Card Design Contest - March/April

[attheedge]

Introduction
Hello everyone, and welcome to this Card Design Contest! As always, we have a brand new design prompt, so be sure to give it a read (along with the General Rules).

If you have any questions/concerns, then please feel free to contact any of the jury members (or discuss via the Discussion Hub).

Lastly, the contest schedule is as follows:

Submission Deadline: 03/25
Jury Evaluations: 03/25 - 04/05
Community Voting: 04/05 - 04/25
Next Card Design Contest: 05/05

Prompt:

Design a card that has a tribe in the card text and interacts with tribes.

Tribes are: Arcanysts, Battle Pets, Warmasters, etc.
You may not create own tribes!

---

General Rules (click on any of these to read more)

All participants are allowed ONE submission per contest.

• Of course, you may edit said submission as many times as you see fit.
• If your submission contains more than one design, then you will be disqualified (unless you explicitly state which design is your “final draft”).
• Abuse of additional accounts to make multiple submissions will result in disqualification from the current contest and all future contests.[/details]
  [details=All contest submissions must follow the contest’s prompt.
  ][/details]

[details=All contest submissions must follow this basic template.]Name
Faction + Type
Cost + (Stats)
Card text.

OR

Name / Faction + Type / Cost / (Stats)
Card text.

Therefore, a sample (designed by @phayze) would look like this:

Mindspike Mantle
Magmar Artifact
3 Mana
Whenever your opponent draws a card, deal 2 damage to the enemy General.

OR

Mindspike Mantle / Magmar Artifact / 3 Mana
Whenever your opponent draws a card, deal 2 damage to the enemy General.

[details=All contest submissions must include a description of the design’s purpose.
]* Why? (1) It give us jury members a better understanding of the thought-process behind your design and (2) It gives you and fellow participants a better way to discuss your design in the Discussion Hub.

• This can be very brief (or as long as you’d like).[/details]

[details=All contest submissions must follow the official 125-character limit on card text (including spaces).][/details]

[details=Any content not pertaining to a contest submission (e.g. discussions, critiques) is NOT allowed.]* Why? We have an entirely separate topic for discussions/critiques/feedback: the Discussion Hub.

• This separation facilitates greater readability for both contest submissions and discussions.
• Of course, feel free to give a “Like” accordingly! [/details]
  [details=Clearly unbalanced or “meme” designs are NOT allowed.
  ][/details]
  [details=New Generals, minion/card types, or keywords are NOT allowed.
  ][/details]
  [details=Please use the “Hide Details” function for non-required content (e.g. lore, artwork).
  ]Why? To maintain readability for both jury members and other contest participants. While additional content is fantastic, we want to ensure a fair reading and judging environment.[/details]
  [details=Please avoid directly copying a card from another contest participant or CCG.
  ]* If you are concerned about committing plagiarism, then please feel free to contact a jury member or discuss via the Discussion Hub.
• If you are reporting plagiarism, then please only contact a jury member via PM and we will investigate accordingly.[/details]

Prizes!

1st place - Orb reward + Forum Badge “Design God” + Place in the jury + ???

2nd place - Orb reward + Place in the jury + ???

3rd place - Orb reward + Place in the jury + ???

Useful Links and Misc.

• Don’t forget to drop-by the Discussion Hub to discuss fellow submissions, give/ask for feedback, etc.
• Here is a document with the General Criteria that the jury consider while evaluating designs.
• Please note that these are not strictly-enforced criteria, and that any jury member reserves the right to emphasize/de-emphasize a given criterion as they see fit.
• This month’s jury members are:
  @attheedge
  @akurane
  @RyanH
  @Okojo
  @thebravetoaster

Best of luck on your submissions! We are very excited to see what you all come up with

[narasimha]

Guess I’ll kick things off, with a bang!

Shield Obelysk
Vetruvian
Structure
3 cost
0/5
Summon Dervish
Friendly Structures deal 2 damage to their attacker.

Notes

Damage is treated as originating from the attacked Structure. Damage is considered as if the Structure counterattacked.

[fusion23310]

Huh, I’ll try

Silithar Golem
Magmar
5 cost
4/4
golem
All friendly golem minions have Rebirth.

Notes

The silithar golem itself will not have rebirth. If killed in an AOE attack such as Blistering Skorn + Enfeeble all golems will die and will lose Rebirth effect. The purpose of this card is to help golems stick and support Rebirth and Golem archetypes.

