This week’s theme was cards that have a negative effect on the player playing them. We had tons fo submissions this week and the competition was fierce. The hardest challenges the designers of this contest faced was balance.

Most of the submissions have no problem being flavorful, creative, and unique, but trying to make a card playable (without being totally busted) was a difficult task! The difference between the winning cards and the “almost” winning cards ultimately came down to the design and balance of the card.

The winning cards needed to be fun and bring something unique to the game. Sure, some of the more vanilla cards were balanced, but this is a design contest and, as such, not the place for filler cards!

Our favorite cards really focused on the unwanted gift theme (while some of the cards that didn’t make it seemed to forget the theme entirely!)

Here are our winners:

1st Place: Jugaru, Grand Traitor created by Roni Jaakkola

created by Roni Jaakkola 2nd Place: Consuming Spirit created by TenLetters

created by TenLetters 3rd Place: Horath the Unwashed created by Haligof

1st Place Entry:

Our comments:

Jugaru is an extremely interesting card and we love it’s legendary rarity– it’s fitting of it’s unique and powerful effect. And honestly, can you think of a more negative effect? You pay 5 Faeria to, literally, give your opponent a free creature.

But them, something interesting happens. That creature becomes a huge liability, punishing your opponent for playing more creatures onto what is, essentially, a ticking time bomb. Sure, they can get value out of their now free 5/5, but chances are if you are playing Jugaru in your deck, you are also playing multiple ways to destroy him. This delayed board clear is a powerful ability that we welcome into any control deck.

Even the lore is on point! Yes, Jugarau is a traitor of the grand variety, betraying the player that owns him with a devastating Last Word ability.

2nd Place Entry:

Our comments:

Consuming spirit caught our attention by costing 0 Faeria. It’s only requires one Desert, but that Desert is immediately destroyed once Consuming spirit is played on it! Consuming Spirit replaces it’s self with a card draw ability, so the real cost of this card is getting behind on colored land.

So imagine your turn 1 play consist of playing no lands, and instead, producing a 0/1 Flying, haste creature that can’t gather Faeria. Is that…good? We think so. We will let the creator explain why we like this card so much:

“Consuming Spirit does very little but also can do a lot. There’s a couple ways to approach the card and ways to use it.”

Yep, and if this card existed in the game, it would be one of the first we would try and build a deck around.

3rd Place Entry:

Our comments:

Cursed Treasure! The ultimate Unwanted gift. This was a favorite among all of us and we love the greed dynamic it brings to the player who casted it. How much treasure can you fit in your coffers before it sinks your ship? Is 3 damage a turn bearable? What about 9 damage?

While we think Magnus Blade and Thulgar’s Pearl might be a little too strong, we also had to take points off this card for being potentially busted when combined with cards that want you to play multiple Events. Simply playing Horath, and immediately playing 5 free spells (That do nothing but trigger Event mechanics) is likely too powerful, even when it is attached to a 7 Faeria 4/2.

But the lore, the creativity and fun factor of this card carries it to our third place spot.

Prizes For Our Winners:

1st Place: 500 Faeria Gold + 1 Pandora Coin

500 Faeria Gold + 1 Pandora Coin 2nd Place: 250 Faeria Gold

250 Faeria Gold 3rd Place: 100 Faeria Gold

Prizes will be distributed soon, so check your e-mails winners!

Honorable mentions

By Kissa Gram

Our comments:

I don’t know why Drool Swallower is called Drool Swallower, but we all really enjoyed the mechanic at work here. Giving your opponent a creature is certainly a negative thing, but you would only really play this card when you benefit the most from it.

That means giving your opponent damaged creatures that are already close to death (likely killing that creature in the same turn) while netting a giant creature for only 5 Faeria. This card was very close to making the top 3 spots, but we ultimately felt like the effect was too powerful with no real downside.

by J0k3se

Our comments:

Demolitioner is an aggressively costed creature with a lot of things happening at once. For one, it is a tech card against structures, as it’s haste and +4/+0 mechanic gets max value when destroying an enemy structure, but that comes at the cost of destroying whichever land it was played on.

