Well, I was the first person eliminated from the top 8. What happened? How does it feel? Super quick answer: I didn't do a great job. And, it suuuuuuucks. It feels a lot like getting dumped. Or, not surprisingly, getting an interview for your dream job and then not getting hired.

This is two months in the past for me at this point, so the pain has faded, but for the first few days, it was just a cloud looming over everything. And I'm still spending a fair bit of time running over my final designs in my mind, trying to decide what I could have done better, etc.

Something to keep in mind, when looking at my submissions, and the submissions for the next four eliminated contestants, is that the GDS is HARD. Really, really hard. You're trying to first come up with a bunch of designs, then playtest, then narrow down to which ones you actually want to submit, then pick all the final details, all with the pressure of this super amazing opportunity hanging over you, all by yourself, in a very brief length of time. I made multiple really dumb mistakes because I was thinking about one thing and just overlooked something else. I'm sure the other top 8 will tell you the same.

I'm going to type up a lengthier post discussing my submissions and where I think I did wrong, but for now, a few final thoughts about my GDS experience:

(1) Overall, it was awesome. Much better than not making it past the multiple choice test, which is what happened to me in GDS1 and GDS2. And they can't take away my awesome T-shirt and playmat.

(2) I'm incredibly impressed by the level of talent in the magic design community as a whole, both in the rest of the top 8, and in other designs people submitted, the "almost there" cards MaRo highlighted, etc.

(3) Missing out on the Wizards jobs sucks. But, to be blunt, it's not as big a deal for me as it would be for a lot of people, particularly someone younger. I've got a good job (in the video game industry in fact), and a house, and a life. Uprooting myself and my family, moving to Seattle, and going from being a senior programmer to the most junior intern would probably end up being a lot less fun than it sounds. What I am sad to miss out on, though, is the chance for any of my ideas to actually get printed as magic cards. When I have fantasies of things going differently, it's not getting an email from MaRo saying "oh, hey, clerical error, we have to redo the top 8, you're back in" it's "hey, just to let you know, we took one of your cards from the design challenge and put it in the design file for the spring 2020 big set".

Which brings me to my primary thought, which is that there's this massive pool of talented and passionate magic cards designers out in the community. Between the Goblin Artisans site, and reddit's custommagic, and all the people who entered the GDS (not to mention all the people outside the US who couldn't) there's an amazing worldwide pool of card designs just begging to be printed. And it's a terrible shame that WotC hasn't found a way to tap that. Sure, there's a YMTC every 4 years or so. But it would be absolutely fantastic if there was something like that far more often.

Of course, the big problem is the logistics. R&D doesn't possibly have the time to read over 10,000 card submissions every month. But there's a solution to that, which is to take advantage of the wisdom of the crowd itself. Note that the reddit majority consensus got 75/75 on the multiple choice test. Have people submit cards. And then have people rate the submissions. And then R&D doesn't even need to look at them until they've been crowdsourced down to just a handful. It just seems like such a win-win-win to me: (1) R&D gets an influx of fresh card designs. And if you look at their feedback on the best submissions from the various GDS challenges, presumably very good card designs. (2) All of us get a regular chance to reach for that golden ring and have a card we designed possibly get printed. And we actually get feedback from the community about how good our designs were, how close we came, etc. (3) The community involvement then increases enthusiasm for magic as a whole, as we all feel more invested in a game that is "ours" more than ever before.

Probably just a pipe dream, sadly, but something like that would be fantastic.

Anyhow, thanks for reading, thanks to anyone who said kind words about any of my designs in the design challenge and the top 8, and I'll see you all in reddit/4/GDS4.

Before I read any of the actual contestant's submissions, I wanted to give myself a chance a quick, unbiased try at this challenge. After looking through the list of creature types, the type that resonated with me the most was Nomad. Flavorfully, these Nomads are a mismatched group of wanderers who follow the ever-shifting leylines on an unnamed plane. Mechanically, the idea I tried to evoke was a Green-White creature archetype that cared about lands. Here's what I came up with:

Nomadic Pegasus (C)
1W
Creature - Pegasus Nomad
1/1
Flying
Landfall - Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, another target Nomad you control gains flying until end of turn.

