Magic the Gathering - You Make the Card!

[Grimsage Matt]

I can't find Devient Desires, but it's a Black Enchantment you can find in mtgdeckbuilder, that lets you tap a red to gain +1/+0 and trample intill the end of the turn. And ya, it's a bit unsual, so thought it would be a intresting idea. Besides, thinking of Changing the Eblem and the -2 abillity.

[radmelon]

Deviant Glee might be what you're looking for.

[Androgeus]

There are only 3 cards that are both black and give trample, and only one of them is mono black. Granting trample to other creatures is not black.

[Grimsage Matt]

Ya, Altered him to play off the Bringers from the Fith Dawn Expansion.

[Duos]

Grimsage Matt, Your new walker is still kind of...
bad. From a power level standpoint, a design standpoint, and a templating standpoint.

In all seriousness, how long have you been playing Magic? I don't want to sound offensive or condescending in any way at all, just to be clear. But proper card design is kind of HARD, even for veterans, which is why the people working at WotC all have degrees in mathematics or something. If you're just starting out, which I feel like you are (the templating gives it away; Magic has a very standard way of doing things to prevent rule confusion and it's the thing most likely to trip up people unfamiliar with the game.); then designing a good card is going to be near impossible.

First, You need to work on your formatting and templating. I would recommend just playing more Magic and maybe browsing the gatherer and looking at Oracle text. You'll get a feel for how to better express how something would happen in terms of magic lingo:

"Target Land you Control may count as any type of land for abillities and costs. This abillity does not end"

This, for example, should read:

"Target land you control is every basic land type in addition to it's other types. (This effect does not end at end of turn.)"

The reason? I assume you want the land to be able to tap for all colors and affect things that care about the types of lands you play, and this is the best way to do it. See Prismatic Omen. The other text winds up in paretheses because it's reminder text, not actual rule text, since the permanancy of the effect is implied by the lack of the 'until end of turn' rider.

I would hazard a guess that you're coming into the game from Yu-Gi-Oh, because there are VERY few cards in magic that care about certain cards as specifically as yours does. I'm not saying Yu-Gi-Oh is BAD, mind you, far from it, just that Magic works in much more general terms. Something to think about, is all; If you wanted a 'walker that worked well with the Bringers, you might make a dude who made it easier to make all colors of mana and, say, maybe had the ability to tutor creatures with power 5 or greater into your hand. Still very good with the Bringers, just now actually playable in a deck that doesn't include them.

Still, I would try to look into formatting first and foremost. After that, we can discuss the best way to design a playable card.

[Istari]

Archibald, Bringer of Tides - 1UUU
Planeswalker - Archibald - M
+2 Target land becomes an island until the end of turn
+1 Tap target land, it doesn't untap during its controller's next untap step
-3 Destroy target non-blue creature without flying
-7 You gain an emblem that says "Creatures you control gain islandwalk"
4

Tried to make his abilities fit the water mage archetype since it isn't used too much, but I don't know how good the execution of the flavor is.

[Strategos]

Aldred, Maelstrom Oracle - 2URG
Planeswalker - Aldred - M
+1 Scry 2
-2 The next spell you cast this turn has Cascade.
-6 You get an emblem with "Creatures you control have haste. Whenever you cast a spell, creatures you control get +2/+0 until the end of the turn."
4

[DMofDarkness]

Siegrak, Herald of the Damned 2BB
Planeswalker- Siegrak
+2: Search your library for a card, and put that card into your graveyard. Shuffle your library.
-1: Return target creature card in a graveyard to its owner's hand.
-5: You get an emblem with "At the beginning of your upkeep, you may exile a creature card from a graveyard. If you do, that card's owner puts a 2/2 Zombie token onto the battlefield tapped."
2

Originally Posted by Duos

Straaken, The Clonesage 1UG
Planeswalker-Straken M
Whenever a creature enters the battlefield under your control, put a loyalty counter on Straaken, The Clonesage for each other creature that shares a name with that creature.
-2: Search your library for a creature with the same name as a creature you control and reveal it. Shuffle your library then put that card on top.
-6: Put a token onto the battlefield that's a copy of target creature you control.
-20: You get an emblem with "At the beginning of your upkeep, for each creature you control, you may put a token onto the battlefield that is a copy of it."
4

Interesting idea, but the first ability is a problem...

