June CCL, Round 1 - The Simplest Cost

[void_nothing]

June CCL Signups/Round 1
"The Simplest Cost"


Seeker of Skybreak, by Alex Horley, taken from MtG Cardsrealm

Welcome to the Card Creation League! Everyone is free to participate in either or both of the first two rounds. Come join us!

Theme

It's Activated Abilities Month here at the CCL - we'll be exploring the ability type that's basic to how the game works (in the case of mana abilities especially) and gives Magic so much of its strategic depth.

Challenge

Design a creature card with an activated ability that costs ONLY T.

Clarifications

Show

Hide

• The card may have other activated abilities as long as it has one that meets the challenge.
• Make sure to include a rarity.

Anyone can enter this first round! Your submissions are due Saturday, June 8th, 23:59 EST.

Schedule

• Round 1 — Open to Everyone (June 2nd-8th)
• Round 2 — Open to Everyone (June 9th-14th)
• Rounds 1 and 2 Critiques (Due June 17th)
• Top 8 — Open to top 8 finishers (June 18th-21st)
• Top 8 Critiques (Due June 24th)
• Top 4 — Open to top 4 finishers (June 25th-28th)
• Top 4 Critiques (Due July 1st)
• Final (July, winner determined by public poll)

For this month we will continue asking first and second round contestants to evaluate six other contestants during the critique and top 3 period, in order to increase the total number of evaluations each contestant gets.

[OneAndOnly]

Yickle the Neurotic -- U
Legendary Creature - Human {M}
Yickle can only be activated once each turn.
T:
Q:
0/5

[netn10]

Ruk, Deep-Sea Pet 1GU
Legendary Creature - Octopus (Rare)
Partner with any legendary Kiora, Kraken, Leviathan, Octopus, or Serpent card even if they don't have partner
Vigilance
T: You get an emblem with "Kiora, Kraken, Leviathan, Octopus, and Serpent spells you cast cost 1 less to cast."
"A good helping hand is hard to come by these days. Good thing she has eight, then."
3/3

[EsperCormorant]

Slapdasher Mage
Creature - Faerie Wizard (R)
Flying
: The next permanent spell you cast this turn can be cast as though it had evoke. The evoke cost is its mana cost reduced by .
"Who cares if it lasts? I just want to show it off."
2/1

[AnotherAlias]

Recharging Angel
Artifact Creature — Angel Construct (C)
Flying
: At the beginning of your next upkeep, Recharging Angel gains first strike and lifelink until end of turn.
Angels, though regarded as perfect by many, are not. However, with the turn of the New Dawn, such beings can be replaced with perfected mechanical counterparts, cutting out all of their natural flaws.
3/1

[kwanyeegor-ii]

Entangling Orbweaver 3G
Creature - Spider (Common)
Haste
T: Detain target creature with flying. (Until your next turn, that creature can't attack or block and its activated abilities can't be activated.)
The giant orbweavers of Oran-Rief catch their prey with both speed and ambushes.
2/3

[Komandon]

Gate Guardian 1W
Creature — Human Solider (uncommon)
T: Target creature becomes blocked. If you control no other creatures you may pay 2. If you do, untap Gate Guardian.
"I can do this all day" — Steve Rogers
1/1

[Sagharri]

Acolyte of Dawn and Dusk G
Creature - Elf Cleric (R)
T: Add W if you gained life this turn. Add B if you lost life this turn.
"Something ends so that something can begin."
0/2

[KB52665]

Norin, Ever-Cautious r
Legendary Creature — Human Warrior
Vigilance
Whenever a player casts a spell, add r.
: Return Norin to its owner's hand.
2/1

[Ink-Treader]

Raging Boltslinger RR
Creature - Goblin Wizard (U)
T: Raging Boltslinger deals 1 damage to any target.
Desperation- T, Sacrifice Raging Boltslinger: Raging Boltslinger deals 3 damage to any target. Activate only if you have half or less of your starting life total.
0/1

[MonoRedMage]

Kamahl, Grand Champion 5RRR
Legendary Creature - Human Barbarian {M}
Ward - Sacrifice three lands.
T: Kamahl, Grand Champion deals 6 damage to any target.
Whenever another Barbarian, Berserker, or Warrior enters the battlefield under your control, untap Kamahl, Grand Champion.
6/6

[marioguy3]

Polarizing Bear
Creature - Bear (Uncommon)
: Draw a card. Activate only if you discarded a card this turn.
: Target opponent discards a card. Activate only if you drew two or more cards this turn.
Nothing the Polarizing Bear does is without questions from both sides. It answers all of them with wintry results.
2/2

[void_nothing]

The round is closed! Please critique the six contestants below you on this list, looping to the top as necessary.

