The Setup

Week 5.

Beta.

Restrictions:

Absolutely NO cards that appeared in the classic frame can be used. None. This means that basically, starting with 8th Edition, anything that was first printed from there on is game. Almost.

Judge foils in the classic frame cannot be used either. So no Crucible, Dark Confidant, etc. Have I mentioned your choice cannot have been printed in the classic frame, ever?

The render must be done in the Beta style. If you choose a Planeswalker, it has to use the ABU frame as-is. Add your interpretation of how the rules text would have been written for your particular choice. The standard NOT FOR SALE and current WOTC ™ and © additions MUST still be present.

As this is a different theme than we’ve seen, I’ll take the template choice out of your hands. I strongly suggest using Svante Ekholm’s ABU template. That can be found here.

But, feel free to use any other ABU template you might find.

The Sponsors

The home of the contest is the Z’s Proxy Factory Google+ Community. Our amazing friends at ManaDeprived.com and FacetoFaceGames.com are the proud sponsors of the contest, with weekly store credit prizes of $20 to first and $5 to second place.

The Winners

The Entries

Z’s Critiques

I must start out by expressing my disappointment in the number of submissions this week. A mere seven does not make for a healthy community. Regardless of subject chosen, in order for these to continue, we need folks willing to expand their comfort zones. If all we did were super art pop culture themed renders, we’d get 50 submissions of garbage each week.

Beta requires research to achieve a proxy that is both playable and time-period accurate. This research did not rear its head for many of these entries.

Regardless, doing research was not a requirement of the contest.

I will be brutally honest with this week’s critiques. We do not know where we are in the game without knowing where we came from.

Cavern cannot “enter the battlefield” in Beta, but it can “come into play”. The only land from 1993 to have 2 abilities to mimic is Library of Alexandria. The tap would have been “tap…or tap …” The add 1 to your mana pool” should have been “add 1 colorless mana…”

I’m not sure the art is a cavern. It appears to be a stone arch in the middle of a forest. I would have liked to see the “classic alter: over the border.

Spill is a point of preference, and I will always advocate its use over the text. Especially when the rules text mentions the card name. The spill is executed very well regardless of my preference. 🙂

The text is well done, though the “you may spend” could have been accomplished with a U: and 1: respectively and still have been period specific.

Alpha wording with a Beta border! Excellent choice of art.

The R should be the mana symbol in the rules text. Is the prevention text necessary? Fireball is Bonfire’s closest Beta relative, and it has no mention of damage prevention.

I dig the art used for this render. It has that creature-and-nothing-else Beta feel about it.

We do need to know when to add the 4 counters to the Hydra. The “Kalonian” in the rules text isn’t necessary. The Mijae Djinn “if you choose” should just be “if”. Mijae might not be able to attack due to the pending coin flip, and the Hydra has no such restriction.

The first user created art received a mere 3 votes. This is sad. Though I had to remind xerent to add the interrupt rules text, this is my favorite piece this week. The nod to the original art is excellent.

I would have liked to see the actual artist name and not the user name get the credit.

This is my personal close second. The art chosen is Absolutely Fabulous™.

Ponder is not a draw. “Decide” is misspelled. You could have almost gone word-for-word from the Ponder already in Beta, Natural Selection. Any excuse to use an “opt” is a good one.

Trevor is a past, and current, winner and this render saddened me for the lack of polish. Yes, the art is perfect, and the added blood adds rather than detracts.

GFFT cannot be an interrupt, nor can it bury a creature. An interrupt stops the game, and resolves. The only response to an interrupt is another interrupt. You cannot Brainstorm after a Counterspell to dig for a counter of your own as Brainstorm is an instant. Bury is first used in Legends as a shortcut for “destroy with no ability to regenerate.”

Excellent work on the tri-colored textbox! Excellent art choice as well.

The rules text spacing could use some work, and the only change I would have made is ” If you don’t, Bosk is tapped when you play it” to “If you don’t, Bosk starts tapped.”

Art Links

Aetherling as submitted by Adam Dexter

The Silver Myr art was created by Svante Ekholm

Ponder as submitted by Daniel Sexton

Cavern of Souls as submitted by Les Kershaw

Go for the Throat as submitted by Trevor Davis

Kalonian Hydra as submitted by Joshua Enke

Murmuring Bosk as submitted by Jake Roberts

Bonfire of the Damned as submitted by Jason Mong

Next Context

Check the rules for the next contest here!

Z