#becoming undone
Back to the Beginning
Check out some examples made by me and another judge! @loreholdlesbian made Foreshadowing, and I made the other two.
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Foreshadowingis an amazing card in general, but also for this contest. Sagas only stick around for a short time, so you’ve got a very narrow window to resolve this, but it could be very strong. You get an instant-speed chapter ability while still getting it again at the normal time. The sagacycling (cycling also sort of counts for this contest) is also very important. It’s expensive for such a narrow tutor, but that’s in line with other instant speed uncounterable tutors. Most importantly, it means this card isn’t useless if you haven’t got your sagas out already. And the flavor, whether you cast it or cycle it, is amazing.
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Fractured Kaleidostone is very basic. It’s another one of those fixing artifacts like Prophetic Prism, but the card draw happens much later, almost like a Terrarion. It fits the contest due to that last ability, which costs X mana to activate, only to give you back the mana you spent. It undoes itself but in a very useful way that fixes your mana. You could also argue that it being a cantrip also counts, since it gives you the card back, but that’s a stretch.
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Glimpse of Divinity is a card I want to show off specifically to show that you can get a little silly this week. This card undoes itself, but it also only undoes itself. I designed it to combo with Boon Reflection effects and of course Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose and Sanguine Bond. This is a card that either does absolutely nothing or kills someone. In think there’s enough effects that care about this that the card is worth existing. If there were any fewer cards that cared about massive lifegain this card would be unprintable, but I think there’s just enough that some people would love this. And the love is important! If they just liked this card, it wouldn’t be worth it. You are allowed to make dumb Johnny cards this week, so long as it can be loved.
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I hope this shows off some of the wider options for this week. This is a very self-indulgent contest for me, so I think it’s only fair to allow some of you to get self-indulgent as well.
If you have a card already, though, don’t forget to submit it >>HERE<<.
-Mod MrshinyObject
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A fun thing to do (and you may see these on YouTube a bunch) is show people who have never played magic some of the most powerful cards in the game and ask them if they think it’s broken or not. A lot of the time, the ones that trip people up are the ones that’s don’t do anything. Not the ones that do nothing, but the ones who do something and then just undo it. A card that gets rid of a creature then puts it back. A card that costs mana then gives you back mana. What’s the point of it all? Well, the point is that undoing something is powerful, even if the only thing you’re undoing is yourself.
This week’s challenge: create a card that undoes itself in some way.
- Mandatory: the card must either have an effect that it then undoes (for example, cloudshift) or undoes something inherent to casting it (for example, the urza’s block cards that untap the lands you tapped to cast them). Cards that have a temporary effect like act of treasons are not allowed, it has to specifically do something then undo it. It can still do other things (like those urza’s cards that have effects beyond untapping). It also doesn’t have to undoexactly what it’s doing, so long as it feels mechanically linked (for example, Nahiri’s Lithoforming sacrifices lands then lets you replay lands, even though they’d be different lands).
- Encouraged: I’m most interested in cards where the text is primarily focused on the undoing or where it is the focus of the card. I’m also really excited to see things that have not been explored before in the realm of undoing.
- Optional: While spells are probably the obvious route, you can make permanents. Merciless Executioner, for example, makes a creature then loses you a creature. I will also allow activated abilities that undo themselves, like Goblin Engineer’s second ability. Because people might interpret this prompt very differently, I’m going to be very broad in what I accept, so long as I can at least see where you were coming from.
- Warning: Famously cards like these tend to be very broken, despite the fact that they kind of do nothing. Maybe err on the side of caution when costing these, especially if it does something new. I will try and give the benefit of the doubt, though, and judge more on whether the design is interesting and cool rather than correctly balanced.
This is a contest I’ve been wanting to do basically since I became a judge, so I’m glad I finally got around to it. I’m so curious what people are going to do and I’m very excited.
If you’ve got your card all figured out, you can submit it >>HERE<< before it undoes itself. If you feel like you keep ending up back where you started, maybe seek out some help from other inventor’s fair members >>HERE<< at our discord server.
-Mod Mr. ShinyObject