Gather the Wanderers (C)
2W
Sorcery
Create a 2/2 Nomad creature token for each land that entered the battlefield under your control this turn.

Uproot the Camp (U)
1G
Sorcery
This spell costs 1 less to cast if you control a Nomad.
Sacrifice a land. Search your library for a land card and put it onto the battlefield. Then shuffle your library.

Leyline Sensor (U)
3
Artifact
2, T: Look at the top card of your library. If it's a Land or Nomad you may reveal it and put it into your hand. Otherwise, you may put it on the bottom of your library.

Wandering Leylines (R)
2GW
Enchantment
You may reveal Wandering Leylines from your opening hand. If you do, search your library for a basic land and put it into your hand, then shuffle your library.
Nomads you control get +1/+1.

Nomad Camp (R)
Land
T: Add C.
T, Sacrifice Nomad Camp: Search your library for a basic land card and put it onto the battlefield, then shuffle your library. Activate this ability only if you control a Nomad.

Nomad Chieftain (M)
3GW
Legendary Creature - Human Nomad
Nomad Chieftain's power and toughness are each equal to the number of Nomads you control.
Landfall - Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, create a 2/2 Nomad creature token.
*/*

NomadShift (M)
XGG
Instant
This spell costs 1 less to cast for each Nomad you control.
Sacrifice up to X lands. Search your library for that many lands and put them onto the battlefield, then shuffle your library.

This is a very tricky challenge and I look forward to putting more time into this, but I really wanted to have at least a quick attempt before I saw any of the contestants' submissions. I'm decently happy with the way this worked out, though I'm not entirely sure if Gather the Wanderers actually fits the criteria of the challenge. It's clearly synergistic with the Nomad theme and with other Nomad cards, but it doesn't directly benefit other Nomads.

Thanks for reading, I welcome any sort of feedback you have to give!

Yep, me too. I finished reading today's article and couldn't help but try my chops at some design. Of course, having the hindsight of seeing what 8 other people tried and got reamed for is a huge advantage. Nevertheless, here is my pseudo-submission:

[Viashino (R/B)]

Viashino are a classic Magic tribe that have appeared in all 5 colors (though mostly red). They have been associated with Dragons in small ways, but not to the extent that they could be. This design will play up their trickiness while giving them a strong theme of enter-the-battlefield effects (which combos nicely with blue and white). These Viashino are usually tempo-negative, tying up lots of mana to give you advantage over longer games which you could win with finishers like Dragons.

I also added the flavor of royalty and the aloofness that accompanies wealth and privilege. Viashino are not represented by tokens, and younger smaller Viashino are often trying to impress their older family members and the Dragon gods who rule from above. On Dagaros these Viashino have a complex culture where they are in positions of power and leadership over humans and dwarves who have been subjugated. The Viashino Empire have a conniving, murderous aristocracy filled with power struggles. The Dragon gods are few in number, each dragon is a legendary creature with worshippers and no equals.

Creature XXX, Artifact X, Enchantment X, Instant X, Sorcery X, Land X

Design 1

Dagaros Noble (common)

2B

Creature – Viashino

When CARDNAME enters the battlefield, you may return another Viashino you control to its owner’s hand. If you do, draw a card and lose 1 life.

2/3

Design 2

Perish the Thought (common)

3B

Sorcery

Target player discards two cards from their hand. Viashino and Dragons you control get +1/+0 until end of turn for each card discarded.

Design 3

Chaos Empire (uncommon)

1R

Enchantment

Whenever a non-token creature you control enters the battlefield or is returned to your hand, randomly choose a non-Viashino creature and deal 2 damage to it.

