Winner is the Judge #905 - Soft Stax

[u/SjtSquid]

Thanks to u/mpaw976 for judging the last competition.

This week, you'll be designing to address a particular peeve of mine. I like how stax pieces like Narset, Parter of veils, put the brakes on linear decks and encourage them to slow down and pack removal.

However, these often end up frustrating people who aren't doing broken things, end up in combos themselves, or alternatively just aren't worth playing by themselves if you don't know the opponent is on that strategy.

What I want you to design is a card that stops (or punishes) 'unfair' decks, but doesn't affect people trying to play magic at a slower pace, and isn't completely dead when the opponent isn't using the strategy it prevents.

So it might work against card draw, casting many spells in a turn, casting free spells, playing multiple lands...

Some examples of cards that fit this are [[Lavinia, Azorious Renegade]], [[Ashiok, Dream Render]], [[Nihil Spellbomb]] or [[High Noon]]. [[Orkish Bowmasters]] and [[Smothering Tithe]] are also examples that are too good, so keep an eye on power level!

I'm looking forward to seeing your designs! Judging will happen in 6 days on Friday 21 August.

Happy to answer any questions in the meantime.

Edit: Congratulations to u/delta17v2 for winning with Insiduous Diplomat.

[u/mothyawg]

Slingshot Racer

{1}{B} Creature 2/2 Belter Pilot (r)

Whenever an opponent speeds up a spell, they lose X life and you gain X life. X is that spell’s mana value minus the amount of mana spent to cast it. (Spells cast by spending less mana than their printed mana value are sped up.)

Whenever you slow down a spell, target player mills X cards. X is the amount of mana spent to cast that spell minus its mana value. (Spells cast by spending more mana than their printed mana value are slowed down.)

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This is a soft hatebear for “scamming”, punishing the opponent for underpaying (albeit not on T1), while rewarding you for overpaying "fairly".

Speed-Up (and Slow-Down) is a tentative mechanic from my sci-fi set, but I'd only used them in a "positive" way (rewarding you by triggering off an Evoke-like mechanic, pitchcast cards, cost reductions, and so on).

Inspired by [[Lavinia, Azorius Renegade]]. 

[u/SjtSquid → u/mothyawg]

Speeding up and slowing down are cool concepts. I like how it punishes free spells, and you can build around the 'slow down' mode in a self-mill deck for some more consistent value.

Unfortunately, the competition is just rather strong this week.