And it’s Last word does the same thing which brings an interest tension between players who are both trying to avoid this creature dying on their side of the board. We liked the design, so it gets an honorable mention.

byCicero

Our comments:

Reckless Assassin has an awesome bit of lore and creativity behind it. Obviously, a 1 faeria 3/2 is a powerful creature, but what if it gives the opponent the exact tool needed to destroy it?

This is where it gets interesting. If your opponent plays the Punishment on Reckless Assassin, than the Reckless Assassin player should feel happy– they have gained a Two Faeria advantage for nothing. However, if the opponent manages to get rid of Reckless Assassin in a more efficient way (through some AoE or creature combat), than you should feel pretty bad about giving your opponent free cards.

This card is only an honorable mention, simply because the Unwanted Gift isn’t as punishing as it could be. Well, the gift is literally Punishment, but you get what I mean…

Notes on all submitted cards

You can see all submitted cards here, on our forum thread dedicated to the contest. Here are some of the notes our judges took while going over all of the rest of the cards:

Maledictus, Cursed

This card is very hard to decipher what it does at first glance. That being said, once you figure it out, you realize that it’s gift isn’t really a negative effect- it’s just the cost of this very particular effect that drains other creatures attack to buff this creatures life.

Oroborous, The End of All

This card will always exist in the mind of designers and I’m glad someone took a stab at it. It’s the archetypal massive creature. THE massive creature. The creature to end all creatures. Unfortunately, this really reads as “I win once I get up to 20 Faeria” and that isn’t very fun. There is no downside to this card– your life total becoming 1 is irrelevant as you win the game the turn it is played thanks to Haste.

Mysterious Druid The balance on this card is just questionable. If your opponent doesn’t play a creature on their 2nd turn, they might as well just concede the game, as your are now playing 3 Faeria 4/8’s with no downside.

Walking Mountain

This gift simply isn’t negative. It is useful and allows Red/ Green decks to function with increased fluidity and control of their colored land production.

Tiki Witch Doctor



This card is just a little confusing. Am I ahead when I play this card? Why do I get a Tiki Healer in my hand? Is that to offset the negative effect? Why does the negative effect have to be offset? I’m getting a 1 Faeria 5/5 creature! Super low casting huge creatures is an expected mechanic in this contest, and this card needed a little more thought to stand out.

Sandspawn



This is such an awesome card, but for the wrong contest! This card’s effect just isn’t negative or unwanted in any way. It’s very clever color fixing that allows Blue / Yellow decks to play multiple cards on turns they normally shouldn’t be able too. All while gaining a very well statted creature

Kamval the younger

This card is just too powerful. Sure, you give your opponents an awesome creature, but at what cost? Turning all of their lands into Prairies and effectively putting them behind on Tempo for the rest of the game? On top of this, Kamval the Younger is a Deathtouch, Ranged creature– he is the ideal answer to Karrah the Elder. I think if this card didn’t worry about turning opponents lands into prairies, and instead created the cool dynamic of you being the hunter, and your opponents free creature being the hunted it would be a lot more fun.

Erupting Elemental

Probably balanced, but a little vanilla. I don’t think anyone feels very good about destroying 3 of their own lands, especially when this creature just gets transformed into a frog.

Hell Hound



This card’s downside won’t ever be realized, as this card in multiples will almost always win you the game when you play it. 7 haste damage to your opponents orb is pretty insane and I don’t think this card will ever be balanced with these numbers.

The Portal in the Forest



This card just isn’t negative enough. The player playing it get’s to strategically choose when to deny their events. That is a huge positive. Not sure why this card is called The Portal in the Forest either.

Laboratory Maniac



Very unique card but it’s gift, is a little “too” punishing. How do you even win with this card? You destroy your deck, and than your opponent kills your 4 life creature. You now have no deck. The other scenario is saving this card for Fatigue situations, and that is much more interesting. However, doing that makes this card the definition of niche and we don’t see it being played (or very fun to play)

Prophet Cor’ael



Really love the idea behind this card, but what happens when the Dragon your opponent gets is a different color than their deck and they are unable to play it effectively? And Two Faeria less isn’t fast enough to deal with your whopping 4 Faeria 6/5. Faeria isn’t so much about card advantage– it’s about spending your Faeria wisely. polluting your opponents hand with something expensive that doesn’t synergize with their deck, whilst also robbing them of a card that does isn’t a downside, it’s usually a good thing.

