Post by sdfkjgh on Nov 18, 2022 19:23:25 GMT
Folks, allow me to break character here for a little bit. I initially was entertaining the idea of holding a poll to see what would happen to Teferi, but I guess I'm such a control freak over these characters, that I didn't want even the possibility of another Jason Todd situation. Or, even worse, nobody voting at all. As the good Rosewater says; apathy kills.
So, instead, I'monna take this opportunity to show realistic outcomes of a stroke-induced coma, to raise awareness of the situation.
End of character break.
So, Teferi's still in the hospital, still in the coma, and Ral has never left his side. I caught Ral once secretly messing about with Teferi's brain. He said he was boosting the neuroelectrics in the damaged area in order to keep the tissue alive, but I told him to stop, as it sounded and looked like Ral was giving Teferi an epileptic episode. While he's slightly better at it than our modern medicine, Ral's not as precise with his lightning powers as he'd like to think. I made him promise to only monitor Teferi from here on out, and so far, he's kept to his word. I'll keep you all informed.
Anyway, onto judging.
melono : Interesting choice going all-in on a +1 mechanic. Would certainly provide some mechanical cohesiveness to the creature type. Beyond that, while the designs are solid enough (although discard +1 seems a little too strong for its rarity), there's not much there, especially when compared to the other submissions. Sorry.
Idea : No mechanical cohesiveness, but much more interesting individual designs. Interesting that you didn't go with a wording more like Boreal Outrider for Rot Tumor, instead requiring an extra helping of . Were you not aware of Boreal Outrider? If it was me, I'd use this:
Whenever you cast a spell, if was spent to pay for that spell, put a +1/+1 counter on Rot Tumor.
Poriferasaurus is scary in combat, but no crazier than anything Wizards has already done, and Starsea Sponge is a nice mana accelerator and card fixer.
@emberfire: So, I guess all Sponges have 3 power and high toughness? +0/+1 counters were discontinued almost two decades ago, so there's that. Absorbent Porifera seems little different from Skyclave Squid, et al. Corrosive Sponge is where the real terrifying hotness begins, as it's almost as much of a guaranteed one-sided boardwipe as Pitiless Plunderer, Chatterfang, Squirrel General, two Squirrel creature tokens, and a spare . However, as awesome as Corrosive Sponge is, that awesomeness isn't enough to balance out, much less overpower, the mehness of the other two. If you'd given me more submissions, mebbe you could've gotten higher marks.
vizionarius : First off, thank you for introducing me to psychedelic elevator music. Don't agree with that assessment? Prove me wrong.
Four of your entries have a VERY stronk +1/+1 counter theme going, but the legendary goes into casting instants and sorceries from exile? One of these things is not like the others...Makes me think that if they're all from the same set/block (pretty sure we're gonna return to blocks, any day now...), both themes, and more would be more fully fleshed out, in addition to a Sponge commander. On the bright side, you DID do "without paying its mana cost" properly, so good on that.
Celestial Sponge is a nice take on Sun Droplet.
Absorbaton (I c wat u did thar), while interesting (especially since you used "dies" in a nonstandard way), doesn't seem like it'll be played in any currently-run artifact-heavy decks, as they all want to recur theirridiculously broken mistakes of R&Dartifacts. Mebbe it'll create a new artifact deck, one that uses utterly expendable trinkets to power up the metal Sponge.
I lovegraftthe graft mechanic, and I keep hoping it'll return, so any time it's used, that gets me squeeing. Right now, I'm picturing Grafted Diffuser, Flame Jab, River Kelpie, and a sac outlet to draw lots of extra cards. Dammit, Providence is already overstuffed enough as it is!
Deathsoaker seems like a fixed Cauldron Familiar, which is nice, but since you have its base p/t at 2/0, it seems like you could get away with reducing its mana cost to just . Very strong designs all around.
twintania : You cheeky fucking bastard. Kitchen sponges. Phyrexian kitchen Sponges. Oh, and also a shower pouf. I don't know whether to kiss you or kill you.
Your templating needs a lot of work. Your sig shows you know this. From now on, if you need help with templating, just ask me. I'monna provide the proper templating here, and judge you on that.
Turtle Shell Sponge: No changes needed, a nice little damage Sponge (I'm sorry, I couldn't resist).
Silknet Cleaners: The way you have the 1st ability worded, it sounds like you want this creature to prevent ALL damage that would be dealt to creatures you control. If that's so, then this needs to be . However, if you're only preventing 1 damage per instance of damage being dealt (which is much more reasonable), it should prolly still be upgraded to or higher, but isn't as egregious. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt.
If damage would be dealt to a creature you control, prevent 1 of that damage and put an absorbtion counter on Silknet Cleaners.