Cast Increasing Devotion: +20 counters, assuming no other Human tokens. Proceed to -20, and get exponentially increasing Loyalty counters and Human tokens.

Originally Posted by Ninjaman

Tibalt the trickster - 2UR
Planeswalker - Tibalt - M

+1: Draw a card, then discard a card, then if an instant or sorcery card was discarded this way draw a card or deal 2 damage to target creature

-1: Return target instant or sorcery card from your graveyard to your hand, if the returned card was blue draw a card, if the returned card was red deal 2 damage to target creature

-6: You get an emblem with “When you cast an instant or sorcery, draw a card then deal 2 damage to target creature”
3

Repeatable 2 damage is actually a really, really powerful ability. I would try to find another Red ability for that...

[tgva8889]

Originally Posted by Istari

Archibald, Bringer of Tides - 1UUU
Planeswalker - Archibald - M
+2 Target land becomes an island until the end of turn
+1 Tap target land, it doesn't untap during its controller's next untap step
-3 Destroy target non-blue creature without flying
-7 You gain an emblem that says "Creatures you control gain islandwalk"
4

Tried to make his abilities fit the water mage archetype since it isn't used too much, but I don't know how good the execution of the flavor is.

I'm not really sure why this card has two plus abilities. I am trying to figure it out and failing. I don't think it needs one of them, so I would pick one and drop it. I suggest the second one, since locking them out of a land on turn 4 is a very powerful tempo effect, especially when you are also building up a Planeswalker.

Also, the ultimate is very lackluster. I see what you're trying to do, but I feel like you could do something way more awesome. Islandwalk isn't the kind of thing that makes me go "Holy crap, I want to activate that and make life awesome!" which is really where Planeswalkers with Ultimates should be going.

[Ninjaman]

Originally Posted by DMofDarkness

Repeatable 2 damage is actually a really, really powerful ability. I would try to find another Red ability for that...

Even if only to creatures?

[DMofDarkness]

Originally Posted by Ninjaman

Even if only to creatures?

There's a reason people really love Grim Lavamancer and Sword of Fire and Ice. Two damage isn't a lot when you do it to players, but when you hit creatures with it, it can kill a huge amount of stuff. It allows you to weaken your opponent's board state a lot, sniping their best blockers and/or utility creatures. If it just dealt damage to players, actually, it might be fine. If you think of things like Guttersnipe, it actually seems fairly well balanced.

[Ninjaman]

Originally Posted by DMofDarkness

There's a reason people really love Grim Lavamancer and Sword of Fire and Ice. Two damage isn't a lot when you do it to players, but when you hit creatures with it, it can kill a huge amount of stuff. It allows you to weaken your opponent's board state a lot, sniping their best blockers and/or utility creatures. If it just dealt damage to players, actually, it might be fine. If you think of things like Guttersnipe, it actually seems fairly well balanced.

I could do that, but then it becomes more of a win con and less of a control element, which is what i aimed for. But that might actually be fine.
But a little question: if damage to creatures is better than damage to players why does flameslash deal 4 damage while lava spike only deals 3?

[Duos]

Originally Posted by DMofDarkness

Interesting idea, but the first ability is a problem...

Cast Increasing Devotion: +20 counters, assuming no other Human tokens. Proceed to -20, and get exponentially increasing Loyalty counters and Human tokens.

The exponetiality was indeed a concern for me. I wanted to reward the player for playing large multiples of creatures and copying their dudes, but large token producers are still too strong with him, as you have pointed out.

Do you think it might work better to drastically reduce his loyalty costs and only give a single loyalty counter per creature? It reduces big plays and makes him easier to kill, while reigning in the swinginess of his loyalty. It was the second option, and I do have numbers for it ready.

[DMofDarkness]

Originally Posted by Duos

Do you think it might work better to drastically reduce his loyalty costs and only give a single loyalty counter per creature? It reduces big plays and makes him easier to kill, while reigning in the swinginess of his loyalty. It was the second option, and I do have numbers for it ready.