[oranos]

frost initiate
vanar
2 mana
2/3
vespyr

opening gambit: all minions in your action bar are now vespyrs and gain infiltrate:+1/0

notes

open to suggestions for stat/cost lines. the purpose of this is to give more infiltrate and vespyr synergy. it would change the tribe tag of all the minions in your hand to vespyr and it would also give them infiltrate:+1/0. the buff is small, but its what makes it worth infiltrating and could even make maia playable. the ability makes it useful even in the late game. it also makes it extremely easy to pull off the vespyr only combos like huldra or iceblade dryad. i was wondering if it should be limited to minions you summon that turn, but that would make it a terrible turn 1 play.

open to critiques and suggestions

[dewize]

Stormmetal Core
Magmar
Artefact
4 mana
Your General gains +1 attack, each friendly Golem gains split stats equal to your General’s attack

If General has +3 attack +2/+1
Changed to priority to Attack.

[degenerator]

Aeras The Intangible
Vetruvian
4 mana
3/6
dervish

Friendly dervishes lose 1 health and can now move through enemy units.

Summary

A much needed 4 drop for Vet that has synergy with dervishes. Also because his effect works on all dervishes including himself, once he gets dispelled he gains +1 health. So he is basically a 3/5 when played. I thought that because obelysks spawn dervishes on random tiles this could give Vetruvian more control over the board and reduce the chances that a unit cant be reached because of another blocking it. As a result this card gives Vet more reach across the board. This will also make cards that spawn dervishes (for example stars fury) better but not to an extend that they would be considered “broken”. Since this card requires other cards to work well I believe that it is well balanced. Lastly, I hope that this card will be used in future decks that utilize dervishes and in turn Dervish themed decks.

Name Origin

As for the name: Aeras means wind in Greek and Intangible is something that can’t be touched. I hope this makes sense because the card basically makes dervishes untouchable like the wind.

[edward4244]

Faceless merchant
Neutral
Golem
2 mana
1/2
Forcefield
minions gains another random tribe when played

This card is designed to permit multi-tribes archtypes (since the tribes stacks it also allows cards like “give +2 atk to a minion for each tribe it has”).
Forcefield has been added to increase his survability.
Notice this effect applies to enemy minions too, since rng permits “structure” as a random tribe (with consequent 0 atk and can’t move effects).

[longshot405]

cracks knuckles Alright, let’s try something dangerous.

Devout Flag Bearer
Neutral Warmaster
2 Mana (1/1)
Your other Warmasters cost 1 less and have rush.

[details=Balance] I’m taking a huge risk here, rush is powerful. Currently, no cards offer the ability to grant rush to a minion as of yet (aside from Inner Focus) and for pretty good reason. I only feel this could be acceptable due to two reasons:

1

There are very few Warmasters, thus the extent of this ability is limited. The idea here is that, while some Warmasters are stronger then others, we aren’t giving rush to any minions that are extremely powerful on their own. Each existing Warmaster benefits from gaining rush on a different way, which I will detail in another section.

2

The Warmasters themselves do not have synergy with one another, meaning they are not frequently put in the same deck.

I left Devout Flag Bearer at a 1/1 to make sure that alone, it has no value. It is easy to remove with any damage source and has essentially 0 potential to trade with enemy minions or deal meaningful face damage.[/details]

Impact on each Warmaster

[details=Skywing] Becomes a 3/3 flying rush for 2 Mana. I suspect players will use this in one of two ways. They will either fly it to a safer location to keep it alive better for taking advantage of the cost reduction it provides, or they will use it as a 2 cost flying tiger. I’m worried this may be the biggest balance issue, as the value is immense. It’s my hope that this being a multi-card combo and Flag Bearer being weak will allow sufficient counter play or tempo loss to make this acceptable.

Arrow Whistler

Essentially similar to using inner focus on her, but now she costs one less and this is not a faction specific combo. Great value, for the same reasons Skywing is good.

Unseven

Unseven has unique potential with Flag Bearer. By being granted rush, he can sack an enemy immediately and potentially trigger his own ability right away. Bonus lulz are had if he drops another Unseven.

Golden Justicar

This guy right here, I believe would be fun to play with Flag Bearer. Dropping a pretty meaty provoke minion and immediately moving it into your opponent’s face has potential. Bonus points if you already have other provoke minions on the board. Charge!

[/details]

I will gladly accept any and all input! Message me with your opinions!

[thefirstgokun]

Royal Alchemancer
Lyonar
5 Mana 4/2
Opening Gambit: Reduce the cost of all Golems in your action bar by 2.