OneAndOnly
netn10
EsperCormorant
AnotherAlias
kwanyeegor-ii
Komandon
Sagharri
KB52665
Ink-Treader
MonoRedMage
marioguy3

Also don't forget to enter Round 2!

[Ink-Treader]

Critiques

Show

Hide

MonoRedMage

Show

Hide

That's pretty expensive, but with an activated ability like that, that's entirely justified. Somewhat tricky in red to get all the resources together to break this, though. Even in Commander.

marioguy3

Show

Hide

The flavor is weird, but the card itself seems quite good. Even the first ability is probably sufficiently playable without the second.

OneAndOnly

Show

Hide

A Johnny card I suppose. The restriction doesn't make it terribly interesting.

netn10

Show

Hide

A little dangerous to have a broad spectrum partner, but the niche seems safe enough. I will note that there isn't a single Kiora that this can partner with, because none of them can be played as a Commander. And Kiora, Sovereign of the Deep is a creature, and therefor isn't a Kiora. Well, there's Brawl, I guess?

EsperCormorant

Show

Hide

That's a pretty cool activated ability, and I think reasonable. If this were MCC, I might point out this would fit better in red, being useable on all permanent spell types.

AnotherAlias

Show

Hide

That's a bit funky, in a good way I'd say, and the flavor is neat too.

Top 3

Show

Hide

1. EsperCormorant
2. AnotherAlias
3. marioguy3

[EsperCormorant]

Critiques

Show

Hide

AnotherAlias - Recharging Angel
Ridiculous card. 3 flying power just isn't done as a common 2-drop; the closest thing actually printed is Daring Skyjek, which is highly conditional, and Skittering Skirge, which has a color-intensive cost and hefty drawback. The wind-up mechanic has potential, but right now it's just dragging an overpowered card further off-balance.

kwanyeegor-ii - Entangling Orbweaver
I like it when guild mechanics show up in other colors, but I'm not sure how I feel about green detain. Making it target flying creatures alone is what saves you here, because green already gets to go out-of-pie to screw those over (Plummet etc). I must also say that the flavor here is excellent.

Komandon - Gate Guardian
In the base case, this is a shroudless, deathtouch-immune, cheaper Wall of Denial that can block unblockable/menacing stuff and that you can't break through with raw power. That's already really dang good! Adding the ability to block multiple foes at a pretty reasonable rate feels excessive; the 'only creature' restriction feels pretty meaningless when a control deck is perfectly fine fielding this and nothing else. The design also feels like it's trying to sneak around the 'no cost but tap' that is the contest's whole premise.

Sagharri - Acolyte of Dawn and Dusk
Cute design, I like off-color mana dorks, and this can in theory get you two mana with some effort... but should it be a rare? Is this really at the level of Noble Hierarch or Birds of Paradise? The theoretical optimum feels hard to acquire without jumping through significant hoops: most of the time, I expect this to be an inert 0/2. There's a solid idea here, but right now it feels too swingy to actually put in a deck. Tack on the ability to reliably get and I'd like this a lot more.

KB52665 - Norin, Ever-Cautious
Vigilance in mono-red? I get the flavor, but it's still a pie break. That mana ability is pretty dang powerful in a storm deck, even with legendary as a safety valve. Worse, it all just ends up taking away from the relatively modest tap ability.

Ink-Treader - Raging Boltslinger
Pretty solid pinger, I like the desperation mechanic and the flavor feels serviceable if basic. It's good at what it does, and I think the dual-red cost was a wise decision. All in all, a competently executed take on the theme - and sometimes that's all you need.

Top 3

Show

Hide

1. Ink-Treader's Raging Boltslinger
2. kwanyeegor-ii's Entangling Orbweaver
3. Sagharri's Acolyte of Dawn and Dusk

[Sagharri]

critiques

Show

Hide

KB52665
Norin, Ever-Cautious - Vigilance? It could be done a bit less off color pie. For 1 mana cmc, that static ability is pretty (too) powerful (-> storm).

Ink-Treader
Raging Boltslinger - Goblin, red, wizard, damage, suicidal - everything is fine. And desperation. Nice!

MonoRedMage
Kamahl, Grand Champion - A little bit too much in my opinion - really strong ward, powerful tap ability, rather pretty easy untap condition and big body.

marioguy3
Polarizing Bear - Definitely there are questions about what it does, but I'm fine with it. Really like this combination of abilities.