Limiting it to "When a creature enters the battlefield that shares a name with another creature on the battlefield, put a Loyalty counter on this planeswalker" would probably work. Captain of the Watch is still really powerful with him, but doesn't result in immediately exponential tokens, so that would probably work well.

[Duos]

Changes have been made! Its mana cost has been made more stringent, requiring double blue and thus making it more difficult to add a third color if it's going to be reliably cast. I figured this would be a good move if I wanted to restrict reliable access to white and red, both of which have excellent token making capabilities. Green, while also being capable of generating tokens, has much less efficient options, aside from shenanigans like Mitotic Slime.

In addition, it has had non-ultimate loyalty costs reduced in order to make actaully increasing loyalty possible, and the number of loyalty counters gained from his ETB trigger is now one to prevent insta-emblems.

[Ninjaman]

Duos: i think that the -0 and the -3 are too powerful for a 3cmc walker, my main concern is thragtusk, which would be insane.
Also it's not -0 it's just 0.

[Androgeus]

So here's a late ill thought out planeswalker,

Lathitar, Planar Gardener 1GG
Planeswalker-Lathitar M
+1: Target land you control is every basic land type in addition to it's other types.
-2: Search your library for a basic land and put that card onto the battlefield
-5: You get an emblem with "Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, you may pay 1. If you do, gain control of target land an opponent controls. "
2

This is what he started life as:

Spoiler

Lathitar, Planar Gardener GG
Landfall — Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, put a loyalty counter on Lathitar, Planar Gardener
-2: Search your library for a basic land and put that card onto the battlefield
-5: You get an emblem with "If you tap a land for mana, it produces twice as much of that mana instead"
2

Landfall is a terrible idea for giving loyalty, as you can get like 3 triggers with out really trying.

Editlog:1.I'm a idiot and forgot his type line.

[tgva8889]

Landfall is a reasonable idea for giving Loyalty, as long as you massively change the numbers. With an Ultimate at 5 and a mana cost of 2, it's completely ridiculous.

[AgentPaper]

Contest will end at midnight PST, or less than 3 hours from now.

[AgentPaper]

Grimsage Matt

Spoiler

Matthazar Grim, The Locus Lord- 9
Planswalker- Matthazar Grim
+2; Search your library for a land with the Locus type and add it to your hand, then shuffle your Deck.
-2; Search your libray for a Colorless non-land card and add it to your hand, then shuffle your library.
-5; You gain a Emblem with; All permenats on the field gain the Locus type in addtion to their other types.
5

A few issues here. First, none of these effects are worth 9 mana. That's higher than any other planeswalker to date, so you really need to do something special and powerful to justify that. Drawing a few cards and a emblem that doesn't do anything on it's own, doesn't do that.

Second, this is too specialized for a Planeswalker. Planeswalkers should be usable in a large variety of decks, rather than just one that uses locuses. Making them specialized like this makes them too narrow, and thus less desirable.

And finally, you messed up on the wording and some spelling errors. I know this may sound like nit-picking, but it's more important than you might realize.

Binks

Spoiler

Rhyia, Orzhov Advocate - 2WWBB
Planeswalker - Rhyia
+1 - Name a card type. Target opponent reveals their hand and loses life equal to the number of cards of the named type they revealed. (the card types are artifact, creature, enchantment, instant, land, planeswalker, sorcery and tribal)
-2 - You get an emblem with 'Spells your opponents cast cost {1} more to cast'
-10 - Destroy all nonland permanents you don't control
5

The first ability is far too wordy and complicated, and it doesn't even do anything that interesting, or effective. You would have been better off with just "targer player loses 1 life" rather than going through all that, especially since once you're at 6 mana, it's unlikely that your opponent will have many, or any, cards in their hands.

The second abilty is interesting, but again, useless on a 6-mana planeswalker. It's main use would be to slow down aggressive or combo-oriented decks, and by turn 6 they've already cast all of their cards.

The third ability is certainly powerful, and will certainly win you the game...except that you can't get it out by turn 12. There's basically no chance of this coming into play ever, even in casual games.