Explanation

This is a very very greedy minion that would suit a high curve Golem deck. You can potentially get 7 mana worth of value (10 - 3 mana of lost stats) and ramp out a Peacekeeper 2 turns earlier, but as a turn 5 play this card can lose you the game with the tempo it sacrifices.

Overall, a card that rewards the Timmy player in all of us who wants to see a trio of Peacekeepers drop in one turn, but horrible if played at the wrong time. Works best in Lyonar because they have no in-faction ramp and few good draw options (although who needs more than 3 trinity oaths).

[owlington]

Rite of the Wind
Vetruvian Spell
7 mana
Give all friendly dervishes +2/+2, transform all non-dervish minions into 2/2 dervishes.

[sandclock]

The Shadow of The Prophet
Neutral Legendary
6 mana 6/6 Arcanyst
Whenever you replace this card, it is replaced with another arcanyst which now costs 1 less.

“Even when you cant see him, you know he is near.”

[details=Details]The arcanyst you get when replacing this is from your deck. If none are available, replace acts as normal. And the arcanyst you get from replace is getting 1 mana discount.

The point is that you cant see the prophet himself, but you know he is there because of his effect. Prophet is the card that impacts the game without being played.

“The future will be changed. With or without us.”

[/details]

[ryousen]

Sandstorm
Vetruvian Spell
3 mana
Deal 2 damage to target minion and restore one durability to a random friendly artifact for every arcanyst on the board.

[details=Analysis]A very Sajj oriented support card, a conditional ranged removal that deals with artifact crushing pings, such as Four Winds Magi and Shadow Dancer, that also grants one’s artifacts more surviveability to combo.
With the new mana tile creating arcanyst, its easier to cast abjuricator plus this for a reliable yet not OP removal.[/details]

[mmf]

Here’s a little something for all you getting ready for the next expansion…
Arcayne Progenitor
Arcanyst
6 mana 6/6
Whenever ANY arcanyst minion is summoned, put a random spell into your action bar.

Notes

Summary

As this is a neutral minion it can summon ANY spell, from any faction (Kage lightning included). Minions copied through fractal replication count, but mirage master copied into an arcanyst does not as it is summoned as a normal minion before transforming.

Lore

Summary

Those blithering fools! I can’t believe that they had the audacity to try and imprison me! No matter, I sense that they found my little side project. What was it again? Monosomething, Monobelisk, Monday? Whatever it was called, once it’s activated I shall be free of this infernal blackness and they will all Rue the day they imprisoned me THE ONE AND ONLY Arcayne Progenitor! I’ll show them a thing or two about the puny sparkles they dare call spells! Muwahahahahaha!

[thematsjo]

I give you:

Wartime Opportunist

Neutral Minion
Mana 3 / Attack 3 / Health 4
This minion is affected by the Abilities of Warmasters.

Appearance
The Opportunist is a haggard soldier who switches sides in conflicts depending on who they think will win, turning coat as necessary. Imagine a hunched figure in a dark green cloak with a sword.

Reasoning
It’s like Ghoulie, but for Warmasters! I’ve always disliked Warmasters because they’re a tribe lacking any sort of cohesion. Wartime Opportunist is an attempt to begin changing that status quo. I want to see a toolbox Warmaster deck where minions get better based on these ‘commanders’ being on the field. The Opportunist is the most basic foot soldier for this endeavour. I hope you like it!

[details=Mock-up Card]

[/details]

[ly5ergic4cid]

Kaon Deledriss
Neutral (legendary)
5 mana
4/6
Arcanyst
After the first spell you cast each turn, you may choose any of your arcanyst minions and swap its place with any other minion.

Reasoning

This minion allows any faction who is utilizing Arcanysts to be able to position themselves better for a late game combo. For example you could have a buffed Owl Beast Sage in a safe corner on the board as Vanar. You could then play the Aestari Seer, play polarity on your distant Owl Beast Sage, and then swap your Owl Beast’s place with your opponent’s minion that is right next to them for a big wombo.

Lore From Chapter 9: The First Senerai

‘Kaon amassed her energy to horizon walk her Aestari champions in a final attempt to outmaneuver the Magmar.’

[eternamemoria]

Stargazer’s Prism
Vetruvian Artifact
Epic
3 Mana

Whenever a friendly dervish attacks a minion your general also deals its damage to that minion. Friendly dervishes have 1 less attack.

[details=Reasoning]Vetruvian has 2 main inner archetypes of sort, structures/dervishes and artifacts.

While Zirix and Dervishes were clearly meant for one another, most artifact-focused decks are OTK combo decks, while Sajj’s BBS seems to be designed with board control and value in mind. The only type of deck that seems to truly fit her is a control deck with Spinecleaver as a wincon.