The 2nd ability needs no changes, and is a nice way to use those counters.
Sponge Mob Mafiapants: Whenever a nonartifact, non-Phyrexian creature dies, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature, then create a token copy of this creature, except the token copy's base power and toughness are 1/1.
As Scute Swarm has taught us, making token copies of a creature that can make token copies of itself leads to dangerously unstoppable exponential growth. Sponge Mob is scary, but slightly more dealable than Scute Swarm (but only just), because the trigger is stuff dying, which doesn't usually happen with as frequent regularity as playing a land. Although, judging by just my experience with Arena, Sponge Mob WILL encourge players to build an ultra-hard Control shell with this as the only creature, and the rest of the deck filled out entirely with lands and kill spells. My soul is screaming in pain just typing that out. I won't hold this against you, for now.
Enveloping {{Iftfy}} Abyss: Whenever an opponent casts a nonartifact, non-Phyrexian spell, put a pollution counter on Enveloping Abyss.
, Remove X pollution counters from Enveloping Abyss: Destroy target nonartifact, non-Phyrexian creature with mana value of X.
Nice mirroring of Silknet Cleaners' abilities. I would've liked to've seen at least one more design using this template of "thing happens, get a counter, use that counter to do something", to show a bit more mechanical cohesion.
Spontex, Handy Sponge: There are two big reasons why WotC switched from Ophidian to Scroll Thief: 1) Games were going too long because no damage was being dealt; 2) Players would much rather deal the damage AND get the extra card draw. Also, there's not really any reason to have double lifegain instead of dealing damage, especially when lifelink already exists. There's just so much wrong with this design. I'll post how I'd template it, but I'll have to judge you based on how you turned this one in.
Spontex, Handy Sponge
Legendary Creature--Phyrexian Sponge
Lifelink
You may cast Spontex, Handy Sponge from your graveyard. If you do, it gains "If this creature would die, exile it instead."
Whenever Spontex, Handy Sponge deals damage, distribute that many +1/+1 counters among any number of creatures you control.
2/3
In last place: melono . There just wasn't anything exciting enough.
4th: @emberfire. Two meh entries, one of which uses a discontinued counter, and only one exciting design. Nothing wrong with padding out your submission with more entries. In fact, the minimum is just that: a minimum. I always want more than that.
3rd: Idea . All three entries were interesting in one way or another, but the two contestants who scored higher had more work to offer for judging. *Hint, hint*
A very close 2nd: twintania . Some strong designs, but bad design in the last offering hurt you.
Winner: vizionarius . Solid, exciting/interesting designs all around, with only minor quibbles. While none of you were perfect, vizionarius had the fewest stumbles or mistakes.
Thanks to all, and I look forward to exploring Teferi's story further.
So, instead, I'monna take this opportunity to show realistic outcomes of a stroke-induced coma, to raise awareness of the situation.
End of character break.
So, Teferi's still in the hospital, still in the coma, and Ral has never left his side. I caught Ral once secretly messing about with Teferi's brain. He said he was boosting the neuroelectrics in the damaged area in order to keep the tissue alive, but I told him to stop, as it sounded and looked like Ral was giving Teferi an epileptic episode. While he's slightly better at it than our modern medicine, Ral's not as precise with his lightning powers as he'd like to think. I made him promise to only monitor Teferi from here on out, and so far, he's kept to his word. I'll keep you all informed.
Anyway, onto judging.
melono : Interesting choice going all-in on a +1 mechanic. Would certainly provide some mechanical cohesiveness to the creature type. Beyond that, while the designs are solid enough (although discard +1 seems a little too strong for its rarity), there's not much there, especially when compared to the other submissions. Sorry.
Idea : No mechanical cohesiveness, but much more interesting individual designs. Interesting that you didn't go with a wording more like Boreal Outrider for Rot Tumor, instead requiring an extra helping of . Were you not aware of Boreal Outrider? If it was me, I'd use this:
Whenever you cast a spell, if was spent to pay for that spell, put a +1/+1 counter on Rot Tumor.
Poriferasaurus is scary in combat, but no crazier than anything Wizards has already done, and Starsea Sponge is a nice mana accelerator and card fixer.
@emberfire: So, I guess all Sponges have 3 power and high toughness? +0/+1 counters were discontinued almost two decades ago, so there's that. Absorbent Porifera seems little different from Skyclave Squid, et al. Corrosive Sponge is where the real terrifying hotness begins, as it's almost as much of a guaranteed one-sided boardwipe as Pitiless Plunderer, Chatterfang, Squirrel General, two Squirrel creature tokens, and a spare . However, as awesome as Corrosive Sponge is, that awesomeness isn't enough to balance out, much less overpower, the mehness of the other two. If you'd given me more submissions, mebbe you could've gotten higher marks.
vizionarius : First off, thank you for introducing me to psychedelic elevator music. Don't agree with that assessment? Prove me wrong.