Overall, I think this was hurt most by it's overly-high casting cost. If it had been WWBB, that would be another story, though even then I think it could use lowering. That said, power level isn't everything, but Rhyia doesn't do anything that fun or interesting, either.

radmelon

Spoiler

Grazan the Chronarch - 3UW
Planeswalker - Grazan - M
+5 - Skip your next turn.
+1 - Exile target creature. Return it to the battlefield at the beginning of the next end step.
-3 - Exile target creature.
-12 - Take another turn after this one.
5

Perhaps the biggest flaw I can see with this is that it's a 4-ability planeswalker. 4-ability planeswalkers are meant to be rare, and should only be done when it's really worth it. Your first ability will almost certainly never be used, and while it has some novelty to it, it's not worth adding a fourth ability. Ignoring that part, the rest of the card is quite strong. Exiling creatures is powerful, and flickering can be very good as well, especially when it doesn't cost you anything. The ultimate seems a bit more costly than it needs to be though. An extra turn is nice and all, but as far as huge-cost ultimates go, it's a bit lackluster. It probably should have cost less, or been an emblem that gave you double turns or something. As is, it's just fine, which is a bad place for a planeswalker to be.

tgva8889

Spoiler

Aditi the Copycat 1UUB
Planeswalker - Aditi M
+2: Search your library for a card and exile it. Aditi gains one of its activated abilities until the end of your next turn.
-4: Put a token onto the battlefield that is a copy of target nonplaneswalker permanent.
-4: Search target player's library for a card and put it onto the battlefield under your control with 3 loyalty counters on it. It becomes a Planeswalker and gains all of Aditi's abilities.
3

While I liked the apprentice, I must say I'm glad you decided to use this instead. That first ability is a Johnny's wet dream, and while I'm sure there's some combo out there that makes it broken, I can't think of one off the top of my head. I especially like how it exiles the card permanently, so that you need to have a variety of different cards to draw abilities from, rather than doing the same one over and over every turn. It'd be a lot of work to make sure that this wouldn't destroy the standard format, but I think it's worth the effort. Also, I feel the need to point out that planeswalker abilities are active abilities, so you could exile other planeswalkers and gain one of their abilities, then use it next turn. For example, Vraska's Ultimate...

The second ability is solid and fun, if less spectacular than his other abilities. The third ability is...strange. Most importantly, I can't tell whether the card retains all of it's other abilities or not. If not, then it seems like you'd be better off just making a nameless token planeswalker. If it does keep it's other stats...well that ends up just being even stranger. What happens when a creature planeswalker attacks and takes damage? Can it block creatures attacking itself? If it's a flying creature, can non-flying creatures attack it? And on and on.

Duos

Spoiler

Straaken, The Clonesage UUG
Planeswalker-Straken M
Whenever a creature enters the battlefield under your control, if it shares a name with another creature you control, put a loyalty counter on Straaken, The Clonesage.
-0: Search your library for a creature with the same name as a creature you control and reveal it. Shuffle your library then put that card on top.
-3: Put a token onto the battlefield that's a copy of target creature you control.
-20: You get an emblem with "At the beginning of your upkeep, for each creature you control, you may put a token onto the battlefield that is a copy of it."
4

Honestly, as much as I think you were trying to do something new and interesting with this guy, it just ends up feeling...bland. You play creatures, play more of the same creatures, make copies of those same creatures, and eventually you get a ton of those same creatures. The main use for this spell would be in a token-oriented deck, since getting 1 loyalty per round isn't very helpful.

More than anything, this guy tends to encourage repetitive play, which is something that should be avoided at all costs. It brings in more of the same, and more of the same, and more and more of the same.

Ninjaman

Spoiler

Tibalt the trickster - 2UR
Planeswalker - Tibalt - M
+1: Draw a card, then discard a card, then if an instant or sorcery card was discarded this way draw a card or deal 2 damage to target creature
-1: Return target instant or sorcery card from your graveyard to your hand, if the returned card was blue draw a card, if the returned card was red deal 2 damage to target creature
-6: You get an emblem with “When you cast an instant or sorcery, draw a card then deal 2 damage to target creature”
3


It feels like you had a good, balanced card here...then you added on extra card draw/2 damage to target creature to the first two abilities. Looting is a fine thing to be dong with a +1 loyalty. Gaining card advantage every time in addition is too powerful. Similarly, gaining a card back from your graveyard is very strong (in fact even on it's own it should be -3 at least), and gaining yet again more card advantage after that is, again, far too strong. The final ability would be just right (or just a bit too strong, maybe) if it was an OR ability, but as an AND ability, it's just dominating, and not hard at all to get to when you're drawing cards and shooting creatures on your way to it.

