June MCC — Judge signup thread
To Mabel
Guess who's back! Back again! Someone from "One pierced heart, two mindful horns" is back! Tell a friend! Guess who's back...
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Hi, Mabel. I know starting a letter like this might look a little threatening, and I assure you I mean no harm to you or anyone you hold dear, but I can't help but wonder if you have seen something like a ghost squirrelfolk putting this letter in your mailbox in the night, probably last night if you've checked your mail today. If you did, have no worries, it was me. And again, I mean no harm.
You might rightfully wonder who I am, why I'm writing to you, why I've come to deliver this letter in your mailbox, and how I did it. It wasn't easy, that much I can tell you. Having a bigger and longer tail than the trunk you've had while you were alive is harder than it might look at first. You might be familiar with the name Ral. I know he's been on an adventure with you and your friends recently, and you've met him as a clumsy but powerful otterfolk. I know him, and he told me about the journey you've made together. I'm not sure if you know where he's from, or why he appeared clumsy. Our home is the same, a far place, another world if you're open to accept the idea, one called Ravnica. Just like me, he's not used to having a big tail either. I actually do have one but much smaller, while he doesn't have one at all. He is a human, provided you know what a human is in the first place. Instead I am a loxodon, what you would probably call elephantfolk, or more precisely currently a loxodon spirit. My mortal body has been killed by a poisoned arrow shot right precisely into my heart a few months ago, and while I belong to a guild called Selesnya, my mother belongs to a different one, the Orzhov, and she had provided me with a death insurance since I was a child, to bring my soul back as a ghost when I would have died, just in case. That case became real and I came back as a ghost, but my death had made me a planeswalker. Another word you probably don't know, but don't think about it too much. Actually, Ral is one too and might have told you. I rarely come back to my home plane, but I like to keep up to date about what's happening there, so I do have a few contacts there, and Ral happens to be one. I don't think you've understood much in this paragraph, but I'm sure it served its purpose anyway.
Being a planeswalker means that I can come to your world, Bloomburrow, using means other than omenpaths. That's how I came there to deliver this letter to you, and other similar letters to your friends, only that the magic of your world turned me into a squirrelfolk, as I've mentioned, just like it turned Ral into an otterfolk. That covers the first and last of the four questions. Now for the others, the why. Because I just loved your story. Every single piece that Ral told me. I wish I was with you all too, and I hope these letters are an acceptable substitute for my absence. I want you to know that he talked to me about you and your friends as very nice people, and of Bloomburrow as a place where it would probably be nice to live, probably nicer than our actual home, and as an actually relaxing visit in his quest, which even I don't know fully. All I know is he wants to find the one that he talked about to your friend Helga, but I don't know why he wants to find him. I do know however that your friend has been able to help him. She shouldn't be as insecure as Ral told me, but I'll write that to her myself. As for you, he described you as a leader that's nice and caring of others in her party, which is very meaningful. All the worlds badly need more people like you, and I hope you and the tales of your adventure might actually be an example to people in many places in the multiverse, if you know what that is. You are a strong person. Your family is lucky to have someone like you, and while I don't know if Ral actually gave one of the ironsap buttons you gave him to his husband, I do know that for somebody to make such a gesture, a gift out of her heart, it has to mean that she really cares. And that's what I like about you, besides and more importantly than your indisputable courage.
May you and your friends have the best in your lives. I hope you all have some kind of insurance like mine, just in case. But I also wish you all that you will never need it. Unlike me.
