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Clawsome: TDM Mechanic Winners!

Our winners for this week are @bergdg, @teaxch, and @yd12k!

@bergdg — It That Breaks

I didn't actually think that that was the wording for Scions, but wow, turns out... So part of what I really love about this card is how generally well-put-together it feels. The themes are there, the rarity is there, repeatable Scion generation (repeatable-ish) feels super powerful, and the return of the Eldrazi with omens is a great match. I don't know what the hell is going on with the fonts there but that's just for the card design creator; I just think it's kinda funny, nothing to do with the card itself. It's curious how the omens change the color identity, yeah? And the decks that would make sense for it. But in limited, there's super cool usage for both sides of these. Looping even two Scion Swarms in a game means that It That Breaks will be that much more powerful later, assuming you're not ramping into anything larger.

Or, if you're in a colorless-themed deck that doesn't play green, you can still use It That Breaks and generate value from sacrificing other cards along the same vein. Imagine, for example, that there's also a RB Eldrazi shell and a BX sacrifice shell for limited. If you're RG Eldrazi ramp, then you can use this card to get yourself up to speed, and in those other two shells you have a massive top end for one and a great sac synergy outlet for the other. Jund Eldrazi is the vision I have right now, but why stop there? GW tokens, boom. GU ramp, there you go. I think my singular gripe is the name, just because of meter. "It That Sunders" scans better, or something along those lines; "breaks" is a wee bit simple. I suppose I shouldn't be that pedantic when I'm staring down a giant Eldrazi, though.

@teaxch — Ice-Vein Draugr

I think it's been long enough—especially with an unexpected entry such as this—that I'm happy to put you up here. Besides, this card's quite a fun design and the only Flurry entry for this contest. I think you hit the sweet spot where you reminded me that Kaldheim had a second-spell-being-cast theme on top of a snow pun that works with a just-recently established mechanic, and now here we are, with the coolest possible idea to come from that confluence. Whether or not foretell would be in this theoretical return doesn't matter, because the idea of a "flurry" as a returning snowfall and not as a "flurry of blows" feels sensible for a card such as this. Aggressive zombies are just what black needs here, in addition to the tie-ins with RB berserkers, UB zombies, and WB spells; GB elves are the only Kaldheim faction that couldn't really do much with it, and hey, you can't win 'em all, unless you're a graveyard deck on top of it.

It's a really interesting flavor profile you've got going on here, if I can use that term for a moment. The feeling of a zombie cracking out of the ice seems like it would be the most difficult, but then you have that snow affinity, like the snow itself is what's calling the Draugr out from their rest. I admittedly don't know much about the Draugr on Kaldheim, but I can make my zombie-themed assumptions and I'll be happy not trying to look through the corners of every wiki to make or break a case. Snow means zombies because zombies here like the magical snow. It's in-world sensible, and it makes mechanical sense too with how you've themed flurry. It just tickles me how neatly you've packaged this card up and brought these ideas to presentation! Perfect in all the strangest ways. Perhaps in contemporary MTG this would be a 3/1 but that's play balance for you.

@yd12k — Tribute Band / Heartfelt Homage

Let's pause for a second. Firstly, you really should've had reminder text for harmonize on the side of Heartfelt Homage, considering that it's a returning expert-level mechanic. It's a bit of text, but I did finagle with it by adjusting the font size, and it would look fine. Aside from that, though: this card made me laugh aloud. Sincerely and fully, I laughed at the whole card together, the flavor text, everything about it. What a lovely card overall. I think that there's something to be said for Strixhaven that, despite the warring history and the nature of MTG to have some pretty horrific things happening on the cards, the world felt light enough that we could get some levity contrasted with the larger Multiverse. Of course we want to follow characters and have our conflict, because that's how stories work—why not have some college interaction while we're at it? What delightfully pithy and condescending sophomore English-major newspaper language you've channeled there. That smug critique is so Silverquill and I'm in for it.

And frankly the card's really good too. I think the major strength is taking direct tropes and translating them in a way that feels both original to the world, magical to the senses, and thematically resonant on the cards. The band literally transforms into that which it tributes, and the homage (probably a solo, if we're being honest about what the art would have to display) may not be good but it's an effective callback to the "song"/spell that the creature is performing. The wit in this card is genuinely lovely. Which side would one play in the end? I think both have their merits, and chaining together some sick Bard combo where you cast cantrips to turn an evasive creature into a big body is fun indeed. Surprisingly strong in the hands of the right limited player, as are Snapcaster-style effects—especially if we have more returning spells like the Archive. Simple, pleasant, and worldly. What a great submission.