Istari

Spoiler

Archibald, Bringer of Tides - 1UUU
Planeswalker - Archibald - M
+2 Target land becomes an island until the end of turn
+1 Tap target land, it doesn't untap during its controller's next untap step
-3 Destroy target non-blue creature without flying
-7 You gain an emblem that says "Creatures you control gain islandwalk"
4

As I noted before, 4-ability planeswalkers need to do something special to qualify for the larger text box, and this doesn't cut it. It feels like the first two abilities could have been combined somehow, and probably made stronger as well. The third ability is very solid, and the restrictions are both flavorful and meaningful in-game, which is a good combination. The ultimate, however, is completely useless. An ultimate is supposed to win you the game, or very nearly do so. An ultimate that doesn't do anything right away, and requires that you have many other creatures to attack, just isn't very useful. It might help break a stalemate, but it's not going to take anybody by surprise.

Strategos

Spoiler

Aldred, Maelstrom Oracle - 2URG
Planeswalker - Aldred - M
+1 Scry 2
-2 The next spell you cast this turn has Cascade.
-6 You get an emblem with "Creatures you control have haste. Whenever you cast a spell, creatures you control get +2/+0 until the end of the turn."
4

I like it. It's a little bit bland, but it gets the job done, and cascade is always fun. The ultimate could probably use some work though. Red/blue decks are usually all about spells, not creatures, so having an ultimate that only cares about creatures doesn't make much sense. Still, it does something that both red and blue do, and it's not hard to imagine the kind of deck this wants to be in. Overall a solid, if not spectacular, planeswalker.

DMofDarkness

Spoiler

Siegrak, Herald of the Damned 2BB
Planeswalker- Siegrak
+2: Search your library for a card, and put that card into your graveyard. Shuffle your library.
-1: Return target creature card in a graveyard to its owner's hand.
-5: You get an emblem with "At the beginning of your upkeep, you may exile a creature card from a graveyard. If you do, that card's owner puts a 2/2 Zombie token onto the battlefield tapped."
2

I want to like this card, and it certainly has all the parts...but it just feels like it's missing something. It feels to much like it's just slowly misering value over time, and never really does anything splashy. I can't point to any one thing and say that it's a flaw, but I also can't point to any one thing and say that it's a strength. While it may be flavorful for a black, graveyard-themed planeswalker to be lifeless, yet functional, that doesn't stop it from being, well, lifeless.

Androgeus

Spoiler

Lathitar, Planar Gardener 1GG
Planeswalker-Lathitar M
+1: Target land you control is every basic land type in addition to it's other types.
-2: Search your library for a basic land and put that card onto the battlefield
-5: You get an emblem with "Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, you may pay 1. If you do, gain control of target land an opponent controls. "
2

It feels like all of your abilities are competing for the same space. While it's good for a planeswalker's abilities to follow some theme, if they all do the same thing then the planeswalker just becomes narrow and limited in it's use. The first two abilities are a nonbo, in that once you've used the second one, the first is unlikely to provide you any use for the rest of the game. And the ultimate is treading into land-destruction territory, which is something that WotC has pointedly avoided doing for a long time now.

Runners Up:

Spoiler

tgva8889, with Aditi the Copycat
Strategos, with Aldred, Maelstrom Oracle
DMofDarkness, with Siegrak, Herald of the Damned

And the winner is:

Spoiler

DMofDarkness, with Siegrak, Herald of the Damned

This was a very tough decision. All of these planeswalkers were very solid, and though Aditi was a bit more exciting than Siegrak, he also had a lot of baggage in the first and last abilities. In the end, a functional, slightly less interesting card is better than a crazy, difficult to balance and difficult to understand card. Aldred on the other hand was plenty functional and arguably more interesting than Siegrak, but ultimately was a bit too narrow and niche to pull off the win.

