As a long-time player of the game, I have to admit to being particularly intrigued by the prize given away each year to the winner of the Magic Invitational. The opportunity for a player to make his or her mark on the game with a card based on your own design, and sporting your likeness, is quite a gift back to the Magic community by Wizards of the Coast. I mean, what true fan of the game wouldn’t love this opportunity? Realizing that I will very likely never be able to play at a high enough level to ever be part of this event, I’ve suggested to Mark Rosewater in the past that a parallel”Magic Writers Invitational” would be a great idea. I mean, think of the really cool tournament reports that would come from it! Unfortunately, he didn’t bite. That doesn’t stop me from hoping and praying…
At any rate, looking over the card submissions from the players each year has been both entertaining and horrifying. There are some players who really take this opportunity seriously, and then there are some who submit jokes and obviously don’t value the rare privilege they are being given. I’d like to take the time to evaluate this year’s batch.
Osyp Lebedowicz
Ebony Lie-Spewer
1B
Creature – Human Wizard
2/1
Fear
At the beginning of your upkeep, you may discard a card from your hand. If you do, put a +1/+1 counter on Ebony Lie-Spewer.
Whenever Ebony Lie-Spewer deals combat damage to a player, that player discards a card from his or her hand for each +1/+1 counter on Ebony Lie-Spewer.
Grade: B+
Osyp keeps the tradition of a creature card and injects a little bit of humor in naming it – I mean, how fun will it be to say”I attack with my Lie Spewer!” though in actuality we’d likely say”I attack with Joe Black!” But he also takes a serious approach to building the card, pushing the power level to obvious Type Two levels and keeping the flavor of Black very much in mind. There’s high risk – getting two-for-one card disadvantaged if your opponent kills it after you’ve added the counter but before it attacks; but the reward is great – a three (or more) powered attacker with evasion and a potent ability for two mana. He doesn’t get an A simply because the card doesn’t really address a particular need in the game right now, it’s just pure fun.
Nicolai Herzog
Fanatical Crusader
WW
Creature – Human Soldier
2/2
Each creature other than Fanatical Crusader loses all abilities.
Grade: B
The Crusader is an interesting card. Its Humility-like effect can be quite useful and would certainly make a splash in the current metagame, shutting down Arcbound Ravagers, Disciples (assuming it would shut down triggered abilities too) and Goblin Sharpshooters. It just feels a little weak to me; I’d like it to have an ability of its own that won’t get shut down (such as first strike) or not be symmetrical. It also exists in the extremely crowded two-mana White Weenie slot, when we could really use a quality creature in the three-mana slot. Maybe something more like this:
Fanatical Crusader
1WW
Creature – Human Soldier
2/3
First strike
Each creature other than Fanatical Crusader loses all abilities.
1: Target creature gains his abilities until the end of turn.
Zvi Mowshowitz
Undiscovered Island
Land
If you control fewer lands than an opponent, you may play Undiscovered Island during that player’s turn as though it were your turn.
Undiscovered Island comes into play tapped.
TAP, Return Undiscovered Island to its owner’s hand: Add U to your mana pool.
Grade: C-
I have to say I’m incredibly disappointed by Zvi since he has a great gaming mind, but this card seems very narrow and unexciting. So it can be bounced back to your hand to avoid land destruction… whoo-hoo! Maybe I’m missing something here and this land is just incredible, but I don’t see it. Does it fill any need in Magic? Does it help Blue come back from the edge of ruin? It’s not even a creature so it would break a long-standing tradition of playing”yourself” especially since no man is an island…
Ahem. Anyway, let’s try and make this really good and flavorful:
Undiscovered Zvisland Seeker
1UU
Creature – Human Wizard
1/1
If you control fewer lands than an opponent, you may play ~this~ during that player’s turn as though it were your turn. When ~this~ comes into play, search your library for an Island card and put it into play tapped.
Return an island you control to owner’s hand: return ~this~ to owner’s hand.
Jens Thoren
Mindwarp Demon
1BBB
Creature -Demon
6/6
Trample
When Mindwarp Demon comes into play, sacrifice it unless you discard your hand.