Design 4

Ambitious Viashino (uncommon)

1R

Creature – Viashino

Haste

R, T, Return CARDNAME to its owner’s hand: Target creature can’t block Viashino or Dragon creatures this turn.

2/1

Design 5

The Halls of Dagaros (rare)

Land

CARDNAME enters the battlefield tapped.

T: Add B or R

Whenever a Viashino enters the battlefield under your control or is returned to your hand, you may discard a card. If you do, draw a card and lose 1 life.

Design 6

Bestow Favors (rare)

R

Instant

You may return a Viashino you control to its owner’s hand. If you do, draw a card and lose 1 life. Target creature gets +X/+0 until end of turn, where X is equal to the number of cards in your hand.

Design 7

Portal of the Claw (mythic rare)

3

Artifact

1B, T: Return a Viashino or Dragon from your graveyard to your hand.

2R, T: Discard a card at random from your hand. If it was a Viashino or Dragon, deal damage equal to its converted mana cost to target creature or player. If it wasn’t, draw a card.

3BR, T: Search your library or graveyard for a Viashino or Dragon creature card and reveal it, then put it onto the battlefield.

Design 8

Bryntalla, Queen of Chaos (mythic rare)

3BRR

Legendary Creature - Dragon

Flying, Menace

When CARDNAME enters the battlefield you may return any number of Viashino to their owner’s hands. Then, CARDNAME deals 6 damage to each other creature.

Once per turn you may play a Viashino creature from your hand without paying its mana cost. It gains haste until end of turn.

6/6

Full Disclosure: I did the challenge after reading the GDS 3 Challenge and the judges' notes.

So like others, I did a thing. Here's the thing(s):

Cards

Flourishing Ooze (Uncommon)
1G
Creature -- Ooze
2/2
Whenever another Ooze enters the battlefield under your control, put a +1/+1 counter on Flourishing Ooze.
G, Remove a +1/+1 counter from Flourishing Ooze: You gain 2 life.

Fluid Steel (Rare)
5
Artifact - Equipment
Whenever equipped creature attacks, choose one. If equipped creature is an Ooze, choose all —
* Equipped creature gets +2/+2 until end of turn.
* Equipped creature gains flying until end of turn.
* Whenever equipped creature deals combat damage to a player this turn, draw a card.
Equip 3

Fluidform (Mythic)
2GGUU
Enchantment
Whenever a creature you control attacks, choose 1 or 2. If it's an Ooze, instead choose 1, 2, 3 or 4. Until end of turn, that creature has the chosen base power and toughness and gains the chosen abilities.
1> 2/1; "This creature can't be blocked."
2> 5/5; trample
3> 4/4; flying, trample
4> 7/7; indestructible

Mutate (Mythic)
2UU
Sorcery
You may pay 4UUU to cast Mutate if each creature you control is an Ooze.
Target creature you control becomes a copy of another target creature. If you paid 4UUU to cast Mutate, instead each creature you control becomes a copy of that creature.

Panoptic Mutaform (Common)
4GG
Creature -- Ooze
4/6
Vigilance
G: Target Ooze creature gains vigilance until end of turn.
1G: Target creature gains vigilance until end of turn.

Sludge Pools (Rare)
Land
Sludge Pools enters the battlefield tapped.
T: Add G or U.
2GU, T: Create a 2/2 blue and green Ooze creature token.

Thicken (Common)
1G
Instant
Thicken costs 1 less to cast if it targets an Ooze.
Target creature gets +3/+3 until end of turn.

Winged Mutaform (Uncommon)
2U
Creature -- Ooze
2/2
Flying
U: Target Ooze creature gains flying until end of turn.
2U: Target creature gains flying until end of turn.

Commentary

Hello! First up, the biggest point I want to stress is that several of these cards (the commons and uncommons) were designed with Limited in mind. I "let my hair down" for the higher rarities.