OneAndOnly
Yickle the Neurotic - Not sure about that first ability wording. And that empty abilities looks to me as it is just unfinished

netn10
Ruk, Deep-Sea Pet - Partner - nice and fine. The only thing that worries me a little is this tap ability with 'repeatable cost-reducting-emblem' that affects also this card. At least there is time to answer that.

top 3

Show

Hide

1. Ink-Treader
2. marioguy3
3. netn10

[Komandon]

Critiques

Show

Hide

Acolyte of Dawn and Dusk G
Creature - Elf Cleric (R)
T: Add W if you gained life this turn. Add B if you lost life this turn.
"Something ends so that something can begin."
0/2

The Abzan elf in this context makes sense. Even if you didn't gain or lose life the 0/2 for g is fair. Not for a rare but the mana dork ability makes up for that. Personally I would have made it uncommon and a shaman.

Norin, Ever-Cautious r
Legendary Creature — Human Warrior
Vigilance
Whenever a player casts a spell, add r.
: Return Norin to its owner's hand.
2/1

Red vigilance I don't think fits. Over powered. Can pull off a storm too easily but WotC is doing too overpowered cards recently. I miss mana burn.

Raging Boltslinger RR
Creature - Goblin Wizard (U)
T: Raging Boltslinger deals 1 damage to any target.
Desperation- T, Sacrifice Raging Boltslinger: Raging Boltslinger deals 3 damage to any target. Activate only if you have half or less of your starting life total.
0/1

I like the Desperation mechanic.

Kamahl, Grand Champion 5RRR
Legendary Creature - Human Barbarian {M}
Ward - Sacrifice three lands.
T: Kamahl, Grand Champion deals 6 damage to any target.
Whenever another Barbarian, Berserker, or Warrior enters the battlefield under your control, untap Kamahl, Grand Champion.
6/6

Seem too overpowered even without the ward. The ward on mono red I think is only on Dwarven Forge-Chanter.

Polarizing Bear
Creature - Bear (Uncommon)
: Draw a card. Activate only if you discarded a card this turn.
: Target opponent discards a card. Activate only if you drew two or more cards this turn.
Nothing the Polarizing Bear does is without questions from both sides. It answers all of them with wintry results.
2/2

A non-green Bear that's not a zombie. Mechanics seem fair. Was going to say it seems like a rare except the mana cost being 2 cmc but no generic so seems right.

Yickle the Neurotic -- U
Legendary Creature - Human {M}
Yickle can only be activated once each turn.
T:
Q:
0/5

Seems too limited to what combos could use it. That being said with the once a turn limit is see this as at most am uncommon. It's the same as Aegis Turtle with a combo piece and is legendary. I know Isamaru, Hound of Konda is still rare which I don't agree with but the better Rograkh, Son of Rohgahh is uncommon. Though being a human I understand WotC would print it as a rare.

[/quote]

Top 3

Show

Hide

1st: Ink-Treader
2nd: Sagharri
3rd: marioguy3

[OneAndOnly]

Ratings

Show

Hide

Ruk, Deep-Sea Pet 1GU
Legendary Creature - Octopus (Rare)
Partner with any legendary Kiora, Kraken, Leviathan, Octopus, or Serpent card even if they don't have partner
Vigilance
T: You get an emblem with "Kiora, Kraken, Leviathan, Octopus, and Serpent spells you cast cost 1 less to cast."
"A good helping hand is hard to come by these days. Good thing she has eight, then."
3/3

"Partner without partner" is a little confusing, and it's probably best spelled out as a deck-construction rule. That being said, it immediately makes the card feel silver-bordered to me. Perpetually reducing costs can get out of hand rather quickly, especially with green and blue untap effects to speed it along. But other than a few niche decks, there's no potential for other use, so it gets a very low grade from me.

Slapdasher Mage
Creature - Faerie Wizard (R)
Flying
: The next permanent spell you cast this turn can be cast as though it had evoke. The evoke cost is its mana cost reduced by .
"Who cares if it lasts? I just want to show it off."
2/1

Flashy, but perhaps a little too effective. It's got more combo potential than the above card, so it could likely go in a wider variety of decks, but it still feels very limited to B graveyard recursion decks.

The name's very charming and on point, though! Nice jot of flavor.

Recharging Angel
Artifact Creature — Angel Construct (C)
Flying
: At the beginning of your next upkeep, Recharging Angel gains first strike and lifelink until end of turn.
Angels, though regarded as perfect by many, are not. However, with the turn of the New Dawn, such beings can be replaced with perfected mechanical counterparts, cutting out all of their natural flaws.
3/1

Feels very Antiquities-era, although it might be more of a direct descendent of Legends' Gabriel Angelfire It's a little weak to take itself out of consideration for a turn, which really open itself up to removal. First strike is a strong benefit (given its low toughness), but lifelink is kinda meh I'd strongly suggest giving it baseline vigilance, and then letting it choose which of several other benefits to gain for the turn; then it becomes a very flexible attacker.

