Everybody who is upset about the DRS ban is not upset because they think the Jund is unplayable. The GBx Midrange decks will still be very good. The people who are upset, myself included, is because this ban sets the bar low on what a card needs to do to get banned. What happens in 6 months when Birthing Pod is putting up results similar to BGx? Will they ban Pod? Because by banning Deathrite they are saying that they will. They are saying that they are willing to ban cards on the precedent that the card is simply VERY GOOD. And when the do Ban Pod, they WILL have killed an archetype. Same goes for Splinter Twin.
Is that the kind of format you want? A format where the best deck is attacked for simply being good?
They already set that precedent by banning Bloodbraid.
Integrating Column 6
Artifact
At the beginning of your upkeep, Integrating Column deals 3 damage to target creature that doesn't share a color with a Shapeshifter you control. If that creature is put into a graveyard from play this turn, put a Shapeshifter token into play under your control with the same color, power, and toughness as that creature.
NEXT>>>A card that makes tokens (either copies of itself or other tokens) to distribute amongst teammates, like Imperial Mask
As if Blinkmoth Nexus wasn't played in every MUC deck back in Mirrodin, now Wizards gives Pickles/Guile neo-Mishra's Factory to play with. I don't want another blue-beats-everything block, Wizards! *shakes fist*
At least now they have Guile and Cryptic Command w/ triple blue in their CC, maybe that'll make it harder for it to dominate...but I'm worried. This is probably going to be the Thoughtseize of Morningtide - everyone will want 4 and it'll shoot up in price to $20.
Shame that we lost, though I think I can safely disagree with the fact that a few of our cards were too broken. For example, getting three creature cards in your graveyard is a lot harder than you think. Remember how Mortal Combat was supposed to be too good until people realized how if you play well, your creatures don't tend to die too often? In the late game, however, I can see where it would be a little good. I would probably say that if it had been two creatures, a-la Twinstrike, it would have been underpowered, however. Also, 2BB for a creature with a really good ability IF IT GETS THROUGH will never be broken. It has a 2/2 body (which by turn 4 they should be able to deal with) and certainly Dimir Infiltrator didn't break the format, and it came out a turn earlier. This is why Shadowmage Infiltrator costs ~$6 and Dimir Infiltrator is bulk.
For the Hound Hoser:
Sivit, Feline Ascendant 3WW
Legendary Creature - Cat Spirit
Flying
Whenever Sivit, Feline Ascendant is put into a graveyard from play, destroy all black creatures. For each Hound destroyed in this way, gain 4 life. 2W: Counter target spell or ability that targets one or more cards in a graveyard.
2/5 "The wretched Sa'ab will curse my name until they have no more breath with which to speak."
I hate to say I told you so about the blue creature destruction, but I told you so.
Anyway, we have to win this one, because otherwise I'll be eliminated at next elimination round. I'm going to England for a week this Saturday and I won't have computer access. I'll try to help as much as possible before then, but please, please, please pull through!
Wurms have also been in Magic forever but don't have tribal stuff. Either that or Bears does sound kinda cool...
What would be neat is to do a tribe using an ability that hasn't been really taken for a tribe yet. Goblins has lots of haste, Birds/Dragons do flying, Zombies regenerate, lots of Soldiers have first strike, Mistforms change creature type, etc etc. We could have a tribe that revolves around some activated ability like the Mistforms or the En-Kor, that flavorfully ties in with the creature type and gives us some design space to work with. A quick idea off the top of my head would be to make the tribe be Monks and have the activated ability be something like "1: Prevent the next 1 damage that would be dealt to ________." We could then play around with what they prevent damage to, like creatures with flying, white creatures, all creatures you control, all creatures in general, etc. There are probably more interesting abilities to use, but you get the general idea.
Mirari's Echoes 3UU
Enchantment
Each opponent plays with his or her hand revealed.
At the beginning of each opponent's upkeep, name a card.
Until end of turn, whenever any opponent plays the named card, copy it. You may choose new targets for the copy. The power that resided within the gleaming sphere still lurks in the corners of the minds originally touched by its power.
