Explosive Decoy :symw::symr:
Instant
Regenerate target creature. Explosive Decoy deals 5 damage to each creature that dealt damage to that creature this turn. "Leave his body; let's not take any chances."
This is pointless. You're entitled to your opinion, and I am entitled mine. I will no longer pollute this thread with this 'discussion'. If you want to converse with me further, do it through PMs. I have deleted all of my posts in this thread pertaining to this matter, and will no longer respond to your posts in this thread.
VXF, I can't judge your card by that criteria. By that logic, all spells that can be countered are balanced, because hey...they can be countered, right? The availability of an answer does not change a card's overall balance rating, unless the card offers that answer itself.
Fear or Madness, 1 point.
in its mana cost or rules text, 1 point.
Alarcarcarleoricarcar
Bonus: 4/5
All criteria fulfilled. Does not look like a Magic card.
Balance: 7/10
A little bit on the strong side; 5 mana already gets you a 3/3 for fear, so this guy goes deeper into color commitment for...a reuseable Raise Dead? With no actual increase in mana cost? Wow. Keep in mind that this thing even works if it doesn't damage a player. I would've liked to see this require combat damage to a player.
FCQ: 6/10
Honestly, this guy is just Gluttonous Zombie with a Raise Dead attached. Cute, but a little boring. And he looks awfully legendary to me - a very singular figure, even the flavor text suits legendary status. Sorry, but I'm not seeing a plural on this guy. Not a bad card overall, just needs some tweaking. Score: 17
MmmCesium
NOT A THING. Score: 0
brutal_deluxe
Bonus: 5/5
Well, the art's good.
Balance: 0/10
Creature spells you own that aren't in play have madness :1mana::symb:.
...
...
HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND?!
No. Just plain no. If you can't figure out why this is broke twelve ways to Tuesday, nothing I can say will fix that.
FCQ: 7/10
You get full points for creativity; I've never seen the like, and it's pretty obvious why...but this is creativity, not balance. Still, why would a jack-o-lantern give creature cards the madness ability? Doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Score: 12
Absolutionis
Bonus: 4/5
No fear, no madness. Sorry. Nice art, tho'.
Balance: 5/10
So, let me get this straight. Here we have a Zombify spellshaper, without the discard-a-card part...already too good. Undertaker would be a good parallel to draw; if this guy discarded a card to do the first ability, he would be balanced. Throw in the second ability, and it's even more unbalanced than before. The "if I die, you die" clause helps...a little...but ultimately, if you can't protect this guy, *nothing* would help him be any good.
FCQ: 8/10
Well, I'll give you full points for flavor...this place fairly reeks of it. And it's innovative, despite its poor balance. I really have no major complaints here, apart from the fact that this guy oughtta be legendary and called Dr. Frankenstein. Score: 17
Spanglegluppet
Bonus: 4.5/5
All criteria fulfilled. Art's a bit cramped.
Balance: 5.5/10
Both cards share one major design problem, and it's called Isochron Scepter.
Trick - I empty my hand quickly (not hard in a discard deck) and drop this thing on a Scepter. Since it's an Instant, as long as I keep my hand empty, I can make sure you never have another card during your main phase.
Treat - I...can't imagine anyone ever playing this. But it's still an Instant, it still forces a discard during your opponent's draw phase, and it still fits on a Scepter.
FCQ: 6/10
So what we have here is a fancy version of...a discard spell. Does it do anything else interesting? No, it just...discards. In a kinda fancy way, but still...snore. Also, Treat...wouldn't depriving players of cards be the opposite of a treat? Not terrible, but not that good either. Score: 16
VXF
Bonus: 4/5
All criteria fulfilled, doesn't look like a Magic card.
Balance: 5/10
Hoooooly shyte. Four mana gets you a 3/3 in general. Fine. Turn into for a 4/3. Not bad. Now give it fear. Whole new ballgame. Now give it the ability to NEVER DIE. Uhhh. A little too much going on here for the cost; I could maybe justify it with another thrown in, but as-is? Sorry, being legendary doesn't cut you THAT much slack.
