effect that can be built around for some huge potential.
Development (6.5/10)
Viability – I'm pretty sure this would be fine without the blue. Creatures cantripping when they come into play is pretty green, and getting resources off of things dying is pretty black, as is the whole reanimating thing.
Balance – I'm fairly happy with the mana cost on this. It needs some help in order to get any value off of it, but if you can get a sacrifice outlet out, you can recycle all the ETB effects in your graveyard with just one creature, not to mention all of the sweet, sweet card draw. It's possible that I may be overvaluing the amount of setup needed and undervaluing the benefits of going off with this, but I like the card as is.
Creative Writing – I think a small tidbit of flavor text could have fit in there. I'm not thrilled with the name, as I think carnage isn't really the best word to use for the card. I would have preferred "Reap the undead" or something along those lines.
Polish
Challenge (2/2) – Good.
Quality (2/3) – The second "has" is unnecessary and the period at the end should be inside the quotation mark. The reminder text should say "return the creature card" or "return the card".
Total: 19.5/25
Creativity – Definitely a unique card, as very few cards can return other cards from exile, especially a group of cards. That being said...
Elegance – Returning cards from exile is typically avoided, and for good reason. When your returning cards from exile to any zone, your essentially just making it a second graveyard that's harder to get to. Aside from that, the flavor of the card doesn't really make sense to me, since I don't get how returning cards from exile can kill something. I'd also prefer this say "face-up" to stay consistent with other cards with this sort of effect.
Potential – A pretty Johnny card, since it works well with all the flashback/compost/unearth/whatever cards.
Development (7/10)
Viability – It's hard to pin down the color that cares about stuff in exile, since it's kind of been all over the place, so I think this is fine.
Balance – Clearly this card needs support to be any good, so assuming that support exists, I think this card is fine. With something like delve, it essentially becomes "Destroy target creature, return all cards from exile to graveyard." which seems good. Plus there is the value with other graveyard mechanics.
Creative Writing – The name is way too close to Pull from Eternity. Also, I feel like the name and flavor text aren't really appropriate for a card that is essentially a kill spell.
Polish
Challenge (2/2) – Good.
Quality (3/3) – There's really no good preexisting template for this, so this looks good enough to me.
Total: 17/25
Creativity – Pretty cool twist on Barter in Blood. Not much else to say other than that.
Elegance – Mechanically the card is really cool and interesting, but flavorwise I struggle to see how an opponent controlling a planeswalker would prevent your creatures from dying. From that perspective the card falls kind of flat.
Potential – As useful as other spells that cause multiple creatures to be sacrificed, so there is almost certainly a use for it, especially with how much people like planeswalkers.
Development (8.5/10)
Viability – Yep.
Balance – It's not that hard to figure out that this is well costed. It's one more than Barter in Blood, but has a conditional upside that can be a huge swing. Seems good.
Creative Writing – Other than the fact that the flavor text and name don't really connect to planeswalkers at all, the flavor is pretty good on the card. There is the typical death-loving demon flavor text, and a pretty sweet name to boot.
Polish
Challenge (2/2) – Good.
Quality (3/3) – I'm not taking off for one missing period.
Total: 19.5/25
PsyOp: 17/25
Moss_Elemental: 19.5/25
Creativity – The new mechanic is pretty cool. It kind of feels like flanking meets wither. Caring about -1/-1 counters is new aw well, so very good here.
Elegance – I'm not the biggest fan of giving a -1/-0 effect based off of -1/-1 counters. I feel like it could be a bit awkward having different things effect P/T like that. But that is minor quibble for what is otherwise a very nice design. You really get the feel of something nasty spreading around. The counter-lord effect is a good idea to pair with the mechanic, and I feel like the mechanic would lead to some interesting play.
Potential – Probably the most potential is for some Johnnys who like messing around with -1/-1 counters, other than that it's not the most exciting card outside of limited play.
Development (6.5/10)
Viability – While doling out -1/-1 counters tend to fall under black's umbrella most of the time (and probably should be the main color for the race), it certainly can extend out to other colors in certain circumstances (wither, infect, etc.), so that and the ability make it find for blue. Rarity seems good.
Balance – It seems kind of annoying for limited play, but probably not anymore so than wither/infect was (I wasn't playing at the time, so I wouldn't know). This probably wouldn't be a good constructed card (doesn't need to be), but in limited I could see this being fairly powerful. Essentially giving -2/-1 to any creature before it deals damage is powerful, and I think the stats are appropriately low to reflect that.
Creative Writing – Virus feels weird as an evil race. It reflects something biological in a fantasy game, and it just kind of seems out of place. I would of liked an original name for the race, since the mechanics convey the flavor of a virus well enough. Flavor text conveys the virus-ness well, but I think it should be quoted by someone else (probably the sick person).
Polish
Challenge (2/2) – Good.
Quality (2.5/3) – A better template for contagion would be "Whenever this creature blocks or becomes blocked by a creature, put a -1/-1 counter on that creature." It's been used before (Inferno Elemental, e.g.), has the same meaning, and is a bit cleaner.