Not only that, but while it is possible to run an OTK artivet deck with Zirix, running dervishes with Sajj feels strange and out of place. With this card however, it becomes possible for Sajj to trade and use her BBS by proxy. Not only that, but while this card makes hitting face with dervishes much less efficient, it makes a Sajj Obelysk deck something possible, and due to the way the damage is applied it allows dervishes to proc Spinecleaver.
[/details]

On Balance

One notable detail is that the effect is qualitative, not quantitative, so there is no benefit if you equip multiple Prisms. Another thing that should be obvious but I will clarify anyway is that the “its” in the description refer to the general’s attack, not the dervish’s, and that it is only applied to minions, so no hitting face with your artifacts from range without Ankh.

As for how this card is going to be used, I see it as a 3 of in a hypothetical Dervish Sajj deck, accompained by 2 Spinecleavers. The deck’s goal would basically be using Dervishes to keep the enemy from developing a board, and eventualy turning their minions into totems.

If this sounds overpowered, remember that if you equip this artifact and Spinecleaver to create totems en masse you used 8 mana to clear the enemy board and put a strict timer on their health. Instead, you could have summoned a Fireblaze Obelysk and cast Star’s Fury, or summoned two Obelysks and cast Whisper of the sands, or summoned Nosh-Rak and hit the enemy general with your dervishes. Not only that, but this artifact relies on your board, and equiping it earlier to make the combo a few turns before means you didn’t use your 3 mana to summon an Obelysk or answered a threat with Falcius.

[details=Lore]Thirst, weakness, hunger, fatigue, the heat of day, the cold of night, and even the unseem veil that kept planes apart. The House of Starstrider would fall those enemies one by one, and break their once untouchable thrones.

They conquered the wastes, reforged their bodies in sandmetal and tore the walls between dimentions apart. Eventually, even time itself bent its knees to the Imperium. But for Atar’s heurs enough would never be enough, and they were still beneath the greatest bound of matter: space itself.

At first they sought the secrets of the strange Songhai, their misterious seals that warped position and distance, yet time after time their spies and researchers met an untimely end at the hands of assassins who would never let others take the tools of their trade. Eventually however, they turned their focus inward… or perhaps even further away, to the ephemeral misteries of other planes.

Thus from stardust-imbued glass the Stargazer’s Prism was forged, granting a gift worth of gods: the capacity to be everywhere at once.[/details]

EDIT: added clarifications and fixed the L O R E

EDIT2: added a discussion on how balanced this card is.

[deekester]

Acolyte of the Sands
Vetruvian Arcanyst
4 mana
4/4
Your general and other arcanysts you control have spell shield (can’t be targeted by spells and effects your opponent controls.

Reasoning: A big weakness of arcanysts is that they have tiny bodies that are easily removed. Spell shield helps against this. vetruvian generals also like the protection to keep their artifacts safe from damage spells like pheonix fire. the stats could obviously be too strong and be changed, but the emphasis is on the card text

[MCToxic64]

Aerosk, The Desert Tempest
Vetruvian
Dervish
4 Mana (3,3)
Structures now summon two Wind Dervishes. They no longer disappear at the end of the turn.

Summary

So you remember how Grandmaster Variax came out and had an AWSOME effect? Kinda wanted Vet to have something like that. This effect will only work with Structures (Including Bastion!) presently on the board when the minion is played. Due to that, if you can get rid of the Structures you’re all good. Otherwise…well, I’m pretty sure we all know what happens when you’re overrun by a wraithling swarm!

Edit: halved cost and removed Opening Gambit. Aside from Wind Shrike and Mirage Master, turns out Vet has no other 4 drop minions!

[cold52]

Faceless Necromancer
Abyssian
Arcanyst
5 Mana 4/5
Opening Gambit: choose an Arcanyst in your hand, give it Dying Wish: Re-summon it on a random shadow creep tile.

Details

i wanted to make it fit the abyssian aesthetic and help fight a weakness of arcanyst, that being how quick to be removed they can be, also allow it to become a powerful tool in helping get more value from death knell.

[seraphicreaper]

Rabid Commander
Neutral Warmaster - 4 Mana
3/5
Frenzy

Frenzy units activate Frenzy upon counterattacking.

Reasoning

I think this is fantastically thematic to the idea of a frenzy unit. The idea that a crazy rampaging minion is attacking everything would cause either major destruction around it, or would cause the enemy to unwantingly disperse.