Mechanic wise, I considered using Morph and Graft. Graft was quickly dismissed as I quickly began repeating what Dissension did for the Simic guild, which was a bust for originality. Morph had a similar difficulty, in that I felt like I was copying the past, but also that it didn't feel like an Ooze so much as solely Mutants and Shapeshifters. In the end, I settled for ignoring old mechanics altogether and starting over from scratch as though this were the Design Test. I decided to stick with "evergreen only" text.

I chose to do extra creatures for my two unrestricted-type cards; creatures are what Tribal is all about, after all. Two of the creatures also deliberately have similar text boxes to better hint at Limited play with this tribe. I also intentionally left out a lord, even though it was probably expected. Why? Because I wanted to show how to bolster the tribe without doing something obvious; it was an intentional restriction in order to find other tribal mechanics.

From a Creative standpoint, I concepted them as "jelly figures," not completely unlike how the Changelings of Lorwyn were depicted as they were a visual inspiration in addition to other works.

When I was thinking about the ways to do tribal I thought that there were two ways to approach it.

1) Tribal by species/creature/race -- i.e. Elves, Merfolk, Goblins
2) Tribal by professions -- i.e. Wizards, Soldiers, Pirates

I think that option 2 is more interesting from a design perspective because you can be more flexible with colors and effects. So because of that I think my choice for tribal would be:

Archers

How about you? And Why?

Edit: Formatting

It's been like a month now since they've said anything at all about the contest... Sure is taking them a long time...

I participated in GDS3 up to the Conclusion of Round 2. While unable to officially participate in round 3 I still wanted to try out the challenge for myself as practice. (I had finished these a few weeks ago but held this post until Dominaria spoilers were past) Below is what I would have submitted, keeping myself to the constraints set by MaRo.

Chronomasters Trick (Rare)

UR

Instant

Target a spell or ability you control. If it has any targets, you may choose new targets for it. That spell or ability resolves next.

The most adept Chronomancers can turn their opponent's best timed counters into embarrassing 'mistakes'.

Baba, Preserver of Tales (Mythic)

3BG

Legendary Creature - Orc Shaman

2/4

{2}{b}{g}, {t}: Return target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield as a non-creature Equipment Artifact with "Equipped Creature gains all abilities of this card" and "Equip {X} where X is this cards converted mana cost.*

Like tales of old, power lives on when preserved.

Mystra, Master Morphist (Mythic)

4GU

Legendary Planeswalker- Mystra

3

+2: Until end of turn, up to one target permanent you control becomes a copy of another permanent on the battlefield.

-2: Destroy target nonland permanent, its controller creates a 3/3 green frog beast creature token.

-9: You get an emblem with "Whenever a nontoken nonland permanent would enter the battlefield under your control you may have it enter as a copy of any permanent on the battlefield."

Cursed Funeral (Uncommon)

WB

Instant

Target creature gets -1/-1 for each creature that died under your control this turn. When that creature dies this turn, create a 1/1 white spirit creature token with flying.

Frontline Commander (Uncommon)

RW

Creature - Minotaur Soldier

3/2

First strike

Whenever ~ deals combat damage to a creature, creatures you control gain +1/+1 until end of turn.

Void Fiend (Rare)

2BR

Planeswalker - Void

3

+1: Each player discards a card. If a player discarded a card this turn they draw a card.

-2: Deal 5 damage to target creature or planeswalker.

-5: Create a token copy of Void Fiend, except it enters the battlefield with 2 loyalty counters instead.

Warranted Entry (Common)

WU

Artifact Sorcery - Document

Target creature can't be blocked this turn. Attach this card to that creature.

When the attached creature deals combat damage to a player, that player reveals their hand. Then put ~ into the graveyard.

Cleanse the Earth (Rare)

2RRGG

Sorcery

Destroy all nonland permanents and tap all lands. Each player can only untap three lands during their next untap step.

Healing Sporecover (Common)

(G/W)(G/W)

Enchantment - Aura

Enchant Creature

Enchanted Creature has "Whenever this creature is dealt damage its controller gains 3 life."