FCQ: 7/10
Well, I'll give you nearly full points for flavor, except for one problem: I didn't know the legend of Stingy Jack without your link, and a theoretical player would not HAVE your link on-hand when playing in a card shop or somesuch place. Good points for creativity, though; interesting usage of suspend and 'reanimation' (in an offbeat way). Score: 16
moogie
Bonus: 4/5
All criteria fulfilled, doesn't look like a Magic card.
Balance: 6/10
Here's a situation where a card seems a little weak. For five mana, I'm expecting either a Wrath-esque effect or a power-booster for my army. This card does a good job of...well, neither one. As a Wrath effect, it carries no surprise element, and is basically inferior to Mutilate in every way. As a power-booster, it's so swingy and inflexible that it's likely to slaughter most creatures you have in play. Would it have been so bad to make this cost :xmana::symb::symb: and have it be +X/-X until EOT? As it is, this card tries to be two things at once...and fails on both fronts.
FCQ: 6.5/10
Honestly, the big gripe here is flavor. The witching hour is inherently black, and...look at Nocturnal Raid. Look at Bad Moon. Any card that so iconically represents night - black's big time to play - should not do such a good job of killing off your own army. It's not all that creative, either; kind of a ho-hum effect, and madness kinda feels tacked on to fulfill the point requirement; you didn't do much with it. Score: 16.5
Le Chat
No. Score: 0
nightshift
Bonus: 4.5/5
All criteria fulfilled. Interesting art, but that sure looks like a skeleton to me.
Balance: 7/10
My only real gripe with this guy is that it's great if you happen to discard him with :symb::symb: open...but otherwise, he could end up decimating your hand as well as your opponent's. Also, for three mana, his ability is a bit strong...reuseable creature bouncing AND a random discard effect? His symmetry doesn't quite make up for that kind of power.
FCQ: 7/10
Creature bouncing really is an effect almost exclusive to blue; your card should at least have some kind of blue element to it to justify the ability. Still, you get great points for creativity; I love the way the card's abilities all sort of feed into each other. A very nice design job. Score: 18.5
ShinyMan
Bonus: 4.5/5
Nice art, but it doesn't really speak to the card's theme.
Balance: 8/10
A very interesting card. At its core, it's on the same power scale as Infest, +1 mana for an extra -1/-1. Channel and Madness together can get you the effect AND a creature from your graveyard...but six mana really *should* do something pretty impressive overall, and this qualifies.
FCQ: 6/10
This is the real sticking point with me. Here we have a slightly powered-up Infest, with Channeling for a Reanimate. Cute, interesting interaction of abilities, but the abilities themselves aren't that innovative. And that name. God, that name. Was a five-word name really necessary? Very awkward flavor there. Score: 18.5
zombi_bobb
Bonus: 4.5/5
All criteria fulfilled, very...odd...art.
Balance: 6/10
I see two major problems with this card. One is the fact that you can basically turn any creature into a burn spell. That wouldn't be so bad (see No Mercy, one of my personal favorites), but this also allows for regeneration, which just happens to be one of black's specialties. Secondly, it's burn against your opponent's creatures post-combat. You can just spend to put counters on your opponent's creatures during his second main phase, burning the hell out of anything that swung at you that turn. In this respect, it's a wee bit strong...too multifunctional.
FCQ: 6/10
I totally dig the creativity on this card; it's a bit much, but it's definitely innovative. But really, halloween is supposed to be about suspense, fear, the witching hour, mysticism. HALLOWEEN IS NOT ABOUT CANDY CORN! Not about candy, but even MORE not about candy corn! Bleagh. (Sorry. I hate candy corn.) Seriously though, not seeing how his ability relates to the holiday. Score: 16.5
Lesurgo
Bonus: 5/5
All criteria fulfilled, and if that isn't the creepiest damn art...
Balance: 6/10
Would it have been so unbalancing to make this card castable? Really, you're looking at a card you MUST discard...then paying three mana of different colors...for an ability that may or may not actually be worth it. "Sure, I'll remove a land from my hand. You have fun with that." Oh, and your opponent gets a shot in too. Simply put, this card feels weak; you could easily crank up the power level and keep it balanced.