Maybe someday we'll meet in person, who knows? Keep an eye out for a strange ghost squirrelfolk with black fur and yellow eyes, and you might see me approaching your house one day. If you do, please don't be afraid of my appearance. I know I don't look as nice as the person I actually strive to be. Until then,
Best wishes,
—Katel
You might rightfully wonder who I am, why I'm writing to you, why I've come to deliver this letter in your mailbox, and how I did it. It wasn't easy, that much I can tell you. Having a bigger and longer tail than the trunk you've had while you were alive is harder than it might look at first. You might be familiar with the name Ral. I know he's been on an adventure with you and your friends recently, and you've met him as a clumsy but powerful otterfolk. I know him, and he told me about the journey you've made together. I'm not sure if you know where he's from, or why he appeared clumsy. Our home is the same, a far place, another world if you're open to accept the idea, one called Ravnica. Just like me, he's not used to having a big tail either. I actually do have one but much smaller, while he doesn't have one at all. He is a human, provided you know what a human is in the first place. Instead I am a loxodon, what you would probably call elephantfolk, or more precisely currently a loxodon spirit. My mortal body has been killed by a poisoned arrow shot right precisely into my heart a few months ago, and while I belong to a guild called Selesnya, my mother belongs to a different one, the Orzhov, and she had provided me with a death insurance since I was a child, to bring my soul back as a ghost when I would have died, just in case. That case became real and I came back as a ghost, but my death had made me a planeswalker. Another word you probably don't know, but don't think about it too much. Actually, Ral is one too and might have told you. I rarely come back to my home plane, but I like to keep up to date about what's happening there, so I do have a few contacts there, and Ral happens to be one. I don't think you've understood much in this paragraph, but I'm sure it served its purpose anyway.
Being a planeswalker means that I can come to your world, Bloomburrow, using means other than omenpaths. That's how I came there to deliver this letter to you, and other similar letters to your friends, only that the magic of your world turned me into a squirrelfolk, as I've mentioned, just like it turned Ral into an otterfolk. That covers the first and last of the four questions. Now for the others, the why. Because I just loved your story. Every single piece that Ral told me. I wish I was with you all too, and I hope these letters are an acceptable substitute for my absence. I want you to know that he talked to me about you and your friends as very nice people, and of Bloomburrow as a place where it would probably be nice to live, probably nicer than our actual home, and as an actually relaxing visit in his quest, which even I don't know fully. All I know is he wants to find the one that he talked about to your friend Helga, but I don't know why he wants to find him. I do know however that your friend has been able to help him. She shouldn't be as insecure as Ral told me, but I'll write that to her myself. As for you, he described you as a leader that's nice and caring of others in her party, which is very meaningful. All the worlds badly need more people like you, and I hope you and the tales of your adventure might actually be an example to people in many places in the multiverse, if you know what that is. You are a strong person. Your family is lucky to have someone like you, and while I don't know if Ral actually gave one of the ironsap buttons you gave him to his husband, I do know that for somebody to make such a gesture, a gift out of her heart, it has to mean that she really cares. And that's what I like about you, besides and more importantly than your indisputable courage.
May you and your friends have the best in your lives. I hope you all have some kind of insurance like mine, just in case. But I also wish you all that you will never need it. Unlike me.
Maybe someday we'll meet in person, who knows? Keep an eye out for a strange ghost squirrelfolk with black fur and yellow eyes, and you might see me approaching your house one day. If you do, please don't be afraid of my appearance. I know I don't look as nice as the person I actually strive to be. Until then,
Best wishes,
—Katel
As is tradition by now, this month we will celebrate the latest premier set, in this case Bloomburrow, by exploring its mechanics and themes, as usual in this kind of MCC months.
Here is this month's calendar, with a few additional notes:
September MCC calendar
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If you want to sign up as a judge for this month's MCC, just reply to this thread, but please be aware of a little extra something that's essential for this MCC month to proceed as planned at the proper pace:
By signing up as a judge this month, you are giving me, as host, full permission to take over your bracket and do it myself if you haven't posted your judgments within the judging deadline.
Leo's long explanation and more info about this MCC month, with a question for you all to answer in the discussion thread
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This is to avoid the problem of the contest being slowed down by late judgments and possibly proceed with the same pace I and Ryder kept on January, and I on March and June, and that should be the normal pace of this contest in my opinion. It was also the "change" that got the most positive feedback on both January and March, and I can easily see why. In fact, it's a point that I've been bringing up for a very long time, probably years by now. The rest of the months this year so far have been maybe not perfect but mostly still good enough. Let's do it again this month. This is the reason for the additional clause bolded above.
Still taking feedback from January and March into account, and also how June was planned and actually went, it appears that one of the factors that allow us to have a proper pacing is split weekends, with one day between Saturday or Sunday falling in the design phase and the other in the judging phase. I'm doing split weekends this month again, as you can see in the calendar above. I will strive to enforce that calendar in all the ways I possibly can.