Bribed Judge



Love the flavor, can’t accept the balance. Once a player has been hit by Bribed Judge, we don’t ever see them winning the game. This essentially ruins your hand and deck and forever forces you to be almost permanently behind on tempo or play from the top of your deck. Sacrificing 3 creatures just isn’t a big deal. Especially if your deck is built around such a powerful card.

Blood Worm



This card was very close to getting an honorable mention and would likely win the contest if the theme wasn’t an unwanted gift. This gift is very wanted– it begs to be built around and is a powerful yet balanced card that makes players want to build cool decks. Most standard decks would play this card and enjoy situations of essentially getting a free creature or even gaining Faeria for playing it.

Tiki Killer



This card has no downside or negative gift.

Eternal Life



This card has no downside or negative gift

Shaytan Life Sensor



We tried to create scenarios when we would play this card and feel happy about doing so, but we couldn’t. This creature forces you to use all of your Faeria every turn, and it’s ability just kills itself faster. Not playing this creature in the first place usually nets more Faeria than it being played perfectly.

Tormented Spectre

There is no reason this creature needs it’s negative gift. It is essentially a 3 Faeria 3/1 that threatens to grow bigger every turn. This is already extremely powerful and will likely win the game if your opponent doesn’t have a turn 1 answer for it. This card isn’t weak to removal because it only cost 3 Faeria and will almost always force players to spend more Faeria trying to deal with it .And again, it’s negative gift feels tacked on. It’s not even a downside! Just make the card a 3/1 to begin with!

Everlasting Roots



This card’s gift appears negative, but it actually isn’t. Shuffling 2 copies of an overpowered minion into an opponents deck actually makes your opponents deck worse, especially if it is a highly synergistic combo deck that would much prefer it’s own cards to be drawn. So what we end up with is an extremely powerful creature that also makes life miserable for most decks. And also, this card unintentionally creates incredibly boring game states that will almost always stall into fatigue.

Tiki Evolutioneer



We are pretty sure that 3/9 in stats is too much for 3 Faeria, especially with Blues knack of turning creatures life into their attack. The Gift on this ability is actually pretty useful, and while the creature evolves into something smaller (nice Tiki touch), it is ultimately more useful than harmful. Especially because it comes attach to a 3/9 creature.

Gabrian Bloodmage



This card is clever. But why would any deck play it? Why not just play a creature that doesn’t have such a draw back but still has solid stats to take the board? Love the concept, but is too underpowered.

Phores, the Lunatic Descendant



It feels strange that this frog is so massive. Other than that, the negative gift of Phores is easily ignorable– you get a 7/7 haste creature with Jump that can repeatedly damage the enemy for 7, not just once. It’s just too good.

Mortent, the Desolate Grove



The old saying goes that if a creature dies to removal before doing anything, it’s probably unplayable. Well this card does something– destroys all of your forest before getting turned into a frog.

Molten Yak



A fun card, but ultimately a little too overwhelming. Just play Molten Yak away from your own creatures, and start enjoying an absurd amount of haste damage for only 8 Faeria.

Artifact Thief



This card is very flavorful, but it creates a stalemate situation almost immediately. How do you kill The Mummy? How do you Kill Artifact Thief? Also, this needs to be a legendary card.

Ancient Evil



This idea of this card is sound, but you almost always win the race when playing it. 3 damage a turn is a lot better than a 7/7 creatures worth of damage. Ultimately, we think this card would see some balance issues and promotes an “all in” style of play that we aren’t convince was a purposeful part of it’s design.

Grand Yaktory



This card just isn’t negative! It’s perfectly symmetrical but with a bias for the player that plays it. Sure, the 3 Faeria investment to give your opponent a yak is bad, but you eventually win out on value.