#meld challenge

[inventors-fair]

The Winning Formula

Congrats @teaxch​ for this blazing hot set of cards!

A hero wielding a corrupted weapon was a really nice trope to explore and it was delivered very nicely! Not only that, but the two cards can stand on their own very well, so fusing them is not just the purpose of their existence but rather a bonus!

On Ravening Wretch, it could enter the battlefield tapped and attacking to avoid all the text breaks etc, but the way it’s worded now gives the rest of your team a chance to attack twice. Once on their own and then Ravening Wretch joins them.

And, as the trope goes, it’s only the hero that dies. The weapon returns, waiting for a new master to empower, and eventually destroy.

All in all, this design challenge was a wild ride and you all deserve a round of applause for participating! Designing two cards that interact and fuse with one another was a big jump. Commentary on the rest of the submissions coming out on Saturday and Sunday! There are some pretty crazy and ambitious sets of cards to discuss!

[inventors-fair]

Fusion Time

Hello everyone! This week’s challenge is to meld two cards with different card types.

Your entries must be in the form of three card images or text

The two initial cards must have different card types.

The “fused” card can be any card type you want.

The Innistrad setting sure helps but it’s not mandatory. The multiverse is a big place after all.

Unfortunately we only have 3 such pairs in the official game, but fear not because an example post is on the way. You may as well ignore the “both own and control” condition for the purposes of this challenge.

Be brave, be creative. Emrakul believes in you. Submit your designs here!

[inventors-fair]

Strange recipe pt2

@top-hat-von-rattle-bones​ Oh, the cults of Innistrad. How nostalgic... Evil clerics, morbid triggers, the 13 theme! Everything’s great from a flavor standpoint. The only thing that takes a couple points from this submission is the synergy and the high power level of the two cards, which kinda renders their union far-fetched / unnecessary.

@tmstage​ Your two designs definitely fall into Johnny territory, and although bizarre, they can both stand on their own and provide interesting plays. The melded card though is a bit clunky and it boils down to “flip coins win the game”. I don’t know what direction you could go, but I, as a player , would expect a more intriguing design on the back of my two cards.

@starch255​ Another combo that uses sorcery as a component. The execution here is great, and Modern Prometheus has a very unique way of determining it’s stats. A+ flavor and creativity!

It’s a bit nit-picky but I didn’t like the activated ability in Pile of Parts. I would be happy if it had just the static ability. It’s not wrong that you wanted some additional utility for the exiled creatures, but returning them into the graveyard goes against what you’re trying to set up

@snugz​ First things first, I LOVE Biofusion! It could win a contest on its own. However this was a meld contest and Research Log and Biomancer’s Apotheosis, while great standalone cards, feel a bit disconnected. Also, Research Log is “cheating” since you can ditch biofusion with a draw discard effect, and get the enchantment with just a tiny amount of effort.

@reaperfromtheabyss​ Somebody loves into the maw of hell and it shows :p

The first iteration of Dharial is a bit too good for its cost, and consider that  a weaker body would be better so it dies more easily and then you can proceed to the next part of the melding ritual. Unholy Eruption is nice and I like that it’s a sorcery with a bonus effect should it targeted the right creature. However all the extra stuff becomes a bit tiring and slightly shifts the focus from the “main” event if you will. Hell’s Vengeance is both a fitting and satisfying combination of the two cards, it’s just that in my opinion, you needed to tone them down a little bit.

[inventors-fair]

Strange recipe pt3

This design was submitted by @antmations​ and I believe this is their first time submitting to the fair, so I wanna say welcome and thanks for sharing your enthusiasm by participating in this slightly harder than usual challenge.

The story of the design is that the thief gets trapped in the wizard’s home, and that transforms them into a psychic predator of some sorts. The two individual cards can stand alone on their own, so that’s a plus. On the execution, though, the thief’s ability should have been worded like in the extractor, so it’s both functional and consistent.

Thought extractor, though it carries elements from both cards, is an unnecessarily busy design and the stats are very high for both a potential 4 drop and for a “stealing” card.

@i-am-the-one-who-wololoes​ A simple equipment with +1/+1 and first strike, gets augmented by an equipment buff spell then it gets upgraded into a fused / permanent state of buff. When (not whenever) equipped creature died, the Scythe takes up a life of it’s own as a 4/4 creature that takes revenge for its lost wielder.

Cool and very hard concept to work with, as the complexity went from 1 to 7 and then to 9. Also, the existence of a sorcery that temporarily upgrades equipments is a big stretch that borderlines with parasitic design. I appreciated the boldness of your design and my sole advice here is that you should have taken a “less is more” approach.

@mydeergod-blog-blog There are a lot of similarities between artifacts and lands both from a mechanical and a visual standpoint. You have a good eye for realizing it and deciding to walk the thin line that separates the two.

Darksteel Mine is stellar design, Elder Furnace is overspecific yet flavorful and Darksteel foundry is something more than just a combination of the two, and I really like the “indestructible” tribal element of the card. Should Elder Furnance had another function, this could have been my choice for the winner of this challenge.