[Grimsage Matt]

The Locus lord.. you know what Cloudpost does, right? 1 colorless mana for every locus on the field. And ya, while made for artifact decks, just add Mycosynth Lattice and All cards that aren't on the battlefield, spells, and permanents are colorless.

Edit; In retrospect, maybe shouldn't have gone with the "Underwhelming apprence, insane combos" route.

[AgentPaper]

Originally Posted by Grimsage Matt

The Locus lord.. you know what Cloudpost does, right? 1 colorless mana for every locus on the field. And ya, while made for artifact decks, just add Mycosynth Lattice and All cards that aren't on the battlefield, spells, and permanents are colorless.

Edit; In retrospect, maybe shouldn't have gone with the "Underwhelming apprence, insane combos" route.

The main issue there was that it was too narrow. Planeswalkers are supposed to have broad appeal, while yours would only appeal to a small number of people building that exact deck.

[DMofDarkness]

Alright, then. For the nest challenge, let's do something a bit different.

You've been placed on the design team for an upcoming wedge block, similar to Shards of Alara block, and you need to pitch a concept for the wedge to be taken in. Make a common, uncommon, rare, and mythic rare for your wedge to showcase the flavor and mechanics of your plan for the wedge.

[AgentPaper]

By "pitch", do you mean that we're supposed to submit some kind of written entry along with the cards to explain the direction?

[tgva8889]

I respond here to some of your comments, AgentPaper. I put them in spoilers for those who don't care to read my design process.

Spoiler

The first ability was actually intended to allow the use of Planeswalker abilities. I originally settled on that for my Planeswalker but I wanted to find a way to do so that still make the card relevant in Limited. I ended up deciding it would make the card more interesting to expand it to other abilities, making it more applicable to the average game. It has the potential to be broken for sure, but I think many of the things you could do with it aren't that ridiculous.

Based on my research, it doesn't let you use any Ultimates too quickly (at least, not much more quickly than the Planeswalkers themselves could). Because of the rule for Loyalty Abilities, if you do exile a Planeswalker from your Library, you can only use one of its abilities, only on the next turn, and only if you don't use any of Aditi's other Loyalty Abilities. So if on the second turn of having Aditi in play you exiled Vraska and brought him to 7 Loyalty, your opponent would have a whole turn to attack your Aditi and try to put him below 7 so he couldn't use the Ultimate and would have to try something else. I found that copying Nicol Bolas or Karn Liberated was more concerning, as you can use their absurd +3 or +4 abilities next turn for a ridiculously pumped-up Aditi. This was the reason he has no real "Ultimate" in the same way many other Planeswalkers do; otherwise, he could probably charge up to it in a very small number of turns and proceed to win the game with little risk from an opposing Creature force. This is how he ended up with such small other abilities.

I also found the first ability to be the most interesting and most intriguing, so I decided to make the other abilities seem more powerful and then make players jump through a small hoop to get there. Considering that lands have activated abilities, Aditi isn't too difficult to use, and his second and third abilities are definitely interesting enough to try out.

I think the second ability is incredibly powerful. I considered making it cost less, but I didn't want to allow Aditi to just be "Clone target nonplaneswalker permanent." Unfortunately the last ability was definitely his best final ability, so I pushed things to make this order of abilities work.

The last ability is pretty confusing and strange, I admit. It was supposed to be Aditi spreading his influence onto other things, but I'm not sure how well that worked. It's intended to basically let you make an increasing number of Aditis over time. I couldn't justify it as anything but the last ability just by virtue of its complex wording and implications. I wanted to basically turn your opponent's cards into Aditis on your side of the board, but I couldn't figure out a satisfactory way of doing so that didn't generate some amount of confusing. I thought actually turning the cards themselves into Aditis would be the best way to do things.

There are rules for Creatures as Planeswalkers already (see Gideon, Mycosynth Lattice + March of the Machines), so I don't think it's really that big a deal. All the other permanent types basically become Planeswalkers with some other abilities, so Creatures are the only problem and the game has to have rules to deal with that problem because it's a problem that can already come up. I can answer the questions you had off the top of my head, though. One of them is definitely in the rules:

If you activate Gideon Jura's third ability and then unpreventable damage is dealt to him (due to Unstable Footing, for example), that damage has all applicable results: specifically, the damage is marked on Gideon Jura (since he's a creature) and that damage causes that many loyalty counters to be removed from him (since he's a planeswalker). If the total amount of damage marked on Gideon Jura is lethal damage, he's destroyed as a state-based action. If Gideon Jura has no loyalty counters on him, he's put into his owner's graveyard as a state-based action.