Unfortunately, I'm a little behind today and so runners-up will be posted in the evening after work. All said, though, this was a painfully strong week for submissions, and I'm really impressed with what folks put in here. I'll have more to talk about as things go by.

@abelzumi

TDM Mechanic entries! ~

@bergdg — It That Breaks @bread-into-toast — Nahiris's Vanguard @corporalotherbear — Resonant Howl @curiooftheheart — Tintown Wind-Up Master @deg99 — Fervent Intimidator @dimestoretajic — Sniper's Distraction @fluffycattens — Critterwave Captain @genericaura — Birdwatch @grornt — God-Pharaoh's Harbinger @hanavesinauttija — Duskmantle Haunt @harunakonomi — Boros Conscription @helloijustreadyourpost — Sheoldred, The Corruptor @hypexion — The Eclipse Serpent @i-am-the-one-who-wololoes — Welcoming Fanfare @izzet-always-r-versus-u — Together as One @lanabutnotdelray — Runo, Priest of Krothuss @misterstingyjack — Sorrowful Singer @nine-effing-hells — Augur of Ephara @piccadilly-blue — Deliverance from the Dark @reaperfromtheabyss — Boggart Bumrush @sparkyyoungupstart — Ghoulcaller's Threnody @stareyedesper — Deepwater Revelation @tanknspank — Danger Detector @teaxch — Ice-Vein Draugr @wildcardgamez — Najeela's Last Stand @xenobladexfan — Yidaro, Inevitable Beast @yd12k — Tribute Band / Heartfelt Homage @yourrightfulking — Kai, Timelost Researcher

Wow, lots of awesome entries here. Thank you all for your submissions! @abelzumi

Trivia Tuesday: Testing the Scales

Can be in terms of design space, flavor, or playability. Just gotta pick one.

Storm Count

Dragons, dragons, everywhere! Or at least a lot of places. And they're spreading throughout the multiverse!

But yeah, TDM having a new mechanic/ability for each clan plus a new shuffling mechanic PLUS a little flavorful action keyword is...a lot. Explaining them to prerelease players took a long while, but they got them all, even with the weird stuff regarding triggers and timing. Everyone had a blast! Everyone who was playing, anyway, but I got to run through the LGS taking judge calls so, y'know, stimulation.

Now that prerelease is officially over...guess what kind of contest we're doing now? ... Oh no, not that. I've got something else in mind.

Design a card using a new mechanic* from Tarkir: Dragonstorm on a plane that is NOT Tarkir.

*For the purposes of this contest: twobrid and surveil as mentioned in this article are not considered new mechanics.

First and foremost: I want you to design a cool mechanical card using the tools given to you in TDM.

On top of that: whatever plane you choose should reflect a way that the mechanic you're using could fit into the world of that plane. And no, you're not depicting a character from Tarkir who used an Omenpath to go somewhere else—I want a view of that plane and its characters on their own merit.

Last general note: I'm looking for the mechanics in as normal a form as they appear, no major tweaks or changes. Whether you go for top-down or bottom-up is up to you, but the fundament and spirit of this contest is to use one of the mechanics as it would appear normally. Because they're fun!

I can't wait to play with this set myself. Have fun! @abelzumi

>> Desktop Submissions >> Mobile Submissions/Asks >> IF Discord Server

To the Best of their Abilities: Deputized Runners Up

Our runners up this week are @feyd-rautha-apologist, @helloijustreadyourpost, and @nine-effing-hells!

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@feyd-rautha-apologist — Bloodmire Leechfisher

Probably the only time I'd want to find my socks full of leeches, honestly. I really like everything going on with this card, honestly. It feels very much like a collection of moving parts working in harmony. Plus, although it's definitely got a bit of "feedback loop" to it, that's diminished by the fact that the card is physically unable to get the loop going by itself. Even once you've found a source of lifegain, it's tricky to find ways to get the Leeches tapped down until you hit the magic number of 3. There likely won't be many opportunities to attack with their fragile selves, after all. Plus, I'll openly admit that I'm a sucker (pun not intended) for any time vampires get associated with a bloodsucker besides bats. Big fan of what this card is putting down, essentially.