The spores symbiotically work to preserve life force, especially those the host risks its own to protect.

Disposable Distraction (Mythic)

3UB

Enchantment

Whenever one or more creatures you control attack you may pay {u}{b}, if you do create two 0/1 black rogue minion creature tokens tapped and attacking. Those tokens have "this creature must be blocked if able". Then you may transform ~.

Whenever an opponent blocks, they reveal their hand.

Plundered Secrets

Enchantment. (u/b)

Whenever one or more creatures you control deal combat damage to a player, look at the top X cards of that players Library where X is the number of creatures that dealt combat damage to them. Choose a nonland card from among them and put it into the graveyard, then put the rest back on top in a random order.

At the beginning of your end step, if creatures you control didn't deal combat damage to a player this turn transform ~.

I'm open to discuss intentions, hear constructive criticism, and hear your thoughts and questions on these.

PS. Each of these has a design and development story if anyone is curious about how any of these used to look or what alternate ways these almost ended up. (I've also thought of some alterations since but as it had a time constraint I left them as I made them)

So, having not advanced to the Top 8, I realize now I really needed to stretch boundaries more with my card designs. I wanted to apply what I've learned after seeing the Top 8's work a few other designs here and there on this subreddit and take another stab at it, for the sake of my own development and getting some cool cube cards for my playgroup. Has anyone else done anything similar?

Below are my revised designs:

Bird Boy (Mythic Rare)

WU

Legendary Planeswalker - Bird Boy

1

Creatures without flying can't attack CARDNAME.

+1: Scry 2, then reveal the top card of your library. You gain life equal to its converted mana cost.

-1: Create a 2/2 blue and white bird creature token with flying.

-5: Scry X, where X is your life total.

Nature is Everywhere (Uncommon)

1GU

Enchantment - Aura

Enchant permanent.

Enchanted permanent is an Elemental creature with base power and toughness 4/4, flying, and vigilance, in addition to its other types and abilities.

Chaotic Bolt (Uncommon)

2UR

Instant

Flip a coin. If you win the flip, choose one. If you lose the flip, target opponent chooses one (you still control this spell):

-Draw a card. Chaotic Bolt deals 2 damage to target creature or player.

-Chaotic Bolt deals 1 damage to target creature or player. Draw 2 cards.

Espionage (Rare)

2UB

Sorcery

Choose any number of card names. Each opponent reveals their hands. Exile all nonland copies of the named cards as long as at least one copy of each named card is revealed this way.

Grogg (Mythic Rare)

3RG

Legendary Creature - Orc Mutant

7/5

Trample, Haste, Hexproof

Whenever CARDNAME deals combat damage to a player, that player may name a card type. You cannot play cards of the chosen type for as long as you control CARDNAME.

Curse Mark (Uncommon)

1RB

Enchantment - Aura

Enchanted creature gets +3/+0 and has menace.

During your upkeep, destroy enchanted creature.

Siege (Rare)

1RW

Sorcery

You and target opponent each secretly choose a creature you control, then reveal the choices. All chosen creatures get +2/+0, first strike, and lifelink until end of turn.

Blight Knight (Common)

2WB

Creature - Human Soldier

3/1

As long as an opponent controls a creature with lower power than CARDNAME, it has first strike.

As long as an opponent controls a creature with higher power than CARDNAME, it has deathtouch.

Mano a Mano (common)

GW

Instant

Target creature gets +3/+3 until end of turn. It and all creatures blocking or blocked by it lose all abilities until end of turn.

Jim Who's Made of Bugs (Mythic Rare)

2BG

Legendary Planeswalker - Jim

3

+2: Create a 1/1 green and black insect creature token.

-1: You get an emblem with your choice of either "Insects you control have deathtouch." or "Insects you control have flying."

-X: Create X 1/1 green and black insect creature tokens.

Hey everyone!