FCQ: 7/10
Full points for creativity, let's get that out of the way. But I don't understand why this card is red; it's very blue and very black, but I'm not feeling the red aspect; it doesn't even force random card removal (which might justify that color). Red also isn't much of a saboteur color; it likes things now, to make things go boom and hit hard. Tricks just aren't really red's bag, not of this variety. This card should have been two-color. Score: 18
Phew. Next time we have more than 8 finalists, I'm bowing out.
There is a theory that all ideas have already been thought up. Under that logic, anything you create has been created before by someone, somewhere. Considering the fact that "Solamnia" sounds like "Solemn", which is what one thinks of when they consider an order of knights, it was bound to happen.
Bonus: 5/5
Very nice art. I actually had to look at it for a second before figuring out the 'awake' part.
Balance: 6/10
Okay. I'll say that since it's part-green, you would normally get a 6/6 for 6. Throw in another color, make it 7/7. Throw in another, make it 8/8. Okayfine. Now, tack on three VERY useful abilities, and this thing is a little on the strong side. The land loss helps to balance a lot, but really - this thing should be a 6/6 with those abilities, or a 8/8 without them.
FCQ: 6/10
Really, you lose one point from flavor and one from creativity. Flavorwise, c'mon. While I can see why the colors are right, and even understand the name, this thing SCREAMS for flavor text. Couldn't you think of anything. Also, while some of the abilities are kind of creative, it doesn't really do anything terribly innovative, per se. Decent card, but you could have done a lot more with it. Score: 17
Casual Chaos Rules!!
Bonus: 4.5/5
Nice art, but I'm not seeing anything very artificer about it.
Balance: 5.5/10
Okay. So we have a six-mana creature with three different colors. This thing must be huge, right?
...oh, wait. It's an artifact-Lhurgoyf. Holding an Ivory Cup.
The ability to mill yourself of artifacts (ow) gives it a little more synergy, but what this really means is that - unless you design your deck to sacrifice multiple artifacts to get this thing into play (which doesn't have an awful lot of synergy with the white-spell ability) - you're probably going to be swinging with a 1/1 or 2/2 a couple of times. For six mana of three different colors, I expect better. Look at Lightning Angel. Look at Fungal Shambler. Look at Rith, the Awakener. Then look at your card.
FCQ: 6/10
Why would a card called Artificer Spirit want you to get *rid* of your artifacts? Not really following that flavor. Other than that, it works out pretty well...except for the card quality. No period after Vigilance. Artificer Spirit's power etc. No comma after 'card'. When should be Whenever. I don't dock points for one or two minor quirks, but four? Yeah. One point lost there. Overall, this is actually a decent card, it just needs some re-imagining. Score: 16
When ~ deals combat damage to a player, that player discards a card from his hand, and you gain 2 life.
2/2
Grz CCR
Specter of Deceit :symb::symb::symb:
Creature - Specter
Flying, Trample
:symb:: Regenerate Specter of Deceit.
Whenever Specter of Deceit deals combat damage to a player, that player discards a card and you gain 2 life.
2/2
I certainly hope that your card for this FCC round is both better-balanced and better-formatted, because this guy is *way* too good (and off-color).
Nervous Breakdown :2mana::symu::symb::symb:
Sorcery
Target player discards his hand. That player loses X life, where X is the combined converted mana cost of all cards discarded in this way. "Discovered Tz'zekk curled up in the fetal position in front of his spellbook"
"Fairly sure he is not ready to graduate" - Grosian progress report
...also known as "what happens when you make Wit's End not suck".
Which of these cards should I have played, and what should I have taken out for it? (Keep in mind that I had a sum total of two ways to discard cards, three if you bring the Axe in.)
All in the same pack. I took the Priest, but I reeeeeeeeally wanted to take the Griffin Guide. Should I have?
#3:
While drafting, a guy named Ben kept watching over the shoulder of the guy who would end up being my opponent, suggesting picks, etc. Now, Ben is a nice guy, but I really do consider that to be cheating, in that having advice gives him a significant advantage. How do you politely tell someone to **** off, without pissing them off?
Battle Plans :1mana::symwr::symwr:
Enchantment
At the start of each opponent's turn, that player must declare which creatures he intends to attack with that turn. Those creatures must attack if able, and other creatures that player controls can't attack.