Spellforce1UUU
Instant
Search target player's library for an instant card and remove it from the game. You may play that card without paying its mana cost until end of turn. "At the heart of every treachery, lies a thought to betray."
The name is from Black Megatog's card from last round, and the flavor text is from Skajetolaf's card from the first round.
Thanks for the congratulations everyone (and the votes, I'll pay you guys off later )
SALAd, despite your apparent lack of confidence, I really think the CCL is a great idea and has the makings of a long-term Salvation staple. The fact that you let us judge each other's work instead of assigning judges to do it is a great touch, because it means that interactivity between the players is promoted, and it's really fun. I kept looking forward to what the best players in the league like Abs, genesys, and LGMhorus (actually all the leaguers this time were great, even those who bombed out early) had in store this week. So, thanks for making such a great idea reality!
Rootwater Mutant 2GGU
Creature - Merfolk Mutant
If Rootwater Mutant was put into play from your library, it has Graft 6. If it was put into play from your graveyard, it has Graft 5. Otherwise, it has Graft 4. The beast's confusing body structure causes many to remember it as being smaller than it actually is.
Well, it sounds like our Green shift is going to be Annex (though Steal Artifact could be neat as well), our Black shift Mwonvuli Acid-Moss, and our White shift will be Cranial Extraction. I've also heard a few positive things about Red getting Aegis of Honor.
If we're looking for "twinning" abilities to copy over to Blue from Red, we could always use the original, though Goblin War Drums seems neat to shift over too. For a really old card, False Orders has a very interesting effect, too.
Another thing that Red gets that has been suggested for Blue was artifact destruction. Smash as "tinkering too much to learn" seemed like a neat idea.
Blue creature destruction could be done, but we would need to find an existing card that could be switched to Blue and not be too good.
Lastly, something Red does that nobody else tends to do is flip coins. Blue is not the color of chaos, but taking calculated risks is certainly Blue, and there are certain coin flipping cards that don't particularly matter whether or not you win or lose the flip. Winter Sky, Puppet's Verdict, and Molten Sentry, for example, can be beneficial either way. I personally think that Molten Sentry or Winter Sky could easily be shifted into blue with the right flavor.
Again, my concern is straight removal without a control-deck drawback is too good in blue. Psionic Blast has a control-deck drawback (removal, but taking two damage is not good against agro) versus Terror in blue, which doesn't at all. That's all I'm a'sayin'. If we give blue removal, we need to make sure it does have a downside that a mono-blue control deck would care about, or else it would just create lots of unfun scenarios.
If we make blue destruction, it doesn't matter whether or not it's cool in the format. I totally agree with that. However, the first and only thing that I think when I see blue removal is "Wow, that's utterly broken, because that's one of the few things that blue can't do well." That fact alone, in my opinion, will turn off anyone (including LGMhorus) judging the cards. I absolutely think it's a bad idea to give blue straight creature kill, regardless of how in-flavor it is. I personally would rather shift from an allied color, because I'm 99% sure that the response to blue removal will be "overpowered."
Anyone have ANY comments for my idea for the blue ability?
I like that a lot better than giving blue, the already-dominant control color, even more amazing control elements in the way of Rampant Growth or Stone Rain, or even worse, creature kill.
The reason I thought that Dominate fit right in with green is because green is the color of big-mana. The idea behind the card was not that you needed to spend enough mana to "overwhelm" the creature into coming to your control, but needed to be in-tune with the creature and spend enough mana to "tap-in" to the creature's wild side and reawaken that primal spark. Green Annex sounds pretty cool too, though it overlaps a bit with our black timeshift...
The name "Emergency Prohibition" is about a million times better than what I came up with, and it conveys perfectly the REASON it needs to be in a graveyard for the white mages to want to ban it. They've seen it once, they realize how powerful it is, and they put forth a law that makes it never cast again.
Cranial Extraction seems too proactive for this sort of reactionary methodology. You don't say "I think something is going to be too powerful so I'll ban it." unless you're WOTC and you just printed Memory Jar. You find out that something is too good, THEN you put up laws prohibiting it. Like, y'know, Prohibition in the States.