Total: 19.5/25
Creativity – The mechanic doesn't do anything crazy, but it's still pretty unique. Kind of feels like a twist on bloodthirst.
Elegance – It's good. It's a fairly simple mechanic to understand, yet still feels interesting and unique. The flavor of the mechanic also fits nicely with someone who enjoys others' pain. I would like the mechanic to be loss of life since it still feels like it makes sense flavorwise.
Potential – Definitely one for red aggro players. Not the biggest Timmy or Johnny potential.
Development (7/10)
Viability – No problems here. Everything looks fine.
Balance – Very happy with this card here. A 2/1 for 3 with first strike is acceptable, but not great. Once it starts growing, however, this card becomes much more powerful. Obviously not a constructed card, but I think this would be a good card for limited.
Creative Writing – Not thrilled with the race name, since "Inferni" makes me think burn spells. The card feels pretty sadistic, so that's certainly a plus. Flavor text is a bit too tongue-in-cheek in my opinion for something that is supposed to portray evil.
Polish
Challenge (2/2) – Good.
Quality (2.5/3) – Bunch of small stuff - "S" in first strike shouldn't be capital, and "the" and a comma are missing in the painbound reminder text.
Total: 19.5/25
Creativity – The mechanic is pretty cool. There aren't very many mechanics that are death triggers (at least not off the top of my head), I think this is an interesting way to do it.
Elegance – I like the mechanic. It really gives the feel of a creature that feasts off of the deaths of other creatures. The mechanic and ability are a little weird to wrap your head around, but nothing too crazy. I think the first strike should automatic if it consumed a creature. Having to check for color seems unnecessary.
Potential – This really works well with stuff like milling and sac outlets, so there's definitely some potential there.
Development (4/10)
Viability – If unearth is fine in red, so is this. Uncommmon seems good for this, though it's possible common is OK. I'm not convinced this works as a replacement effect, but I'm not convinced it doesn't/couldn't, so I'll let it slide.
Balance – I really want it's consume cost to be higher. I feel like if your going to be constantly recurring this from the graveyard whenever something dies, there has to be a real cost to it. Either that or consume should just be a one time thing.
Creative Writing – In a challenge where flavor is very important, the lack of flavor text is pretty inexcusable. The name is nice and the flavor still comes through well, but it still needs flavor text.
Polish
Challenge (2/2) – Good.
Quality (3/3) – I'm not sure, but I think the wording for caring about the consumed creature would be fine.
Total: 17/25
Creativity – Returning stuff from your graveyard to your hand is obviously not the most unheard of ability, but the mechanic is a pretty nice twist on that concept.
Elegance – The card mechanics do a fairly nice job of displaying the flavor of the card, so that's pretty good. The mechanic itself is interesting since it gets a card back without giving you card advantage, though it does feel a little bit clunky.
Potential – The day people stop trying to abuse graveyard mechanics is the day Magic dies, so I'm sure people would try to use this.
Development (7/10)
Viability – This is borderline between common and uncommon, and since they just bumped up Gravedigger to uncommon in recent sets, I think that's where I would put this too.
Balance – Certainly very powerful in limited, and possibly playable in constructed. Bears have always been good for limited, and this is a bear with upside, so there's not reason it wouldn't see play there. In constructed, being only two mana to get card selection from your graveyard is pretty potent, so there's a small chance it might show up there too.
Creative Writing – The flavor of this reminds me a lot of the Gruul, which I don't really consider that evil as much as just civilization hating. Still, the flavor text is very nice and has the right feel too it, which makes of for that fact a little bit.
Polish
Challenge (2/2) – Good.
Quality (1.5/3) – There are varying degrees of issues here. The smallest issue is that reminder text should be after the period not before. You also put the wrong card name (Sandscourger instead of Dune Reviver) in the rules text. The biggest issue, however, is that the mechanic needs to be a replacement effect instead of a triggered ability. Drawing a card during your draw step happens before any abilities triggers, so the actual ability doesn't currently work as is. I don't know the appropriate wording exactly, but I'll leave that as an exercise for the reader.
Total: 18.5/25
Creativity – The mechanic is pretty unique. Caring about a specific P/T has been done a little bit with 1/1's, but definitely not 2/2's.
Elegance – I find the mechanic to be interesting mechanically and kind of a flop from a flavor perspective. Mechanically, caring specifically about 2/2's is really interesting an unique and leads to some interesting deckbuilding. From a flavor perspective, it seems odd that it benefits so many creatures that are so different from itself. For example, it could affect a Wind Drake, a Traveling Philosopher, and a Huntmaster of the Fells (and its Wolf). It just seems odd to me.
Potential – Pretty Johnny, as it rewards you for trying to really build around it. Unique enough that there's probably some good potential.
Development (4.5/10)
Viability – Seems good for the most part. I think the amount of 2/2's in a set would determine whether or not this needs to be uncommon or rare, but without that info I think uncommon is OK.