Instant
Regenerate target creature. Explosive Decoy deals 5 damage to each creature that dealt damage to that creature this turn.
"Leave his body; let's not take any chances."
in its mana cost or rules text, 1 point.
Alarcarcarleoricarcar
Bonus: 4/5
All criteria fulfilled. Does not look like a Magic card.
Balance: 7/10
A little bit on the strong side; 5 mana already gets you a 3/3 for fear, so this guy goes deeper into color commitment for...a reuseable Raise Dead? With no actual increase in mana cost? Wow. Keep in mind that this thing even works if it doesn't damage a player. I would've liked to see this require combat damage to a player.
FCQ: 6/10
Honestly, this guy is just Gluttonous Zombie with a Raise Dead attached. Cute, but a little boring. And he looks awfully legendary to me - a very singular figure, even the flavor text suits legendary status. Sorry, but I'm not seeing a plural on this guy. Not a bad card overall, just needs some tweaking.
Score: 17
MmmCesium
NOT A THING.
Score: 0
brutal_deluxe
Bonus: 5/5
Well, the art's good.
Balance: 0/10
Creature spells you own that aren't in play have madness :1mana::symb:.
...
...
HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND?!
No. Just plain no. If you can't figure out why this is broke twelve ways to Tuesday, nothing I can say will fix that.
FCQ: 7/10
You get full points for creativity; I've never seen the like, and it's pretty obvious why...but this is creativity, not balance. Still, why would a jack-o-lantern give creature cards the madness ability? Doesn't make a lot of sense to me.
Score: 12
Absolutionis
Bonus: 4/5
No fear, no madness. Sorry. Nice art, tho'.
Balance: 5/10
So, let me get this straight. Here we have a Zombify spellshaper, without the discard-a-card part...already too good. Undertaker would be a good parallel to draw; if this guy discarded a card to do the first ability, he would be balanced. Throw in the second ability, and it's even more unbalanced than before. The "if I die, you die" clause helps...a little...but ultimately, if you can't protect this guy, *nothing* would help him be any good.
FCQ: 8/10
Well, I'll give you full points for flavor...this place fairly reeks of it. And it's innovative, despite its poor balance. I really have no major complaints here, apart from the fact that this guy oughtta be legendary and called Dr. Frankenstein.
Score: 17
Spanglegluppet
Bonus: 4.5/5
All criteria fulfilled. Art's a bit cramped.
Balance: 5.5/10
Both cards share one major design problem, and it's called Isochron Scepter.
Trick - I empty my hand quickly (not hard in a discard deck) and drop this thing on a Scepter. Since it's an Instant, as long as I keep my hand empty, I can make sure you never have another card during your main phase.
Treat - I...can't imagine anyone ever playing this. But it's still an Instant, it still forces a discard during your opponent's draw phase, and it still fits on a Scepter.
FCQ: 6/10
So what we have here is a fancy version of...a discard spell. Does it do anything else interesting? No, it just...discards. In a kinda fancy way, but still...snore. Also, Treat...wouldn't depriving players of cards be the opposite of a treat? Not terrible, but not that good either.
Score: 16
VXF
Bonus: 4/5
All criteria fulfilled, doesn't look like a Magic card.
Balance: 5/10
Hoooooly shyte. Four mana gets you a 3/3 in general. Fine. Turn into for a 4/3. Not bad. Now give it fear. Whole new ballgame. Now give it the ability to NEVER DIE. Uhhh. A little too much going on here for the cost; I could maybe justify it with another thrown in, but as-is? Sorry, being legendary doesn't cut you THAT much slack.
FCQ: 7/10
Well, I'll give you nearly full points for flavor, except for one problem: I didn't know the legend of Stingy Jack without your link, and a theoretical player would not HAVE your link on-hand when playing in a card shop or somesuch place. Good points for creativity, though; interesting usage of suspend and 'reanimation' (in an offbeat way).
Score: 16
moogie
Bonus: 4/5
All criteria fulfilled, doesn't look like a Magic card.
