#agraveconcern

[inventors-fair]

A Grave Concern: Winners Circle Overall Winner:  Raging Spirit by @mistershinyobject​ This card does some crazy backflips in order to fit the contests rules, but I was impressed with how well this design works, while also encouraging green/red’s “Can’t be countered” motif. Even without cards like Rhythm of the Wilds, A successive onslaught of raging spirits is a really cool basis for a deck and I would love to play gruul aggro featuring this card. You should feel really proud about this design. Runner-up 1: Timetwist Tideturner by @teaxch A neat little draw engine wrapped in Time Spiral’s bizarre obsession with combining several disparate creature types. Well done. Runner-up 2: Grafworm Spawning by @demimonde-quasigoddess Using Retrace as your recursion mechanic is a great incentive to try and find a way to dump this token-spawning engine into the graveyard. A great design.

Congratulations to our winners, and thank you all for your entries. I’ll be dropping commentary on all the entires over the weekend.  ~ @thatboonguy P.S. Don’t forget to keep an eye out for the new contest on Sunday. After all of our necromancy crimes, Ablezumi will be dishing out some... 

Punishment.

[inventors-fair]

A Grave Concern

Haakon, Stormgald Scourge by Mark Zug

You know what’s really cool? Being able to cast cards from your graveyard. You know what’s really interesting? ONLY Being able to cast a card from the graveyard. Whether it’s our leading man Haakon here, the plethora of aftermath cards that Amonkhet gave us, or the recently released Titans from Theros, cards that can only be played from the graveyard have an added layer of puzzle solving to them. How do you get them to the grave? Do they put themselves there, like the Aftermath Splits or the Titans? Or do you need to trick it in there, like Haakon? That’s your goal this week.

Design a card that can only be cast from your graveyard.

You are allowed to use the Aftermath Design if you wish

You are allowed to use the Titan Design if you Wish

The main goal here is a card that can only be cast from your graveyard. Whether you give it a way to put itself there or make the player figure it out it up to you.

This incredibly narrow design space is going to be a real challenge for you this week. I look forwards to all of your designs, and I’ll be ready to answer any questions you have. Good Luck,

[inventors-fair]

A Grave Concern: Commentary Part 2 Coiling Spirit by @memnite-shyamalan This card is bizarre. And I love it. I only just missed the line when it came to picking winners. Well done.

The Bleedin’ Boneyard by @top-hat-von-rattle-bones This is a really cool idea, and I love the flavour, I’m just a little worried about how viable this is to bring back. Feels very win-more.

Soul of the Scrapyard by @nine-effing-hells This design is so cool, my only problem is that if you cast it from your hand, you’ll need to pay 4 more to get it into your graveyard.  Harbinger of Revelation by @snugz This is a really cool design that fell just short of a top slot.  Deadbolt by @misterstingyjack A really cool design with an awesome name (seriously, how have they not used Deadbolt yet!?) my only concern is that maybe the escape cost is a little on the cheap side? Maybe three cards would feel better. Spring’s Resurgence by @partytimesdeluxe A cool design that just missed the mark.  Vilgris, Regrowth Regent by @shakeszx I have one simple problem with this card. I would never cast it from the graveyard. I would dump 4 copies into my grave and then stall for 5 turns while my opponent flails to try and find a way to exile them from my graveyard.

Grave Onslaught by @reaperfromtheabyss This really cool design (and the only person to use dredge) was let down by the fact that 3 mana for a LOT of Zombies on a repeatable card effect is very, very overpowered. Sorcerous Undead by @tmstage We actually liked your original idea more. This design relies too much on playing other delve spells.

Down//Earth by @shandylamb This is a really cool idea that didnt quite make the mark. Well Done.

[inventors-fair]

Here’s a couple of entries by the judges! Heart of the Swarm by me, @thatboonguy, and Delver of Insanity by @follower-of-liliana. I went for a more Haakon-based design, giving you a free insect token that you need to keep alive in order to get the most out of Heart of the Swarm. Follower-of-liliana devised this Instrad-inspired take on the Titan template, feeding it’s own requirement but costing more and more mana to do so. You’ve still got a few days to get your entries in, and I’m excited to see what you all come up with.

[inventors-fair]

A Grave Concern: Commentary I’m so sorry this is so late, I’ve had NO time. Simian Spirit by @antmations While I like the homage to Simian Spirit Guide, having a card with Escape that Exiles itself kinda defeats the purpose of escape. Forgotten Trove by @fluffysheeplion While I love massive blue X spells with flashback, sticking delve on it takes this from “Powerful” to “Busted” Cadaverous Gasses by @i-am-the-one-who-wololoes I love the idea of having to crack a fetch to get these into your graveyard, but I worry that being able to dump 4 burn spells with flashback into your graveyard on turn 1 is a little strong. Rave Revanant by @hypexion This card would be a perfect common or uncommon in a standard set. Well designed. Investigative Necromancy by @fractured-infinity This is a really cool design let down by a fatal flaw: Hybrid Mana. If this was mono black, it would have worked fine. Hybrid Mana costs make things easier to cast, and represent both colours being able to do the same thing. Blue doesnt pay life to draw cards. Sucumb//Evil by @gollumni This card is so overpowered I can’t believe it. Languish on its own is a powerful card, but you’ve stapled a card that can both tutor and then play for free, any Bolas Planeswalker onto it. For 5 mana.  Reila, Undead Assassin by @dabudder This is a really, really cool idea let down by a single rules problem: This creature would only ever be a 1/1 thanks to how changing zones effects permanents. If you changed it to exile them with a certain counter or just counted the number of exiled cards full stop, then it would work. Mask of the Returned by @mardu-lesbian This homage to theros as a psudo-animate dead is a fantastic design that unfortunately just fell short. Time’s Passage by @juggernuat-is-a-metalhead Solid, simple design. Try for something a bit more complex next time.

Volatile Inspiration by @haru-n-harkel This good idea is let down by the fact that it’s a massive colour break. Hybrid Mana costs make things easier to cast, and represent both colours being able to do the same thing. Being able to cast a damage dealing spell in mono blue makes this card break the colour pie. If you replaced the hybrid with a simple UR cost, this would have been amazing.