I'm glad Mwonvuli Acid-Moss in black makes as much sense to you guys as it did to me.
And lastly, Lodestone Pulse is cool, but "Lodestone" says "artifact" to me, not enchantment. That's what I was grappling with when I was coming up with a name for it, because it was very difficult to figure out a way to say "magnetism" without necessarily saying "artifact." However, the flavor text seems spot-on (and, btw, hilarious.)
That's my two cents for now. The only reason I want to rush this process is we need to base the second part of the cards off this decision, and I'd rather get started on our actual cards sooner rather than later.
I think if I had to choose one, it would be Cabal Coffers. Back when Onslaught came out, I was just starting to get into competitive Magic, and the first deck that I made with any semblance of a competitive gameplan was Mono-Black Control. Being able to accelerate into a Visara a turn earlier, flashing back Chainer's Edict with ease, or just making a Nantuko Shade enormous, Coffers was a fantastic "free" mana accelerant that really gave the deck legs. I placed in a JSS (yeah, back when they had those!) and that really kicked off my competitive Magic playing which I've more or less kept after for now 15 years.
They already set that precedent by banning Bloodbraid.
6
Artifact
At the beginning of your upkeep, Integrating Column deals 3 damage to target creature that doesn't share a color with a Shapeshifter you control. If that creature is put into a graveyard from play this turn, put a Shapeshifter token into play under your control with the same color, power, and toughness as that creature.
NEXT>>>A card that makes tokens (either copies of itself or other tokens) to distribute amongst teammates, like Imperial Mask
At least now they have Guile and Cryptic Command w/ triple blue in their CC, maybe that'll make it harder for it to dominate...but I'm worried. This is probably going to be the Thoughtseize of Morningtide - everyone will want 4 and it'll shoot up in price to $20.
Shame that we lost, though I think I can safely disagree with the fact that a few of our cards were too broken. For example, getting three creature cards in your graveyard is a lot harder than you think. Remember how Mortal Combat was supposed to be too good until people realized how if you play well, your creatures don't tend to die too often? In the late game, however, I can see where it would be a little good. I would probably say that if it had been two creatures, a-la Twinstrike, it would have been underpowered, however. Also, 2BB for a creature with a really good ability IF IT GETS THROUGH will never be broken. It has a 2/2 body (which by turn 4 they should be able to deal with) and certainly Dimir Infiltrator didn't break the format, and it came out a turn earlier. This is why Shadowmage Infiltrator costs ~$6 and Dimir Infiltrator is bulk.
For the Hound Hoser:
Sivit, Feline Ascendant 3WW
Legendary Creature - Cat Spirit
Flying
Whenever Sivit, Feline Ascendant is put into a graveyard from play, destroy all black creatures. For each Hound destroyed in this way, gain 4 life.
2W: Counter target spell or ability that targets one or more cards in a graveyard.
2/5
"The wretched Sa'ab will curse my name until they have no more breath with which to speak."
Anyway, we have to win this one, because otherwise I'll be eliminated at next elimination round. I'm going to England for a week this Saturday and I won't have computer access. I'll try to help as much as possible before then, but please, please, please pull through!
Wurms have also been in Magic forever but don't have tribal stuff. Either that or Bears does sound kinda cool...
What would be neat is to do a tribe using an ability that hasn't been really taken for a tribe yet. Goblins has lots of haste, Birds/Dragons do flying, Zombies regenerate, lots of Soldiers have first strike, Mistforms change creature type, etc etc. We could have a tribe that revolves around some activated ability like the Mistforms or the En-Kor, that flavorfully ties in with the creature type and gives us some design space to work with. A quick idea off the top of my head would be to make the tribe be Monks and have the activated ability be something like "1: Prevent the next 1 damage that would be dealt to ________." We could then play around with what they prevent damage to, like creatures with flying, white creatures, all creatures you control, all creatures in general, etc. There are probably more interesting abilities to use, but you get the general idea.