It should be able to block creatures attacking itself (I don't see why it couldn't), but that wouldn't reduce the damage they deal to it (unless it has other abilities). And Creature Planeswalkers with Flying are just like other Planeswalkers in that any creature can attack them.

I think the biggest problem is that it basically lets you Jace Ultimate them on turn 5, which is probably overly broken. I think it might have wanted to cost more, but I wanted to try to make the ability lead into itself on the next Aditi, so you would increase your Planeswalker count. I think the best way would have been to make them lose all their abilities. The reason they wouldn't be tokens is specifically because I want to turn other spells into Aditis. I felt it was more flavorful than making a token copy of him; he is copying the spell from your opponent's mind into another of himself.

Aditi is, overall, a Johnny-centered Planeswalker, and though I did not win, I very much enjoyed the exercise of making a Planeswalker that did something that had never been done or even attempted before. I think, at the very least, I learned how difficult it is to cost those damn Loyalty Abilities and that a Planeswalker that can use other Planeswalker's abilities has some very interesting potential. I greatly enjoyed the opportunity to design for this contest, and I think Aditi as a character might inspire me to really test the card and push it to its limits.

Congratulations to DMofDarkness!

[AgentPaper]

Originally Posted by tgva8889

Lotta words.

That basically mirrors my thoughts on it. I think Aditi could certainly have won, the main thing holding him back was the sheer complexity of his abilities. Planeswalkers are already the most complex type of card in the game, so going above and beyond and making them even MORE complex just isn't tenable.

[DMofDarkness]

Originally Posted by AgentPaper

By "pitch", do you mean that we're supposed to submit some kind of written entry along with the cards to explain the direction?

The cards' mechanics and flavor text should speak from themselves, but you can include a written description if you want.

[Binks]

My chosen Wedge is GWB.

Explanations:

Spoiler

Flavor is a selfish community, GW are the colors of community, B of selfishness, so this is a community who will gladly help one another out...in slitting the throat of an outsider. Very self-focused, incapable of seeing outsiders as anything more than threats or targets.

Mechanical feel is two-fold. Firstly, for smaller cards, there would be lots of 'if you have another card like X you get a bonus' things, sort of reverse slivers, cards boosting themselves because you have other cards to help them out. The keyword for this wedge would be Offering from Kawigama which gives a great feel of both 'the community is helping itself' and 'throw this guy under the bus to get someone better out here'.

Common:

Spoiler

Sargian Trainee Defender - {G/W}B
Creature - Human Soldier - C
As long as you control a creature with deathtouch, ~ gets +1/+1 and has deathtouch.
"Always make sure to apply the poison to your blade just before the fight so that it is most potent" - Sargian Battlemaster, to a new group of trainees.
1/2

Uncommon:

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Death Arrow Volley - 2{W/G}B
Instant - UC
Death Arrow Volley may only be played if you control at least 1 attacking or blocking creature.
Destroy all attacking and blocking creatures.
"Fire a volley into the battle."
"But...our own soldiers are there!"
"Not for long!"
- A Sargian archer and his commander officer during the first offensive

Rare:

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Sargian Battle Commander - 3WBG
Creature - Devil Advisor - R
Human Offering (You may cast this card any time you could cast an instant by sacrificing a Human and paying the difference in mana costs between this and the sacrificed Human. Mana cost includes color.)
{T} Creatures target opponent controls get -1/-1 until end of turn. Creatures you control get +1/+1 until end of turn.
"Your loss will be mourned. Your sacrifice will be praised." - Traditional Sargian sacrifice chant.
4/5

Mythic:

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Egrim, Honored Elder - WWBBGG
Legendary Creature - Human Nightmare Elder - MR
Deathtouch
Other White Green or Black creatures you control get +1/+1
Whenever you sacrifice a creature choose target creature you don't control. That creature's control must either sacrifice it or lose 5 life.
"He rules Sarg from the Cathedral of Death choosing who the village attacks next. Many have tried to curry his favor...and few have survived the attempt."
2/7

[Grimsage Matt]

K, theme is "Reincarnation", and works on the simple theme of "They died.... now, it gets better from here". Like haunt, cycle and the others, the cards work even better in the grave then the field.