"Recharging" Angel makes me think it's going to either deal with E, or refill +1/+1 counters (like Clockwork Avian), so the flavor's a little off.

Entangling Orbweaver 3G
Creature - Spider (Common)
Haste
T: Detain target creature with flying. (Until your next turn, that creature can't attack or block and its activated abilities can't be activated.)
The giant orbweavers of Oran-Rief catch their prey with both speed and ambushes.
2/3

Very nice, and deserves the common rating. Green got a lot of detail-style effects in early sets, so this is a nice throwback to that. It feels like it should still have reach, though.

I first read "orbweavers" and "or beavers," which is uhhh quite the type.

Gate Guardian 1W
Creature — Human Solider (uncommon)
T: Target creature becomes blocked. If you control no other creatures you may pay 2. If you do, untap Gate Guardian.
"I can do this all day" — Steve Rogers
1/1

Weird to see Marvel in what I would assume is not intended to be a Universe Beyond card. And a little weak for Cap'n 'Murica. The effect feels very Legends / Ice Age to me. It's a weird variant on multiblocking, and it leads me to think this would play better as your only creature on the field, since you can effectively Holy Day .... all day.

Acolyte of Dawn and Dusk G
Creature - Elf Cleric (R)
T: Add W if you gained life this turn. Add B if you lost life this turn.
"Something ends so that something can begin."
0/2

Nice, and simple enough to be a common or uncommon -- making it a rare seems really underwhelming.

Norin, Ever-Cautious r
Legendary Creature — Human Warrior
Vigilance
Whenever a player casts a spell, add r.
: Return Norin to its owner's hand.
2/1

Not quite like the original, but combolicious in its own fashion. The ability to choose when to duck out makes it feel much more W or U rather than R.

Raging Boltslinger RR
Creature - Goblin Wizard (U)
T: Raging Boltslinger deals 1 damage to any target.
Desperation- T, Sacrifice Raging Boltslinger: Raging Boltslinger deals 3 damage to any target. Activate only if you have half or less of your starting life total.
0/1

Desperation is an interesting tweak on Fateful Hour; I often feel that that mechanic wasn't pushed enough, given that 5 life should be pretty close to closing out the game. Only half your life total means it'll matter more often, and also becomes effective at different points in different formats (2HG, EDH, etc.)

I always find pingers a little hard to balance; there are enough Goblin buffs out there that the Boltslinger could be more effective attacking than pinging.

Kamahl, Grand Champion 5RRR
Legendary Creature - Human Barbarian {M}
Ward - Sacrifice three lands.
T: Kamahl, Grand Champion deals 6 damage to any target.
Whenever another Barbarian, Berserker, or Warrior enters the battlefield under your control, untap Kamahl, Grand Champion.
6/6

Combolicious, but I worry that "dump three creatures = GG" is fun to play against. The Ward cost also quickly locks a player out of the game in an un-fun way.

Polarizing Bear
Creature - Bear (Uncommon)
: Draw a card. Activate only if you discarded a card this turn.
: Target opponent discards a card. Activate only if you drew two or more cards this turn.
Nothing the Polarizing Bear does is without questions from both sides. It answers all of them with wintry results.
2/2

Bears feel wrong in non-G colors. It's a cute play on "Polar Bear" but another pun would be just as effective. The limitation on the abilities is rather quickly overcome with a single Merfolk Looter, but I must say that I find Magic a lot more interesting when players get to play their cards, not just draw and discard them.

Rankings

Show

Hide

1. Sagharri's Acolyte of Dawn and Dusk
2: kwanyeegor-ii's Entangling Orb Beaver
3: AnotherAlias's Recharging Angel
4: Komandon's Gate Guardian
5: EsperCormorant's Slapdasher Mage
6: netn10's Ruk, Deep-Sea Pet
HM: KB52665's Norin, Ever-Cautious
HM: Ink-Treader's Raging Boltslinger
HM: MonoRedMage's Kamahl, Grand Champion
HM: marioguy3's Polarizing Bear

[AnotherAlias]

kwanyeegor-ii — Isn't detain a white/blue mechanic? Whatever. This is a good use of detain even if it isn't really in color. Perhaps this should also have reach? It is a spider afterall, and it is already hating on flying creatures; why not let it hate some more?
Komandon — I mean, this seems strong, I think? As for the flavor text, aside from the fact that it randomly makes this a Universes Beyond card, you have written how quotations are done in Magic wrong.
Sagharri — I like cards that mess around with life totals. Though, I feel like this is a bit weak in its current state.
KB52665 — Turn two hand-dump incoming (also, probably stronger: storm). Also, vigilance in red? Plus, it protects itself.
Ink-Treader — Pretty OK pinger. Flavor makes enough sense.
MonoRedMage — Very expensive. Not counting double-faced cards or alchemy cards, this is the second red card with ward.