Enchantment
Each opponent plays with his or her hand revealed.
At the beginning of each opponent's upkeep, name a card.
Until end of turn, whenever any opponent plays the named card, copy it. You may choose new targets for the copy.
The power that resided within the gleaming sphere still lurks in the corners of the minds originally touched by its power.
Instant
Search target player's library for an instant card and remove it from the game. You may play that card without paying its mana cost until end of turn.
"At the heart of every treachery, lies a thought to betray."
The name is from Black Megatog's card from last round, and the flavor text is from Skajetolaf's card from the first round.
Votes:
1st: Seryph - 3 pts
2nd: Fajen Thygia - 2 pts
3rd: Shinyman - 1 pt
Thanks for the congratulations everyone (and the votes, I'll pay you guys off later
SALAd, despite your apparent lack of confidence, I really think the CCL is a great idea and has the makings of a long-term Salvation staple. The fact that you let us judge each other's work instead of assigning judges to do it is a great touch, because it means that interactivity between the players is promoted, and it's really fun. I kept looking forward to what the best players in the league like Abs, genesys, and LGMhorus (actually all the leaguers this time were great, even those who bombed out early) had in store this week. So, thanks for making such a great idea reality!
Signature will be updated to reflect the win!
Rootwater Mutant 2GGU
Creature - Merfolk Mutant
If Rootwater Mutant was put into play from your library, it has Graft 6. If it was put into play from your graveyard, it has Graft 5. Otherwise, it has Graft 4.
The beast's confusing body structure causes many to remember it as being smaller than it actually is.
Diabolic Edict = too good.
Cruel Edict = much more balanced.
If we're looking for "twinning" abilities to copy over to Blue from Red, we could always use the original, though Goblin War Drums seems neat to shift over too. For a really old card, False Orders has a very interesting effect, too.
Another thing that Red gets that has been suggested for Blue was artifact destruction. Smash as "tinkering too much to learn" seemed like a neat idea.
Blue creature destruction could be done, but we would need to find an existing card that could be switched to Blue and not be too good.
Lastly, something Red does that nobody else tends to do is flip coins. Blue is not the color of chaos, but taking calculated risks is certainly Blue, and there are certain coin flipping cards that don't particularly matter whether or not you win or lose the flip. Winter Sky, Puppet's Verdict, and Molten Sentry, for example, can be beneficial either way. I personally think that Molten Sentry or Winter Sky could easily be shifted into blue with the right flavor.
I like that a lot better than giving blue, the already-dominant control color, even more amazing control elements in the way of Rampant Growth or Stone Rain, or even worse, creature kill.
The reason I thought that Dominate fit right in with green is because green is the color of big-mana. The idea behind the card was not that you needed to spend enough mana to "overwhelm" the creature into coming to your control, but needed to be in-tune with the creature and spend enough mana to "tap-in" to the creature's wild side and reawaken that primal spark. Green Annex sounds pretty cool too, though it overlaps a bit with our black timeshift...
The name "Emergency Prohibition" is about a million times better than what I came up with, and it conveys perfectly the REASON it needs to be in a graveyard for the white mages to want to ban it. They've seen it once, they realize how powerful it is, and they put forth a law that makes it never cast again.
Cranial Extraction seems too proactive for this sort of reactionary methodology. You don't say "I think something is going to be too powerful so I'll ban it." unless you're WOTC and you just printed Memory Jar. You find out that something is too good, THEN you put up laws prohibiting it. Like, y'know, Prohibition in the States.
I'm glad Mwonvuli Acid-Moss in black makes as much sense to you guys as it did to me.
And lastly, Lodestone Pulse is cool, but "Lodestone" says "artifact" to me, not enchantment. That's what I was grappling with when I was coming up with a name for it, because it was very difficult to figure out a way to say "magnetism" without necessarily saying "artifact." However, the flavor text seems spot-on (and, btw, hilarious.)
That's my two cents for now. The only reason I want to rush this process is we need to base the second part of the cards off this decision, and I'd rather get started on our actual cards sooner rather than later.