@misterstingyjack​ Love me some “fused card is the sum of its components and a bit more.” I feel a bit guilty for not having much to add here. The majority of people went more or less “wild” in this challenge so there things to discuss, advice to be offered etc. Congratulations for your skill and I hope I see more adventurous designs from you next year!

 Kol ([email protected]) You broke me. Nothing more to add..

Seriously though, it took me a couple of reads but there’s no doubt all three cards are exceptional. First of all, a ton of points for creativity and the intricate relationship between the two cards, as the melding actually happens when Palos’s Folly destroys him. (Great use of gravestorm btw)

As for Lord of Folly, the trigger is really special and I really appreciate this in a melded card. However, I am unsure whether it needs the indestructible part and the 8/8 body given you can potentially create a rather big token army.

dabudder ([email protected]) Cute cyclical design is cute! The power level is medium to low, because this card trio requires an elemental tribal deck and also some time before you can part the eons!

@dim3trodon​ Karn, Planeswalker is a very powerful and interesting planeswalker but sadly there’s little connection between it and the two (n a half) cards that created it. The flavor is appreciated but it can’t make up for everything

@fluffysheeplion​  This would have been a great combination of cards should Avacyn’s ETB trigger wasn’t there. The flavor and the attempt to further the tale of Avacyn is really nice, both cards can stand on their own, yet they work well together and the cost of the trigger acts evens out Avacyn’s big stats. The emblem part though confuses me. Not that I am against other permanents producing Emblems but I don’t get why it’s there.

@nine-effing-hells​ Great individual designs though a bit disconnected. You are also the only person who created a creature from two noncreature cards! And boy, this is an interesting creature. Becoming the sum of other creatures in the library is very ambitious and I feel it might even be broken unknowingly. Just for the sake of synergy, I would have liked it more if Simic ingenuity was able to shuffle cards from the graveyard into the library.

[inventors-fair]

Strange recipe pt1

Starting off the commentary for the meld challenge with @gollumni‘s Screech of the drake. I suspect the Spiketail trio was the inspiration behind this. I like the idea and the execution (melding is instant speed to  counter anything you want), the fact that the combined card vanishes takes away the joy of achievement .

@mardu-lesbian coming up next with Vigilfort, Guard of Kotayo, a card that gives off Power Ranger vibes, as it is online when Hoshi crews Slumbering Vigilfort. From a mechanical/ balance perspective the 3 cards are not on the same level, as Hoshi has stellar utility and the fort is more or less a do nothing card. When they meld, the resulting creature is ridiculously big for a potential 4 drop. I like the recycling part of the card but the stats could be a little lower.

@mistershinyobject brings up a Xenagos, Deity Returned (I too wish for his return) My first concern when seeing the three designs was that there might be color pie issues because you tried to create a red/green card using two green cards, but giving creatures haste and the ability to cheat other people in play is within green’s repertoire.

On the cards themselves, I really like the fact that you used a sorcery card for one of the two halves. It’s been used by a few more people and it was a great  idea. Reveler’s Devotion digging helps a lot and it has general use. Xenagos’s Remnance on the other hand is a functional yet bizarre design and Xenagos, Deity Returned is explosive and it is the center of power and attention unlike his original god card that played a more supportive role.

@custommagiccards​ and Trailblazing Frontier. Courageous Pioneer explores the wilds and reaches Flourishing Paradise, then brings some company and creates a settlement/ base of operations, Trailblazing Frontier!

The theme here is great and that is true for the use of the explore mechanic. Flourishing Paradise has decent utility. On the frontier, despite the fact that it is a well designed card, it took me a while to understand how it came to be from a flavor standpoint, as it is more about progress and less about two things combining into one.

@fractured-infinity​‘s submission tries to shed light on the mysterious planeswalker Wrenn.

In this approach, we have human or maybe a dryad planeswalker and a treefolk forming a new planeswalking entity. The land synergy is strong in both cards and it continues to their fused state.

With two PW and a creature, there’s a lot to unpack here. Both Wrenn and Progenitor offer deck thinning but Progenitor gets bigger in the process and given it has both Vigilance and Trample, it really is a premium creature. In return for giving it up, along with a decent planeswalker, you get some additional utility, but nothing too explosive, bar the opportunity for a quick emblem.

Maybe if you tied lands and token creation the fused card would have a bigger impact. Also, instead of 4 abilities you could go for a 3 + a static ability, like War of the Spark mythic Planeswalkers.

[inventors-fair]

Fusion time design example and guidelines

For this design challenge please send three card images for your entry.

The two initial cards must have different card types. 

The “fused” card can be any card type you want.

As for the template you may as well ignore the “both own and control” condition that appears in the 3 official meld cards.

The first design example is Delver’s story told in a way that fits the criteria of the challenge. A creature and an artifact meld into the dreaded 3/2 flyer.

The second example includes a creature and an enchantment that meld into a creature. Here the story is that the moon affects Innistrad in mysterious ways (thus the cascade effect) and when the mystic taps into its power, she becomes an embodiment of evolution.

This ain’t an easy challenge folks! Squeeze those brain muscles!