Reincarnate; When a card is added to the battlefield from the graveyard, [Abillity] triggers. Tokens gained in this manner are not lost when the card is placed in the graveyard.

Heres the Common;

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Returning Monk- 1{W/B}G
Creature- Human Monk- C
Reincarnate- The Zen Monk Gains a Ki Token
T- Remove X Ki Tokens from Zen Monk. Chosse one; Gain 1 Life for each Ki Token removed, or return 1 exiled card to your graveyard.
1/1

Heres the Uncommon;

Spoiler

Eternal Cycle- 2{B/W}{G/B}
Enchantment- UC
So long as Eternal Cycle is in the graveyard, Permenants in your Graveyard gain "Pay X and return this card to the battlefield. X is it's converted mana cost."
"Death is not the end. It is just a door. And it can lead right back, if you know the way."

Heres the Rare:

Spoiler

Monestary of the Cycle
Legendary Land -R
T- Add X mana of any color to your mana pool. X is equal to the number of cards in your graveyard.
X- Return X number of cards from your graveyard to your library.
"Here at the Monestary, we draw in the wisdom of the past, and conserve the path to the future."

Heres the Mythic;

Spoiler

Eternal Incarnate- 3{W/G}{W/B]}
Legendary Creature- Human Monk- MR
Reincarnate- You may Untap all your lands
So long as Eternal Incarnate is in your graveyard, you may play cards from your graveyard.
"We are a part of the land, a part of the cycle. We are it, and it is us. Detach yourself from the self, and join everthing."
4/4

And theres the four that are part of the submission. Might do some more purely for "Lets see what fits the monk theme" Also ya, they're ment to make the battlefield (life) and the graveyard (death) blend together. And ya, sacrficing/your guys dying never looked better

Not part of the submission;

Spoiler

Protector Spirit- W{G/B}
Creature- Spirit- C
Flying, Defender
When this card is in your graveyard, pervent the first X damage that would be delt to you or a creature you control each turn. X is equal to the number of cards in your graveyard.
0/2

Young Monk- W{B/G}
Creature- Human Monk- C
Reincarnate- You may tap or untap target creature.
1/1

Defender of the Wall- 1G{B/G}
Creature- Human Soldier- C
Defender
Reincarnate- Detain X creatures you do not control. X is equal to Defender of the Wall's toughness.
1/2

Spiting Lama- G{W/B}
Creature- Beast- C
Reach, First Strike
When Spiting Lama destroys a attacking creature, you may put one exiled card into your graveyard.
2/1


Guide to the Path- 2W{B/G}
Creature- Human Monk - UC
When a creature you control Reincarenates, you may search your library for a card with a converted Mana cost of X and add it to your hand, then shuffle your library. X is the Reincarnated creatures converted Mana cost.
2/2

Kung Fu Monk- 2G{W/B}
Creature- Human Monk- UC
Haste, Doublestrike
Reincarnate- Kung Fu monk deals X damage to target creature or player, where X is it's Power.
3/2

Monk of the Shadow- 2B{G/W}
Creature- Human Monk- UC
Shadow
Reincarnate- Choose one; Give a player 1 Poison counter, or give 3 -1/-1 counters to up to three creatures.
2/2


Big Belly Monk- 4G{W/B}
Creature- Human Monk- R
Whenever a creature you control enters the graveyard, you gain life equal to their converted Mana cost.
Reincarnate- You gain life equal to the number of creatures you control.
2/5

Tigerpalm Monk- 4B{W/G}
Creature- Human Monk- R
Whenever a creature you control deals damage, double that damage.
Reincarnate- Return a creature from your graveyard to the field.
5/2

[tgva8889]

Grimsage Matt: The various wedges are 3-color combinations. They are: RWU, GUB, WBR, URG, and BGW.