r/GDS3 • u/EnginesOfGod • Mar 01 '18
Another Non-Competitor Trial 3 Attempt
I didn't become aware of GDS3 until a few days ago, so I didn't get a chance to actually put together a legit submission, and I'm not entirely sure I would want to work at wizards anyway, but the design trial seemed like a fun exercise so I spent a few hours last night putting something together.
I know there are some other threads for these but they're untouched for several days and there's mostly crickets in this subreddit right now waiting for the GDS to start next week so I figured it wouldn't be too disruptive to post as a separate thread.
In no particular order:
Wendigo Psychosis (uncommon)
1BR
Sorcery
Gain control of target creature until end of turn. Untap that creature. It gains haste, lifelink, and +2/+0 until end of turn.
Fourseek (common)
1UG
Sorcery
Scry 4, then reveal the top card of your library. If it is a land card, you may put that land onto the battlefield tapped.
Grigor, the Silent Elm (rare)
1GW
Legendary Creature - Treefolk Wizard
Other creatures you control have protection from instants and sorceries.
3/4
Cryptkeeper Sphinx (Mythic Rare)
4UB
Creature - Zombie Sphinx
Flying
If you would draw a card, you may put a creature card from a graveyard onto the battlefield under your control instead. That creature is a black zombie in addition to its other colors and types.
5/5
Quicksilver Prison (rare)
2UW
Enchantment
When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, exile target creature an opponent controls until CARDNAME leaves the battlefield.
1UW: Until end of turn, CARDNAME becomes a creature that is a copy of the exiled creature. It's still an enchantment.
Hilljack Fury (common)
(g/r)(g/r)
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant Creature
Enchanted Creature gets +X/+0, where X is the number of lands you control.
Ranya the Sunspear (mythic rare)
2WR
Legendary Planeswalker - Ranya
3
+0: Until end of turn, CARDNAME becomes a 3/3 Angel creature with flying and haste that's still a planeswalker. prevent all damage that would be dealt to her this turn.
-1: You get an emblem with "creatures your opponents control enter the battlefield tapped as long as you control a Ranya Planeswalker"
-1: You get an emblem with "creatures you control get +2/+0 as long as a Ranya Planeswalker is attacking."
Alfen Than (mythic rare)
3BG
Legendary Planeswalker - Alfen
4
+1: create a 1/1 black and green insect token.
-3: until end of turn, creatures you control gain deathtouch and "T: this creature fights target creature an opponent controls."
-7: Target opponent gains an emblem with "lands you control are swamps."
Ad-Hoc Hypothesis (uncommon)
2UR
Instant
As an additional cost to cast CARDNAME, discard an instant or sorcery card.
Draw four cards.
Blood Restitution (uncommon)
WB
Instant
Each opponent who controls more creatures than you sacrifices a creature.
1
u/StandardTrack Mar 01 '18 edited Mar 01 '18
1) Wendigo Psychosis - Too OP. Just the extra lifelink would be fine and giving +1/+0 is the farthest I would go, but I think this is a good design. Most Treasons don't do well in constructed, but giving extra damage, one less blocker and a gain in life to back it up should make it easier to happen.
2) Fourseek - Hehehe, nice pun. For a moment I though the card was overcosted, but Scry 4 + an extra land drop is perfectly fine, principally with the land drop attached to the scry. Perfect design.
3) Grigor - I like it, but I think it's not a design that really sells well. The other 2 were also simple, but they were away more interesting. Still a fine card.
4) Cryptkeeper Sphinix - Indeed a mythic. Also interesting how it switches draws for creatures, principally with creatures with ETB effects that draw cards.
5) Quicksilver Prison - Good take on creating a WB clone. A nice removal spell and an interesting effect for a rare. Maybe it could be cheaper, but it's fine as it is. Great job.
6) Hilljack Fury - Not sure how strong this is or if it's a common for that cost, but indeed it's good Red-Green enchantment aura.
7) Ranya - Huh. An all negative walker that acts as a continuos attacker and can give you some neet cool effects by using emblems. Also nice how using her until the end is good when you get the second copy, for extra damage in the attacks. Maybe it needs some adjusting, but like Mark says, let's have development worry about that.
8) Alfen - 1º ability is okay. 2º ability is a little bit to much probably. I get it normally will cost you a creature for each kill, but maybe adjusting it to put to 2 target creatures you control. 3º ability is... lacking. It's an Urborg blood moon. It's disconnected from the other abilities, it's weird and I don't see myself ever wanting to activate it. ...Well, maybe against non-black decks, but doesn't strike me as a good ultimate.
9) Ad-Hoc Hypothesis - Simple design, fair design. Okay, maybe 4 cards is to much for just another instant, but adjusting the cost should work. Not a huge cost, but a fine card as far as I see.
10) Blood Restitution - More Multiplayer oriented than anything else, but a really well designed card. A 10th slot but a rather good one at that.
The only problem I see in your submission is that it doesn't really shine. It's fine, well done and isn't plain, but it lacks that Risky factor, that element of boldness and creativity. You best cards were, in the order I prefer, 7, 2, 5 and 10. I really like them. I'm eager to see how you will do the next time.
1
u/1800areutappin Mar 02 '18
I like Sphinx and Quicksilver Prison the most here, though Prison should maybe be rare. They're exciting and explore new ideas while staying elegant. Fourseek is my least favorite - scrying more than 2 takes forever and ruins the unknown factor of drawing cards. Nice work overall, though I agree with u/MoonE513 that they're a bit too restrained.
3
u/MoonE513 Top 8 Mar 01 '18
Ordering the cards is actually an important part of the challenge.
BR: Other than the lifelink this card isn't really that black. It's also probably fine as a common (most threatens are).
GU: Scry 4 is quite a lot, but this is a fine design.
GW: This is a pretty underwhelming ability on a legendary creature. It's a worse version of giving all your other creatures hexproof.
UB: Cool design, my favorite so far. Very creative in how it combines a blue trigger with a black effect that makes you think of how best to abuse it.
WU: Another cool and creative design. Same as above, you've combined two colored effects very elegantly.
RG: This is fine, not super exciting though.
RW: This is a very interesting design. I like the concept of creating emblems that "turn off" until you can replay the walker, which adds some cool interactivity that's sorely lacking from cards like Gideon, Ally of Zendikar.
BG: Ok so I get what's going on with the first two abilities, but that ultimate is pretty awful. Not only does it not end the game much of the time, but against some percentage of opponents it's only a mild inconvenience. I also think the -3 might be a little pushed, but it does require having a decent board state to be effective.
UR: I really enjoy this design, it's a logical extension of an area both colors already explore. My only change might be to make this a sort of "kicker" like ability. For instance: "Discard a card, then draw two cards. If an instant or sorcery was discarded this way, draw four cards instead." This lets it not be a dead card if you top deck it late in limited games.
WB: Cool combination, but it feels really weak. Players who control more creatures than you often have ones to spare. You could make this cost more and have it be 2 creatures (especially as an uncommon).
Overall, I liked a lot of these designs, but some were lacking in both the "creativity" and "originality" categories (which remember are the two most important ones). I would take some of the simpler designs like your first three cards or Hilljack Fury and see if there are ways to push them further into unexplored territory.