@helloijustreadyourpost — Aggressive Rearmament

I think the first thing I want to address here is the choice of creature type. It's interesting that you went with Construct when the Brother's War more typically dealt in Soldier tokens. It could be passed off as simply wanting to make the tokens with an ability distinct from those without, but I feel like there's a bit more to interpret. I like Construct here as evidence of Urza's personal touch, in a sort of parallel to the perennial Karnstruct token. The flavor text has him, in essence, talk about prioritizing both form and function, so it makes sense that they'd have a bit of a flair to them, if that makes sense. Anyway, the actual gameplay of the card is good. I kind of find myself wishing it was an instant, because flashing these in as blockers makes for a very fun swing, but I can understand the hesitation. Still, it's a bit of a do-anything card with a lot of applications, and I can't ask for much more in a common.

@nine-effing-hells — False Shepherd

"Not-quite-dead demon subtly influences the living to engineer its resurrection" is a tried and true trope, but it's also one I'm a very big fan of, so you score points there. Cards that accrue value from the graveyard are always fascinating to me. The mana cost here does a lot, as while just getting a free token every turn from turn 1 if you can entomb it is a bit much, having to pay a bit each turn makes it enough of a commitment. The sherpherd is certainly an impressive body, but I enjoy how the tokens have the ability to resurrect any old demon you might have in your graveyard, especially when those demons are much more tempting to get onto the battlefield on the cheap (Valgavoth, anyone?). Plus, that way the shepherd can stay put in the yard building up a flock again. If anything, resurrecting the card itself comes off as more of a Plan B, which is a teensy bit incongruent with the flavor, but it makes the gameplay flow so much smoother that I struggle to get hung up on it.

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And now it's all over. After a bit of a hiatus, though, I'm back on my regularly scheduled on-the-Discord-for-the-rest-of-the-day-taking-commentary-requests business, so don't be shy and come on down! —@spooky-bard

Score One for the Little Guy: Deputized Winners

Our winners this week are @arixordragc, @deg99, and @tanknspank!

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@arixordragc — Ominous Swell

Sea monsters are alive and well, though in perhaps a bit of an unusual form. The progression between Tentacle and Octopus is great, going from something little that's great for stopping attacks early game—by tap or by chump—to a huge threat that impacts the board like a tidal wave. Plus, Octopuses insisting on stuffing their cards full of eights is always charming. Instant speed is doing a lot of the work here, but I mean that in a good way. It's all around very versatile. My one issue is that I do kind of worry it does too much if you can kind a cheaper way to cast it from the graveyard than the gigantic flashback. Like, dropping an 8/8 on turn 4 with a Snapcaster sounds strong, but I couldn't tell you if that's broken strong or cool strong. While the token is just a big vanilla, you'd be able to tap down their entire land base. Skipping a turn and developing a threat it pretty brutal, and could maybe warrant some tweaking, but I won't dismiss it out of hand.

@deg99 — Smokeshroud Infiltration

Futzing around with the specifics of cost is always a tricky proposition, although I can say with a reasonable amount of confidence that this should work. Probably. That aside, though, I adore the concept this was going for. This sort of etb enchantment with a mechanism to return to hand for more value is something we've seen before conceptually, but this is definitely a new way to go about it. Plus, in the context of Ninjas, this fundamentally changes the dynamic of ninjutsu—namely, that you can use it to actually widen the board. An unblockable token makes the activation very easy, and the ability also serves as a fun way to make tokens more acceptable targets for ninjutsu. I also like how the replacement effect is specifically Ninjas being bounced, because a lot of the classic ninjutsu activators actually aren't Ninjas, which forces a degree of different deckbuilding to better meet the requirement.

@tanknspank — Lifecraft Adept

A token with reconfigure already has me suitably intrigued, but it coming pre-attached as part of the creature's stat pool is what really gets the neurons firing. In a lot of ways it's sort of a reverse of living weapon, with the wielder being the printed card rather than the weapon. The card's a house, too. No keywords in sight, but a 4 mana 5/5 that leaves behind a 4/4 is no laughing matter even when the 4/4 doesn't have additional lategame utility. Ultimately not a whole lot to say here other than "I like it," but I hope I've sufficiently gotten that part across.