Top 3:
3rd: Sagharri
2nd: Ink-Treader
1st: kwanyeegor-ii

[marioguy3]

OneandOnly: If only this creature had written text, this could have been an all time card. Join the Hall of Fame maybe.

netn10: Any sort of repeatable emblem is strong. I think this one's "fair" type of strong, and synergy with any of those spells with x in their cost increases the value.

EsperCormorant: Lots of funny potential synergies with this one. I like evoke as a mechanic (well, those that require mana to evoke).

AnotherAlias: This is a unique ability, though it has the potential for very slight memory issues. I'd find some way to put a counter of those abilities on this creature.

kwanyeegor-ii: Perfect fit for a spider to do to any flying creature.

Komandon: This is missing the "attacking" wording that makes an ability like this work. Without it, it leads to confusion. I really like the flavor text though.

Top 3:

3rd place: EsperCormorant
2nd place: kwanyeegor-ii
1st place: netn10

[netn10]

EsperCormorant

Show

Hide

Slapdasher Mage
Creature - Faerie Wizard (R)
Flying
: The next permanent spell you cast this turn can be cast as though it had evoke. The evoke cost is its mana cost reduced by .
"Who cares if it lasts? I just want to show it off."
2/1

Strong Lorwyn flavor. I really like the cross-typal theme in OG Lorwyn and I really like it here. The ability is very unique and I think it's not that broken - it's basiclly add 2 mana with a huge drawback. The only thing is that I don't know if I like 2/1 flying for 2 mana in mono black, it sounds too strong on paper, but it might be a nice fallback for the activated ability. The flavor text is cute.

AnotherAlias

Show

Hide

Recharging Angel
Artifact Creature — Angel Construct (C)
Flying
: At the beginning of your next upkeep, Recharging Angel gains first strike and lifelink until end of turn.
Angels, though regarded as perfect by many, are not. However, with the turn of the New Dawn, such beings can be replaced with perfected mechanical counterparts, cutting out all of their natural flaws.
3/1

This is very much an Angel Construct. The flavor text is very intriging, really makes me want to know about that New Dawn event. The activated ability is very unique, I don't think we have something like this yet. The closet thing is exert but this is a cool riff on it that I can see on white and blue as a "plan for the future" mechanic. I don't like 3/1 flying for 2 mana, especially not at common.

kwanyeegor-ii

Show

Hide

Entangling Orbweaver 3G
Creature - Spider (Common)
Haste
T: Detain target creature with flying. (Until your next turn, that creature can't attack or block and its activated abilities can't be activated.)
The giant orbweavers of Oran-Rief catch their prey with both speed and ambushes.
2/3

This seems fine. The price is right, a mono green common with haste is always a treat, and detain is very fun here. All in all, solid. I appreciate commons that combine bold stuff in neat ways. Detain in mono green + haste certainly does that.

Komandon

Show

Hide

Gate Guardian 1W
Creature — Human Solider (uncommon)
T: Target creature becomes blocked. If you control no other creatures you may pay 2. If you do, untap Gate Guardian.
"I can do this all day" — Steve Rogers
1/1

I wish this was just Captain America legendery creature with more "oomph". This as an uncommon is annoying, it can really mess up the whole combat, especially since this has no mana for the activated ability. The untap clause is unique, I like it.

Sagharri

Show

Hide

Acolyte of Dawn and Dusk G
Creature - Elf Cleric (R)
T: Add W if you gained life this turn. Add B if you lost life this turn.
"Something ends so that something can begin."
0/2

Fun name and flavor and the mana abilities are really cool. This feels like an uncommon and not a rare. Nothing too crazy here.

KB52665

Show

Hide

Norin, Ever-Cautious r
Legendary Creature — Human Warrior
Vigilance
Whenever a player casts a spell, add r.
: Return Norin to its owner's hand.
2/1

Mono red with vigilance is a no-no. Not a big one, but still. The triggered ability is broken and the third ability is not really mono red. I do like the flavor and the boldness though.

Top 3

Show

Hide

1st: EsperCormorant
2nd: AnotherAlias
3rd: kwanyeegor-ii