Double Feature in today’s article! Let’s get into it!
Qualifier 2 – Subtype Sandwich
Whether we’re making a new sandwich or a new set, it’s fun to play around with new ingredients. In this challenge, we want to see our designers create a new subtype for an Artifact or Enchantment card. Design an Artifact or Enchantment card with a new, never-seen-before subtype.
- No rarity restriction.
- The card must be an Artifact or Enchantment typed card with a brand new card subtype. (It can’t be a token.)
- Examples of artifact and enchantment subtypes include, but are not limited to: Auras, Equipment, Saga, Shrines, Treasure, and Food.
- We’re not evaluating power level, but cards that are over-rate (e.g Oko Thief of Crowns from Throne of Eldraine) will distract the judges from your design.
We asked playtpeople what they were hoping to see coming out of this challenge:
“I’m mostly just hoping for anything that’s more than a pure typal tag (or if it’s a typal tag that it has a strong angle like Shrines). It’s a bit unfortunate that the challenge makes it hard to convey a subtype that’s primarily intended for a generated token.”
-platypeople, Design League Season 2 Winner and Season 3 Judge
You can read the full judge commentary for Season 3 Qualifier 2 by clicking here.
Qualifier 2 – Runners Up
Orb of Knowledge by Pat and Fury Ramparts by Northern Gun
Kayiu, on Orb of Knowledge: Huge fan of this. Keeps it simple, juxtaposes the new type with Clue so we can easily grok that it’s supposed to be an artifact token typing, and wraps it up in a neat, flavorful package. Powerstones already tell us that this design space of “limited ramp” has potential, and while it isn’t universal, I think STX’s big spells archetype gives us an archetype I could see this succeeding in. Overall, no notes, just a very clean design!
Tim, on Fury Ramparts: Good keyword/subtype and good card. I’m happy enough with just a soldier factory and I get lots of upside on top. I can imagine lower rarity Strongholds too, which give this some potential. You probably can’t put more than a few in a set but you could find places for it for many sets. Lots of environments could use better rewards for go-wide IMO.
Qualifier 2 – Winner
Production Line // Upgrade Facility by Garduu
Ludos: I love this. The subtype is totally justified in its functionality and the physicality of literally rotating the game piece like a gear makes me all kinds of unreasonably happy. This is maybe the first design I’ve ever seen that justifies the existence of flip cards as opposed to TDFCs in my eyes. I can only see two problems with this: one, the rate feels too good. This is a self-sustaining engine that spawns flying bodies and slowly boosts them for 3 generic mana *total*. I can see this warping Limited games around itself, not in the fun way. The second problem is intrinsic to flip cards; if you’re not careful with your tapping and untapping, you might forget which side you should be once this untaps! If as a player you always rotate the right way (literally following the tap symbol’s direction) you should have no problem, but it’s still something to keep in mind. Anyway, this is great.
platypeople: Testing my neck dexterity today I see! Mechancially this design plays out super cleanly as a cross between a buildaround and a late game win condition. I also think that despite some potential tracking confusion this likely feels better to handle as a game piece than if it were a DFC (cockatrice notwithstanding)
Congratulations, Garduu! You’re joining khord22 in our Design League Season 3 tournament!
Qualifier 3 – Would You Be So Kind
Here at Sorcerers of the Red Bay, we are wildly celebrating the success of our previous mechanics in Ancestor and Triumph. For our upcoming Court Intrigue set, we like the word “Courtesy.” So, give us a new mechanic (keyword ability/action, ability word, batching word, card type or subtype) that uses the word ‘Courtesy.’
- Must use and define your new mechanic ‘Courtesy’ within the card. (Not courteous or courteously.)
- The mechanic must also be an example of a set mechanic (think 15+ cards in a set with this mechanic.)
- No rarity or card type restrictions.
- Card flavoring should be ‘Court Intrigue’ (e.g Game of Thrones, Wheel of Time, A Court of Thorns and Roses, A Memory Called Empire, MTG’s Conspiracy Sets, etc.)
You can read the full judge feedback for Qualifier 3 by clicking here.
Qualifier 3 – Runners Up
Fioran Courtesy by Pat and Beloved Bodyguard by CryptRat
Juliet, on Fioran Courtesy: I admit to being charmed by the presentation of this idea, and the hope of alternative Courtesies down the line; and I think this is a fun enough flavor to justify an extra-game-piece if the mechanics make good play. Of course, we can’t really tell whether the mechanics would make good play without seeing how cards extend a courtesy, but being able to choose what order your give these things to your opponent (and equally importantly in Conspiracy, which opponent you give them to) provides enough play that I’m satisfied. Altogether this helps invert the “total war” paradigm of traditional magic in a way that I’d probably be looking for in a Court Intrigue set!
platypeople, on Beloved Bodyguard: This mechanic seems like it could lead to some wild chains of favors & politics at the commander table, in a good way! If many courtesy cards pay off any player (including yourself) for giving you a courtesy draw I almost wonder if that crushes out some of the intrigue since the person who just builds most heavily around it is going to end up with the biggest hoard of bonuses. There is also the potential for wordiness to creep in here if lots of courtesy cards have both a “cycle me” bonus and a “opponents should choose me when they cycle” bonus.
Qualifier 3 – Winner
Party Animal by perryk
Tim: Fun deterrent and fits “Courtesy” well. I really see potential in soft-deterrent effects that don’t require paying mana by the attacker. Makes combat more fun early in multiplayer without letting the archenemy become invincible. Maybe slightly tricky to get up above 15 cards but 10+ is definitely doable.
Mark: I like this quite a bit. It rewards attacking, as long as they aren’t attacking you. It helps end the game in a fun way that I actively want to play. Although admittedly it incentivizes chump attacks a bit hard. At rare, I’d like if this rewarded you for opponents playing cards from exile in some way. I also like that it’s “defensively aggressive” if that makes sense. I can imagine board states that essentially exist as a bribe-off in terms of upsides for attacking one player or another.
Congratulations, Perry! You’re returning to the Design League Tournament, joining khord and Garduu!
The Qualification Point Race
While Pat and CryptRat have established a lead in the points race, those last two tournament slots aren’t locked up yet– there’s still at least 12 qualification points up for grabs over the next three challenges. Let’s see how everybody is doing:
| Designer | Qualification Points |
| Pat | 6 |
| CryptRat | 5 |
| Craftedlavaistrue | 3 |
| Wobbles | 3 |
| JamesDaltonBell | 2 |
| Northern Gun | 2 |
| Bradley Rose | 1 |
| MonoWhiteBorder | 1 |
| Sagebeez | 1 |
Get in on the action by heading over to the Beacon of Creation Discord!