Balance: 6/10
Here's a situation where a card seems a little weak. For five mana, I'm expecting either a Wrath-esque effect or a power-booster for my army. This card does a good job of...well, neither one. As a Wrath effect, it carries no surprise element, and is basically inferior to Mutilate in every way. As a power-booster, it's so swingy and inflexible that it's likely to slaughter most creatures you have in play. Would it have been so bad to make this cost :xmana::symb::symb: and have it be +X/-X until EOT? As it is, this card tries to be two things at once...and fails on both fronts.
FCQ: 6.5/10
Honestly, the big gripe here is flavor. The witching hour is inherently black, and...look at Nocturnal Raid. Look at Bad Moon. Any card that so iconically represents night - black's big time to play - should not do such a good job of killing off your own army. It's not all that creative, either; kind of a ho-hum effect, and madness kinda feels tacked on to fulfill the point requirement; you didn't do much with it.
Score: 16.5
Le Chat
No.
Score: 0
nightshift
Bonus: 4.5/5
All criteria fulfilled. Interesting art, but that sure looks like a skeleton to me.
Balance: 7/10
My only real gripe with this guy is that it's great if you happen to discard him with :symb::symb: open...but otherwise, he could end up decimating your hand as well as your opponent's. Also, for three mana, his ability is a bit strong...reuseable creature bouncing AND a random discard effect? His symmetry doesn't quite make up for that kind of power.
FCQ: 7/10
Creature bouncing really is an effect almost exclusive to blue; your card should at least have some kind of blue element to it to justify the ability. Still, you get great points for creativity; I love the way the card's abilities all sort of feed into each other. A very nice design job.
Score: 18.5
ShinyMan
Bonus: 4.5/5
Nice art, but it doesn't really speak to the card's theme.
Balance: 8/10
A very interesting card. At its core, it's on the same power scale as Infest, +1 mana for an extra -1/-1. Channel and Madness together can get you the effect AND a creature from your graveyard...but six mana really *should* do something pretty impressive overall, and this qualifies.
FCQ: 6/10
This is the real sticking point with me. Here we have a slightly powered-up Infest, with Channeling for a Reanimate. Cute, interesting interaction of abilities, but the abilities themselves aren't that innovative. And that name. God, that name. Was a five-word name really necessary? Very awkward flavor there.
Score: 18.5
zombi_bobb
Bonus: 4.5/5
All criteria fulfilled, very...odd...art.
Balance: 6/10
I see two major problems with this card. One is the fact that you can basically turn any creature into a burn spell. That wouldn't be so bad (see No Mercy, one of my personal favorites), but this also allows for regeneration, which just happens to be one of black's specialties. Secondly, it's burn against your opponent's creatures post-combat. You can just spend to put counters on your opponent's creatures during his second main phase, burning the hell out of anything that swung at you that turn. In this respect, it's a wee bit strong...too multifunctional.
FCQ: 6/10
I totally dig the creativity on this card; it's a bit much, but it's definitely innovative. But really, halloween is supposed to be about suspense, fear, the witching hour, mysticism. HALLOWEEN IS NOT ABOUT CANDY CORN! Not about candy, but even MORE not about candy corn! Bleagh. (Sorry. I hate candy corn.) Seriously though, not seeing how his ability relates to the holiday.
Score: 16.5
Lesurgo
Bonus: 5/5
All criteria fulfilled, and if that isn't the creepiest damn art...
Balance: 6/10
Would it have been so unbalancing to make this card castable? Really, you're looking at a card you MUST discard...then paying three mana of different colors...for an ability that may or may not actually be worth it. "Sure, I'll remove a land from my hand. You have fun with that." Oh, and your opponent gets a shot in too. Simply put, this card feels weak; you could easily crank up the power level and keep it balanced.
FCQ: 7/10
Full points for creativity, let's get that out of the way. But I don't understand why this card is red; it's very blue and very black, but I'm not feeling the red aspect; it doesn't even force random card removal (which might justify that color). Red also isn't much of a saboteur color; it likes things now, to make things go boom and hit hard. Tricks just aren't really red's bag, not of this variety. This card should have been two-color.
Score: 18
Phew. Next time we have more than 8 finalists, I'm bowing out.
Bonus: 5/5
Very nice art. I actually had to look at it for a second before figuring out the 'awake' part.