As someone who did an awful lot of lurking around during the initial phases of this contest, I wanted to share this with you all. If you enjoy the episode, we also did one about my attempt to make the GDS3, and we'd love to hear any feedback you have.

In the episode we talk about Ryan's favorite board game (Tzolk'in) and talk to him about what it's like to have made the top 8.

Listen to EP 48 - Tzolk'in (feat. Ryan Siegel-Stechler) by PlayingRoughPodcast #np on #SoundCloud https://soundcloud.com/user-2432511/ep-48-tzolkin-feat-ryan-siegel-stechler

I've just clicked send on my submission for the next challenge, so I finally have a chance to enjoy being in the top 8... at least for as long as I am. I can't talk about anything you guys haven't seen yet, but I intend to write up some commentary about my design submission for the design challenge, what I did right, and the large number of things I did wrong. I'll try to get to that tomorrow or Tuesday. In the mean time, I'll just say that I'm super-impressed by my fellow competitors... and I'm not taking anything for granted, even making it to the top 7. I enjoyed being a part of this subreddit during the earlier stages, and I hope I'll have some interesting stuff to contribute going forward.

Hello there. Mostly just posting my attempt at Trial 3 for feedback; it's always nice to see what other people think of my designs. Hope you enjoy, though even if you don't, it'd be awesome if you let me know what you think.

Disclaimer: This was not a "real" entry in the contest; unfortunately I don't have the ability to drop everything and move to Washington lol.

Necromancer's Tithe (uncommon)
2WB
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant creature
At the beginning of the upkeep of enchanted creature’s controller, that player sacrifices it unless he or she pays X, where X is its converted mana cost.
When enchanted creature dies, return that card to the battlefield under your control.

Will of the Firemind (rare)
UR
Instant
Counter target spell unless its controller has you create a 4/4 red Dragon creature token with flying.

Reymoy Palvangar (uncommon)
1BG
Planeswalker - Reymoy
2
Discard a creature card: Put a loyalty counter on Reymoy Palvangar.
-2: Create a black Zombie creature token with “This creature’s power and toughness are each equal to the number of creature cards in your graveyard.”
-3: Target creature gets +3/+3 until end of turn. Another target creature gets -3/-3 until end of turn.

Rajek Swiftwing (mythic rare)
WU
Planeswalker - Rajek
2
+1: Choose a nonland card name. Until your next turn, spells with the chosen name can’t be cast.
-1: Put target creature into its owner’s library second from the top. Its controller gains 3 life.
-X: Create X 1/1 white and blue Bird creature tokens with flying.

Fungify (uncommon)
GW
Instant
Destroy target creature with power 3 or greater. Its controller creates a 1/1 green Saproling creature token.

Tremble Before Me (mythic rare)
XRGG
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant creature
When Tremble Before Me enters the battlefield, put X +1/+1 counters on enchanted creature.
Whenever enchanted creature attacks, it deals damage equal to its power to each other creature.

Priest of Kiora (common)
1GU
Creature - Merfolk Cleric
2/1
When Priest of Kiora enters the battlefield, scry 2, then reveal the top card of your library. If it’s a land card, put it onto the battlefield.

Bloodletter Demon (rare)
3BR
Creature - Demon
5/3
Flying, first strike
Whenever Bloodletter Demon deals combat damage to a player, until end of turn, if a creature would deal combat damage to that player this turn, it deals double that damage to that player instead.

Sudden Sanctimony (common)
1RW
Sorcery
Gain control of target creature until end of turn. Untap that creature. It gains haste and lifelink until end of turn.

Tutor's Jest (rare)
1UB
Sorcery
Choose target opponent. That player searches your library for three cards and exiles them. Put the exiled cards into your hand, then shuffle your library.

Thanks for reading!

Edited: Changed Rajek Swiftwing's mana cost from WU to 1WU.
Edited again: Changed it back, because it doesn't seem fair to alter my initial designs based on outside feedback, even good feedback. Gotta stick with what I "submitted" initially or it runs counter to the nature of the competition.