Whenever Mindwarp Demon deals combat damage to a player, that player discards his or her hand.
Grade: B+
Like Osyp’s card, this is another potent Black card, aggressively costed for Constructed play, with a potentially large drawback to offset a pretty impressive ability. I kept this off the A list for similar reasons, since this is just a cool, fun card and doesn’t exactly fill some sort of need.
Gary Wise
Guilt
Instant
1W
Target player sacrifices a permanent.
Grade: D
Ugh! Gary Wise, you’ve been playing Magic forever, there’s no excuse for this sort of card. It’s incredibly narrow, being only potent if played the second turn when going first, and only then if your opponent didn’t play any permanents other than land. I’m guessing he meant for this to be some sort of mini-‘Geddon or neo-Swords to Plowshares, but man he missed the mark. And it’s not even a creature! The only thing keeping this from a failing grade is that it’s at least remotely playable.
How would we fix this? Ugh, I don’t even know…
Jon Finkel
Nojj Elf Kin
GUU
Creature – Elf Wizard
1/3
Whenever you play a land, you may pay 1. If you do, draw a card.
Grade: B+
Wow, I have to say Finkel’s come a long way from Wrath of LekniF (ridiculously overpowered) and Shadowmage Infiltrator (a decent but unimaginative card). The Nojj Elf-kin is a pretty cool card with a solid ability. The power level might be slightly low for a creature that WotC would want players to utilize, so I’d expect flying to be added to it and maybe another point of power.
Mattias Jorstedt
Ojtam, Supreme Strategist
2
Artifact Creature – Legend
2/2
When Ojtam, Supreme Strategist comes into play, you may search your library for up to four cards and remove them from the game, then shuffle that many cards you own from outside the game into your library.
“Are you sure that this is the optimal build?”
Grade: A-
Very nice indeed! Does something no other card has ever done, and what it does has a wide variety of uses. It might need a little bit of rules clarification (ala the Wishes), but I think that could be addressed. I kept this as a lower A grade because I think it’s both a little too powerful as a 2/2 for two mana with this ability, and it’s a little clunky as a Legend. I think it could be more appropriately costed at four mana and strip away the Legendary status and you’d end up with a great card.
Dirk Baberowski
Elf O’ War
1W
Creature – Elf Rogue
2/1
You may play Elf O’ War any time you could play an instant.
When Elf O’ War comes into play, return target creature to its owner’s hand.
Grade: C
Dirk’s card is way out of touch with reality. A White 2/1 Elf that bounces things and can be played at instant speed for two mana? I guess adding the”rogue” type could account for a non-Green elf, but if he’s so rogue he should probably be Black or (more appropriately given his abilities) Blue. An instant Man o’ War is certainly interesting if a bit unimaginative, but if he wants to go this route, something like this may be more appropriate:
Elf O’War
1UG
Creature – Elf Rogue
1/1
You may play Elf O’ War any time you could play an instant.
When Elf O’ War comes into play, return target creature to its owner’s hand.
Carlos Romao
Chock, o Matador
Creature – Dragon
5RR
6/6
When Chock, o Matador comes into play, remove all other permanents from the game. If you have less than seven cards in hand, remove Chock, o Matador and your hand from the game.
Grade: B-
I’m not sure how I feel about this card. It’s undoubtedly powerful, with a drawback that makes utilizing it rather clunky, since you’d have to have seven other cards in hand when you cast Chock. I do think the idea of tying his existence to a certain card level in hand, which seems like a really interesting drawback mechanic that could be used to balance a cheap cost to a powerful creature. What about something more like this:
Chock, o Matador
Creature – Dragon
2RR
6/5
Flying. If you have less than six cards in hand, remove Chock, o Matador from the game.
Bob Maher
Asp’s Grasp
G
Sorcery
Target player gets nine poison counters.
Grade: D
I didn’t flunk the Great One simply because of the humor in this card’s name. His card begs the question: do we really want to bring poison back to the game, and if we do, do we want it on a sorcery card? Note that casting this twice against an opponent wins the game, which is mildly interesting for Green to get. It’s a bit unfortunate that as I write this Bob Maher is 10-0 in the Invitational standings, so assuming that poison’s going to be making a comeback, how about something like this:
Grasping Asp
GG
Creature – Snake
0/1
~This~ comes into play with one +1/+1 counter.