Balance: 6/10
Okay. I'll say that since it's part-green, you would normally get a 6/6 for 6. Throw in another color, make it 7/7. Throw in another, make it 8/8. Okayfine. Now, tack on three VERY useful abilities, and this thing is a little on the strong side. The land loss helps to balance a lot, but really - this thing should be a 6/6 with those abilities, or a 8/8 without them.
FCQ: 6/10
Really, you lose one point from flavor and one from creativity. Flavorwise, c'mon. While I can see why the colors are right, and even understand the name, this thing SCREAMS for flavor text. Couldn't you think of anything. Also, while some of the abilities are kind of creative, it doesn't really do anything terribly innovative, per se. Decent card, but you could have done a lot more with it.
Score: 17
Casual Chaos Rules!!
Bonus: 4.5/5
Nice art, but I'm not seeing anything very artificer about it.
Balance: 5.5/10
Okay. So we have a six-mana creature with three different colors. This thing must be huge, right?
...oh, wait. It's an artifact-Lhurgoyf. Holding an Ivory Cup.
The ability to mill yourself of artifacts (ow) gives it a little more synergy, but what this really means is that - unless you design your deck to sacrifice multiple artifacts to get this thing into play (which doesn't have an awful lot of synergy with the white-spell ability) - you're probably going to be swinging with a 1/1 or 2/2 a couple of times. For six mana of three different colors, I expect better. Look at Lightning Angel. Look at Fungal Shambler. Look at Rith, the Awakener. Then look at your card.
FCQ: 6/10
Why would a card called Artificer Spirit want you to get *rid* of your artifacts? Not really following that flavor. Other than that, it works out pretty well...except for the card quality. No period after Vigilance. Artificer Spirit's power etc. No comma after 'card'. When should be Whenever. I don't dock points for one or two minor quirks, but four? Yeah. One point lost there. Overall, this is actually a decent card, it just needs some re-imagining.
Score: 16
Winner:
zombi_bobb
Oh, and...yeah. Round over.
Specter of Deceit :symb::symb::symb:
Creature - Specter
Flying, Trample
:symb:: Regenerate Specter of Deceit.
Whenever Specter of Deceit deals combat damage to a player, that player discards a card and you gain 2 life.
2/2
I certainly hope that your card for this FCC round is both better-balanced and better-formatted, because this guy is *way* too good (and off-color).
(Not an entry for this round of DCC.)
Instant
Untap target attacking creature and remove it from combat.
Draw a card.
Sorcery
Target player discards his hand. That player loses X life, where X is the combined converted mana cost of all cards discarded in this way.
"Discovered Tz'zekk curled up in the fetal position in front of his spellbook"
"Fairly sure he is not ready to graduate" - Grosian progress report
...also known as "what happens when you make Wit's End not suck".
6x Swamp
1x Benalish Cavalry
1x Castle Raptors
1x Cavalry Master
1x Cloudchaser Kestrel
2x D'Avenant Archer
1x Icatian Crier
2x Ivory Giant
1x Opal Guardian
1x Soltari Priest
1x Witch Hunter
1x Zealot il-Vec
4x Gaze of Justice
1x Skittering Monstrosity
1x Trespasser il-Vec
1x Fallen Ideal
1x Feebleness
1x Premature Burial
That's what I wound up playing. Now, here are my questions.
#1:
2x Dark Withering
2x Drudge Reavers
1x Funeral Charm
1x Haunting Hymn
1x Lightning Axe
1x Rift Bolt
Which of these cards should I have played, and what should I have taken out for it? (Keep in mind that I had a sum total of two ways to discard cards, three if you bring the Axe in.)
#2:
Tivadar of Thorn
Griffin Guide
Soltari Priest
All in the same pack. I took the Priest, but I reeeeeeeeally wanted to take the Griffin Guide. Should I have?
#3:
While drafting, a guy named Ben kept watching over the shoulder of the guy who would end up being my opponent, suggesting picks, etc. Now, Ben is a nice guy, but I really do consider that to be cheating, in that having advice gives him a significant advantage. How do you politely tell someone to **** off, without pissing them off?
Any help is welcome.
Enchantment
At the start of each opponent's turn, that player must declare which creatures he intends to attack with that turn. Those creatures must attack if able, and other creatures that player controls can't attack.