Balance – The card itself is OK, but the problem is that you only can play it with cards that are really weak, which seems kind of problematic for not just the creature, but for the mechanic as a whole. There are ways that this could be made powerful (a set with a VERY large amount of 2/2's, for example) but overall it just doesn't seem worth it to me.
Creative Writing – Completely misses the mark on the whole "evil" thing. It just seems like a pack of wild animals. The name and flavor text are OK, but in terms of what the challenge asks for, it whiffs.
Polish
Challenge (2/2) – Good.
Quality (3/3) – Seems fine.
Total: 16/25
Creativity – Land altering effects aren't new (Spreading Seas and so on), but I think glaze is a pretty interesting twist to that sort of ability.
Elegance – Let's start with the good: glaze is a very good ability for the land altering desires of your race. It just feels right. The problem is that there are some mechanical issues. First off, it should be "until your next turn" probably, not "your opponent's next end step". It doesn't cause problems in multiplayer and is more clear. Second, I don't like that the counter is temporary. It causes a lot of memory issues that can be easily avoided. While being permanent is much more powerful, I think there are ways to work around it that could make it work.
Potential – The best use I could see is as a Blood Moon-type card that punishes greedy mana bases. Other than that I don't see that much potential.
Development (4.5/10)
Viability – I'm struggling to see the white in this card. With the flavor text I get it a little bit, but mechanically this card feels very red, especially since white doesn't typically interact with lands. Can probably be common too, since this is one of the more basic ways to demonstrate the ability.
Balance – Bad. It can be good if your opponent is already having major mana issues and can't play anything, but that's a situation you are already winning. It has terrible stats, and the effect isn't that devastating if it connects, so this looks pretty unplayable to me.
Creative Writing – Oh how I wish the rest of the card didn't falter so much, because the flavor text on this card is a home run. It's just perfect. A small issue I have is that the name of the race and the ability are so similar. I would like one of the two to be more different.
Polish
Challenge (2/2) – Good.
Quality (2.5/3) – There are a bunch of really tiny issues. Rarity should be next to the creature type, the period should be after glaze, not the reminder text, and the P/T should be below the flavor text, not above.
Total: 14.5/25
Creativity – That mechanic isn't striking me as particularly inspiring. The second ability is a bit more unique since it cares about multiple creature.
Elegance – Well, if a you want to make a creature seem scary, having frighten be the mechanic isn't a bad place to start. Nothing about the card makes it feel particularly menacing, but that's just a consequence of the lack of art and flavor text (get to that later). I'm not particularly sure I understand the flavors of multiple Khepri dealing damage causing there to be more of them.
Potential – It feels like a cool card to build around and get a bunch of tokens. Obviously needs tribal support to be interesting, but there is some potential.
Development (4.5/10)
Viability – "Target creature can't block" is rules text that should really only be appearing on red cards, and having it being in green is pretty jarring, even if it is for a mechanic.
Balance – It's power obviously depends on the amount of tribal support, but it can get through for damage fairly well and produce tokens, even if it's stats are a bit weak. With other Khepri I think this could be good.
Creative Writing – This is a complete mess. The frighten mechanic and the token ability don't tie together at all, and there's no flavor text to really tie this all together. Nothing about this card makes me think it's anymore than a pack creature, and certainly not an evil race.
Polish
Challenge (2/2) – Good.
Quality (1.5/3) – Small thing - Frighten reminder text should be "whenever this creature attacks,...". Big thing - that second ability just doesn't work. It should probably be a triggered ability at end step that checks if creatures dealt combat damage that turn.
Total: 13/25
Antny223: 19.5/25
Altaurus321: 17/25
scrad_the_wanderer: 18.5/25
doomfish: 16/25
ThunderManatee: 14.5/25
Willows: 13/25
I'll do it!!!
I wanted to have more time to judge and look these over, but things and stuff got in the way. Oh well.
Also, is anyone currently organizing February? Cuz I would be willing to do it if no one else is currently.
Artifact Creature - Cleric (U)
((B/P) can be paid with either B or 2 life)
Whenever you cast a spell with Φ in its mana cost, each opponent loses 1 life and you gain 1 life.
The healers of New Phyrexia should never be trusted.
0/1
Organizers each month are much more of a "play it by ear" sort of thing. Usually someone will either volunteer themselves at some point near the middle of the month (or remind everyone that they volunteered), or one of the moderators for this forum (usually Moss_Elemental) will ask who is organizing for the month. (This is all done in this thread.)
I would not recommend organizing the MCC unless you've spent a month judging before hand, just to get a feel for things. Judging itself is pretty much open to anyone, provided that when they judge a sample card in the signup thread they don't completely mess it up.
The intent of the card was what you figured it out to be - the card is meant to tutor for a single, 5-colored card. Having the activated ability be Conflux is way too cheap for only 7 mana.
Legendary Land (MR)
4, T: Add WUBRG to your mana pool.
2WUBRG, T, Sacrifice Heart of the Maelstrom: Search your library for a white, blue, black, red, and green card, reveal it, and put it into your hand. Then shuffle your library.
Once the shards merged, chaos ruled over Alara.