Four of your entries have a VERY stronk +1/+1 counter theme going, but the legendary goes into casting instants and sorceries from exile? One of these things is not like the others...Makes me think that if they're all from the same set/block (pretty sure we're gonna return to blocks, any day now...), both themes, and more would be more fully fleshed out, in addition to a Sponge commander. On the bright side, you DID do "without paying its mana cost" properly, so good on that.
Celestial Sponge is a nice take on Sun Droplet.
Absorbaton (I c wat u did thar), while interesting (especially since you used "dies" in a nonstandard way), doesn't seem like it'll be played in any currently-run artifact-heavy decks, as they all want to recur their
I love
Deathsoaker seems like a fixed Cauldron Familiar, which is nice, but since you have its base p/t at 2/0, it seems like you could get away with reducing its mana cost to just . Very strong designs all around.
twintania : You cheeky fucking bastard. Kitchen sponges. Phyrexian kitchen Sponges. Oh, and also a shower pouf. I don't know whether to kiss you or kill you.
Your templating needs a lot of work. Your sig shows you know this. From now on, if you need help with templating, just ask me. I'monna provide the proper templating here, and judge you on that.
Turtle Shell Sponge: No changes needed, a nice little damage Sponge (I'm sorry, I couldn't resist).
Silknet Cleaners: The way you have the 1st ability worded, it sounds like you want this creature to prevent ALL damage that would be dealt to creatures you control. If that's so, then this needs to be . However, if you're only preventing 1 damage per instance of damage being dealt (which is much more reasonable), it should prolly still be upgraded to or higher, but isn't as egregious. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt.
If damage would be dealt to a creature you control, prevent 1 of that damage and put an absorbtion counter on Silknet Cleaners.
The 2nd ability needs no changes, and is a nice way to use those counters.
Sponge Mob Mafiapants: Whenever a nonartifact, non-Phyrexian creature dies, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature, then create a token copy of this creature, except the token copy's base power and toughness are 1/1.
As Scute Swarm has taught us, making token copies of a creature that can make token copies of itself leads to dangerously unstoppable exponential growth. Sponge Mob is scary, but slightly more dealable than Scute Swarm (but only just), because the trigger is stuff dying, which doesn't usually happen with as frequent regularity as playing a land. Although, judging by just my experience with Arena, Sponge Mob WILL encourge players to build an ultra-hard Control shell with this as the only creature, and the rest of the deck filled out entirely with lands and kill spells. My soul is screaming in pain just typing that out. I won't hold this against you, for now.
Enveloping {{Iftfy}} Abyss: Whenever an opponent casts a nonartifact, non-Phyrexian spell, put a pollution counter on Enveloping Abyss.
, Remove X pollution counters from Enveloping Abyss: Destroy target nonartifact, non-Phyrexian creature with mana value of X.
Nice mirroring of Silknet Cleaners' abilities. I would've liked to've seen at least one more design using this template of "thing happens, get a counter, use that counter to do something", to show a bit more mechanical cohesion.
Spontex, Handy Sponge: There are two big reasons why WotC switched from Ophidian to Scroll Thief: 1) Games were going too long because no damage was being dealt; 2) Players would much rather deal the damage AND get the extra card draw. Also, there's not really any reason to have double lifegain instead of dealing damage, especially when lifelink already exists. There's just so much wrong with this design. I'll post how I'd template it, but I'll have to judge you based on how you turned this one in.
Spontex, Handy Sponge
Legendary Creature--Phyrexian Sponge
Lifelink
You may cast Spontex, Handy Sponge from your graveyard. If you do, it gains "If this creature would die, exile it instead."
Whenever Spontex, Handy Sponge deals damage, distribute that many +1/+1 counters among any number of creatures you control.
2/3
In last place: melono . There just wasn't anything exciting enough.
4th: @emberfire. Two meh entries, one of which uses a discontinued counter, and only one exciting design. Nothing wrong with padding out your submission with more entries. In fact, the minimum is just that: a minimum. I always want more than that.
3rd: Idea . All three entries were interesting in one way or another, but the two contestants who scored higher had more work to offer for judging. *Hint, hint*
A very close 2nd: twintania . Some strong designs, but bad design in the last offering hurt you.
Winner: vizionarius . Solid, exciting/interesting designs all around, with only minor quibbles. While none of you were perfect, vizionarius had the fewest stumbles or mistakes.
Thanks to all, and I look forward to exploring Teferi's story further.