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As always, stay tuned for the runners up! —@spooky-bard

Deputized Entries

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@arixordragc — Ominous Swell @bread-into-toast — Brooding Imperiosaur @cthulhusaurusrex — Cypress, Knowing Nuisance @curiooftheheart — Runescribe Guildmage @deg99 — Smokeshroud Infiltration @dimestoretajic — The Council of Glen Elendra @feyd-rautha-apologist — Bloodmire Leechfisher @grornt — Gruesome Trawling @harunakonomi — Forever Bound @helloijustreadyourpost — Aggressive Rearmament @hypexion — Mothcrafter's Art @i-am-the-one-who-wololoes — Rat King's Heir @izzet-always-r-versus-u — Crucible of Revelation @j2miner — Crocodylidae Technician @lanabutnotdelray — Prankster Party @melancholia-ennui — Genesis Breeder @milfannihilator — Telepathic Plague @misterstingyjack — Knucklebones, Grave Gambler @nfatcheese — Goblin Trapper @nine-effing-hells — False Shepherd @real-aspen-hours — Canine Patrol @reaperfromtheabyss — Outbreak Engineer @tanknspank — Lifecraft Adept @wildcardgamez — Bramble Story Circle @wizard-of-interesting-failure — Produce-a-Panda @xenobladexfan — Powerstone Extractor @yd12k — Glen Elendra Eductaor @yourrightfulking — Devouring Swarm

Thank you for all your entries!

Lands Matter Commentary: All's Realm that Ends Realm

We're going into Prerelease weekend, and I'm going to be juggling judge duties, card pricing, mechanical questions, and making sure that everyone logs into Companion. So it's nice in the end to sit down for a few hours and pretend that I could ever get these done ahead of time and/or on time for once. But that combination of duties...doesn't every color have a duty to itself? It's when the landscape of those duties changes that the really weird stuff comes about.

What a forced metaphor! Anyway, strengths. The variety of cards this week was pretty much what I expected, and I'm really happy that folks took it upon themselves to examine the specific angles and to really dig into the fun of what colors might want to do together. There were a lot of scaling effects that I noticed partway through, cards that cared about numbers of other cards, and it's a curious consideration: when is that good enough in limited to make a difference? What number might you be looking at? I think when examining these cards it's important to see the realistic potential, and there's a lot of potential here.

In terms of design choices I feel we should keep in mind, color pie bends/breaks weren't actually too bad this week, although there was potential for a couple cards to do things that their colors really aren't supposed to do. As far as context and flavor goes, though, we saw a lot of variety in how people depicted their stories. And that's awesome! Lands matter, and what lands do matters, and feel free to read on about my thoughts on them.

I had to limit myself to four JUDGE PICKS this week, which if you're new here are cards that I wanted to highlight for one specific reason or another. Check 'em out.

Deputized

Creature tokens don't do much. Sure, there's plenty of cards that benefit substantially from them being around, but at the end of the day a creature token's purpose often begins and ends at its body. Whether that body is meant to attack for big numbers or be thrown into the fire, that's about the end of it. Why should all these creatures get these fancy effects when creature tokens can't join in on the fun?

Design a card that creates a (unique) creature token with an ability.

When I say ability, I'm not really looking for keywords. Those are a dime a dozen and don't usually contribute towards giving a token a unique identity. Rather, it's anything that would be in quotation marks in the parent effect. Think Pests and their "When this creature dies, gain 1 life." Except don't think of them, because I'm looking for a token that hasn't previously appeared on a card.

Also, in case anyone thought to be cheeky, while tokens that are copies of creatures with abilities do technically have abilities, that's not going to fly on its own this week. It's specifically abilities defined by whatever effect is creating the token. Note the "on its own," however, because a copy token that adds an ability on top of what it's copying would absolutely work.

Good luck! ᴳᵒᵒᵈ ˡᵘᶜᵏᵎ —@spooky-bard

>> Desktop Submissions >> Mobile Submissions/Asks >> IF Discord Server

On the Horizon: Off-Type Runners Up!

Our runners-up this week are @curiooftheheart, @melancholia-ennui, and @nine-effing-hells!