~This~ cannot be blocked by creatures without flying.
When ~this~ deals damage to a player, that player receives two poison counters for each +1/+1 counter on ~this~. Add a +1/+1 counter to ~this~.
Kai Budde
Sanitize
2RWW
Sorcery
Destroy all artifacts and creatures.
Grade: D-
Snore. Do we really need a toned-down Akroma’s Vengeance? Having this pop up in the next block would pretty much give Equipped White Weenie all of about six months to try and do something once Vengeance rotates out. And not only does this fly in the face of the tradition of creatures for the Invitational winners, but it’s looking to kill creatures. It’s like the anti-Invitational card, and so I’m glad Mr. Budde is currently sitting at the bottom of the heap in the standings.
Jordan Berkowitz
Defender of the Skies
1U
Creature – Human Wizard
2/1
Flying
When Defender of the Skies is put into a graveyard, draw a card for each 1 damage dealt to it this turn.
Grade: A-
Impressive. Aggressively costed and powerful enough to certainly see Constructed play, the Defender is born to block non-trampling fatties. Blue could certainly use something like this, though with just a single Blue in his casting cost I’m willing to bet he’d be splashed in other colored decks more than serve as a base-blue staple. He might need to be double U for his casting cost.
Justin Gary
Druid Master
2GG
Creature – Human Druid
3/3
At the beginning of each player’s upkeep, if that player controls fewer creatures than an opponent, the player may reveal cards from the top of his or her library until he or she reveals a creature card. The player puts that card into play and the rest into his or her graveyard.
Sacrifice Druid Master: Draw a card.
“We will promote life, even at the cost of our own.”
-Druid oath
Grade: B+
The main thing I love about this card is its flavor is very much tied into Justin’s rep as someone who loves Oath of Druids. Do we really need another Oath of Druids? Probably not, but this is a good attempt at a”fixed” one that’s tied to a creature (in keeping with the Invitational tradition). Nice job.
Brian Kibler
Unilateral Disarmament
1
Artifact
When Unilateral Disarmament comes into play, draw a card.
Activated abilities can’t be played unless they’re mana abilities.
Grade: F
I’m a little harsh with the grade here because, frankly, we all expect some cool fattie (dragon?) from Kibler. At the very least, as a creative deckbuilder he could have cooked up something more interesting than an infinitely better Damping Matrix. Two thumbs down.
Masashi Ooiso
Nameless Researcher
1WU
Creature – Human Cleric
1/3
Sacrifice a permanent: You gain 1 life
When Nameless Researcher is put into a graveyard from play, you may search your library for an artifact or enchantment card with converted mana cost less than or equal to the number of cards in your graveyard and put that card into play. If you do, shuffle your library.
Grade: C+
Obviously an overpowered combo card, there’s no way that R&D would let this see the light of day intact, and likely any fixes they’d have to implement would make the final version decidedly mediocre out of necessity. Probably the best fix would be removing the sacrifice ability.
Jin Okamoto
Okamoto Djinn
1UUU
Creature – Djinn
5/6
Flying
When Okamoto Djinn comes into play, destroy all Islands.
Grade: B+
Fantastic flavor tied to Jin’s name and of course in keeping with the drawback tradition of Magic’s Djinns. Do we really need this card? Nah, but it’s darn cool. Nice job, though I’d like to see an interesting ability tied to it rather than making it just pure beatdown.
So there’s some good stuff here, as well as some stinkers. What would *I* have submitted if I’d somehow gotten in the mix? Hm, good question… what about this:
Benevolent Treesmith
2G
Creature – Elf Smith
2/3
Whenever a creature you control is put into the graveyard from play, you may sacrifice a forest. If you do, return that creature to play at the end of the turn.
During your upkeep, if Benevolent Treesmith is in your graveyard, you may remove three forest cards in your graveyard from the game. If you do, put Benevolent Treesmith from the graveyard into play.