We started this semi-final with four competitors and are cutting down to our final two. Let’s review the challenge!
Tournament Round 3 – The Strixhaven Teaser Challenge
For this challenge, we ask our competitors to give us a sampler of a Strixhaven return set. The catch? You have a Maro // The Duelist style Set Teaser to work with to design your cards!
The Teaser has been broken down into four categoriesā Expectations, Sample Rules Text, Type Lines, and Card Names. Across your 8 card submission, we want to see at least two card design elements of each category demonstrated, though more is allowed. Your Teaser is spread across the 4 card image files attached to this post.
Lastly, you are spoiling this set! Get us excited about it, while showing us your creative and mechanical vision for this heavily anticipated return to Strixhaven!
Our judges had some expectations of their own in anticipation of the competitor’s submissions!
Ludos: “Strixhaven is not my favorite setting so Iām looking forward to see if the designers can excite me more than the original set did ā maybe itās a mechanical hook, a slam-dunk top-down design or a charming flavor. Either way, I canāt wait to see if the Design League can excite me more than R&D! Also I want someone to do the Generous Jock thatād be very funny.”
Kayiu: “For me, Strixhaven is one of the settings in magic that most clearly embodies the tension between ātrope and settingā – balancing audience expectations of a genre with making a world thatās fleshed out in its own right, and making them excited about it for those reasons.
Especially as a sequel, I want to see people lean into the setting – Archaics, Elder Dragons, and all the cracks in between the college and the rest of the world.”
Juliet: “Strixhaven’s mechanics for the different colleges had a surprising amount of forethought and finesse ā I’m not expecting to “get” all the new mechanics or archetypes from any given submission, but I will be extra impressed by anything that is as clearly expressing a theme as, say, the Prismari “sell-out” mechanic.”
Tim: “I’m hoping to see the school flavor and tropes stay strong. The analogs to regular school/college in the original set was one of my favorite parts of it.”
You can check out how the competitors approached the challenge by checking out their submissions here.
Your 4th Place Semi-Finalist is…
Pat, with Strixhaven: Senior Year
Juliet: Research Project and Rowdy Retriever are a fantastic pair for a set spoiler. “Graduating” the student protagonists by upshifting them in rarity works in a simple and straightforward way, and their Thesis projects seem splashy and fun for people who build flavor-forward commander decks (I’ve certainly built one of those for Killian!)
Mark: Dina, Exchange student — Good use of the name here, both in that she’s color-wise exchanging to the Mathomancy school, and in that her ability is exchanging. I like this card overall. Decent card without getting the effect, and a great mind control in the case where you can turn it on, and it fits the prompt in an evocative way.
Redbay: Pat, you’ve had a fantastic run this Design League, and we hope to see you again next season!
Your first place Semi-Finalist, and your first competitor to reach the Design League Season 3 Finals, is…
Provocative, with Strixhaven: Field Trip
Kayiu: (Re: Headmistress Kasmina) Oh, this is a really clever pseudostorm/Xerox incentive – on its base she’s already a Young Pyro, but the change to Go Tall makes the type of interaction that needs to be leveraged against it/the ways it encourages sequencing completely different. Intuitive, but with a lot of play to it. Flavorfully also immediately signals a status-quo shift.
Juliet: Speaking of Barana, what a fantastic field-trip guide! Helping students be wary, but then helping wayward students find their way back to the battlefield (once they’ve completed their adventure), altogether is an A+ package of mechanics and story, and one of the best card designs of this entire challenge.
platypeople:
Orchid Bloom-Kin – Awesome!
Wildblight Professor – Awesome!
Seize the Stars – Awesome!
Back to School – Awesome!
Redbay: You’re on fire during this Design League Tournament, and we’re all so excited to see what you can show us during our Final challenge!
Now, who will be joining Provocative in our Final Challenge? Let’s talk a little bit about Garduu and Bradley Rose’s submissions.
Garduu, with Hallowthorne: Study Abroad
Ludos: All in all, I think the entry here is great. It has a new mechanic that is well-supported by flavorful returning mechanics; it has a cool worldbuilding that expands Arcavios; and it has neat individual designs (Mynas is a standout.) My biggest criticism is that you, like, ignored blue. I have no idea what blue does in this set. Where are WU and UB? You fleshed out pretty well the other three (RG with just a card, Alastor), so what happened? Still, great job!
Kayiu: I think the set concept here is immediately one which justifies the decision to return to the plane, and inherently generates buzz/excitement. Flavorfully, I feel like this entry could’ve done with being with more pointed and heavyhanded; you’ve got limited space to sell this entirely new factional approach, so really make each individual card count! Almost half of this submission is devoted to Calcantos, but I couldn’t give you a straight answer as to the their academic inspiration beyond “mmmm math but Quandrix did that???” and mechanically, the sacrifice doesn’t feel like at all a new mechanical flavor for BR that lends itself to intuiting or puzzling out the flavor. Fireau and whatever the Vitamancy college are feel better contextualized/have more distinct personality to them. Mechanically, I like that the decision to return Clues wasn’t a trivial one, with each of the colleges in the pack having unique ways to make use of them.
Bradley Rose, with Lupushire: Far from Strixhaven
Juliet: Study is cool and a fun twist on the “teach” custom mechanic. I think keyword counters as a way of showing how a creature has learned from a class or experience works for me.
Tim: I liked almost all the cards and overall the pack felt Strix-y (Lupu-y?)
You can read all the judge feedback, roughly 10,000 words, by clicking here.
And in classic Design League fashion, we had a close call between our second and third place that divided our judges. Narrowly edging out the competition and our second Design League finalist is…
Bradley Rose!
Redbay: Congratulations to both our finalists, we’re hoping for a fierce and exciting final. To our third place finisher, Garduu: we’re so glad to have had you throughout this competition and hope to see you again next season.
Check out the finals and more on the Beacon of Creation Discord!