@curiooftheheart — Reluctant Neophyte

This week, I was a little worried about how many people were delving into color pie bends/breaks with the cards that they were submitting—but then I actually read some of the Worldwake cards that I had used as examples and I realized that maybe duals aren't that big a worry and it's more along the lines of what can flavorfully matter. Besides, where are you gonna get duals in limited? Two colors means that your white attacker here now wants to be blocked a whole lot less when you're swinging in. BW aggro is an awesome archetype and I'm down for it. White vampires and the flavor text here feel really Innistradian, and lord knows that I go back to that well more than a few times. But it's so worth it for the drama of it all.

I've said it before with some of these submissions, but I do thoroughly enjoy when people lean into the cards that tell a story with implications beyond the surface. We don't need art direction to feel some of the genuine longing in the speaker's voice. We know who they're talking to, and we know that bad things are about to go down. And maybe it's not like the land itself is corrupting them, but every time they lunge, they feel the power of black mana making them more aggressive. I think I read the flavor text as pseudo-sarcastic, or at least... There's a word I'm looking for that I can't bring to mind, but it's like, we know that the speaker's about to turn and their sincerity is perhaps not as sincere as it might seem on the surface. That dramatic twist, that grand old trope. Yes, yes, bears attacking are great in limited, but it's a feeling thing for this, y'know? Anyway, gold star.

@melancholia-ennui — Coastal Expedition

I...love how this card feels. I can't fully explain it. But I love how it feels. This is what really messes me up, right? I'm gonna ramble here and it's gonna make no sense but dammit, it's a feeling. Green and blue are a lot closer than I think people give them credit for, at least from an elemental standpoint. Yeah, there's wizardry vs. nature, and perfectionism vs. letting things be, but we're talking about pure, unbound elements. Water IS nature. The ocean and the land, lakes and forests—they vibe with each other. You know? Jace and company can talk about intellect and illusion and whatever all they want. I contend that, as this card represents, the ease of water and the paths of nature are one and the same. With the context of an expedition, the human heart can allow itself to journey with that same ease. I stand by that.

Anyway. Card's deec, too. There's the smallish issue of kicker and "choosing" as an additional cost, and maybe that's possible, but I think you might have overlooked a simpler solution. You know the Dragon-revealing stuff that happened throughout DTK? Silumgar's Scorn and that cycle. The idea of optional additional costs doesn't have to be kicker. Draconic Roar and those kinds of cards. Looking at these cards, I can see how choosing works (Dragon's Fire, funnily enough), but I feel this card could've been cleaner without it. Just like, "you may reveal an Island card from your hand" and then you can play an additional land if you did OR if you control an Island as you cast it. But that's just the polish on a card that's 98% of the way there already, so please take my first paragraph's praise as the main commentary here. 

@nine-effing-hells — Drown

In a lot of cases, Defile will be better than Disfigure, given the right circumstances. A card like this (one-mana black instant removal starting with "D", as is custom) is still pretty darn great and only sometimes better than the other cards in its family! I really wanna know what you envisioned for art direction this week, but we'll get to that in a second. Powerful one-mana removal kinda speaks for itself here. The efficiency is limited to the colors that you're running but it's almost always going to be good enough to run as it is. Disfigure was a relevant card even in BRO, which was a grindfest of a time if you weren't running RB aggro-sacrifice. The flexibility of this card allows you to kinda...ignore the part of it that's relevant to this contest. -2/-2 with upside is a strict upgrade to Disfigure in the UB decks that would've run it regardless, yeah? But that's only Pauper relevance, and as an uncommon... I'm thinking lots of thoughts, none of them fully relevant, so do excuse me.

Flavor text! This is definitely one of the best ones in a vacuum this year, and that's what I'm always happy to see. Context can make flavor text relevant, but when you've got this plane-specific image here... I just wanna say, for this card I'm getting the sense that this card could be reprinted anywhere and it would just manifest here as an evil river. Which is cool! Flexibility is important and you're centering this version on Innistrad. The average person will take a second to think about river mouths, chuckle at the pun, and then slam this card down to kill someone's human. But like, come on, what're you thinking for AD? The water grips a bystander on the bank, maybe, or they're already underwater getting dragged towards a grotto, or spirits beneath the current are surrounding a screaming face... Very flexible, very fun. Not for the subject, but.

It was really hard to pick the podium this week, and you'll hear more about it later in the commentary! There were a lot more entries than expected, but we'll get to them in time. @abelzumi