The bolded clause above also helps guarantee that the calendar at the top of this post will be respected. Now you all know the planned design and judging deadlines for the whole month. Please make sure to play or judge accordingly and everything will be fine.
If you already know you can't keep up with that calendar for any reason (first and foremost real life reasons of course), I kindly ask you NOT to sign up as a judge this month. What I'm looking for and what I need to properly enforce this calendar is someone who is able to keep up with that calendar reliably, every single week. Of course, things can happen in real life that we can't possibly expect or foresee during the month, such as myself hosting December and my father dying right as Round 2 was happening. Should something like that happen to you in real life, remember this: you will not be alone. Your fellow judge(s) will be there to help you. And if it's just me, I will be there to help you. Just pm me saying that you won't be able to make your judgments on time and I will take care of it. What I'm talking about is the same kind of collaboration as when my father died in December while I was also hosting the DCC, one of my fellow DCC hosts essentially took over the rest of the month (it was void_nothing in this case, but I'm sure Rithaniel would have done it too). This is exactly what I'm talking about: if a sudden problem arises in real life that causes you to not be able to respect the judging deadline, I will do what void_nothing did for me in the December DCC and be there for you. This is at the same time a promise and a requirement on my part as host for this month.
I hope this extra requirement to sign up as a judge will allow us to repeat what we did in January, March, and June and finish the contest only a few days into the next month at most. I'm very determined to do it again, exactly as I was the previous times. On January, we proved that it's possible. On March and June, we proved that it's repeatable. This month, I want to confirm that it's repeatable, and that, to say it with an expression that we're using a lot in my family after my father's death, that it can be our new normality for the MCC. It was actually the old normality, as things went back when we still were on Salvation, but I want to bring it back and turn the old normality into the new normality. It appears that it's actually slowly becoming the new normality, and I want to keep that going.
Also, Round 3 pairings being based on the total score from Rounds 1 and 2 will be returning as well. It went over very well on December, January, and March, and has become an ongoing thing since then. On June, I've tried a different matching based on feedback from previous months: assuming six players in Round 3, it went 1st vs. 4th (instead of 6th) and 3rd vs. 6th (instead of 4th), the pairing of 2nd vs. 5th didn't change. The intention was to reduce bad feelings for the lower ranked players, but I noticed that July and August both used the classic system of 1st vs. 6th and 2nd vs. 5th. I have not decided yet which of the two systems to implement this month, and I'll do it based on what you all tell me in the discussion thread.
Split Subchallenges will return as well, and they also have become an ongoing thing by now. They are back as well, but I'll do them exactly as I did on June. Not every round will have the same number of split Subchallenges. In Round 1, both Subchallenges will be classic additional requirements each worth 1 point, no split. In Rounds 2 and 3, Subchallenge 1 will be a classic one worth 1 point while Subchallenge 2 will be split in two requirements each worth 0.5 points. In Round 4, both Subchallenges will be split, for a total of four additional requirements each worth 0.5 points, for maximum difficulty. I'm using split Subchallenges as a means to increase the difficulty from one round to the next, as I believe it should always be in the MCC.
The "intended flavor" part from my previous month (June) will NOT be back this month. I think it went over way less impactful and enjoyable that I believed it would have been. No problems, I am a scientist so I do know that some experiments are bound to fail. And as I consider it a failed experiment, it will NOT be back this month.
No feedback polls will be up after this month is over. If you have any feedback, I encourage you to post it in the discussion thread.
Still taking feedback from January and March into account, and also how June was planned and actually went, it appears that one of the factors that allow us to have a proper pacing is split weekends, with one day between Saturday or Sunday falling in the design phase and the other in the judging phase. I'm doing split weekends this month again, as you can see in the calendar above. I will strive to enforce that calendar in all the ways I possibly can.
The bolded clause above also helps guarantee that the calendar at the top of this post will be respected. Now you all know the planned design and judging deadlines for the whole month. Please make sure to play or judge accordingly and everything will be fine.
If you already know you can't keep up with that calendar for any reason (first and foremost real life reasons of course), I kindly ask you NOT to sign up as a judge this month. What I'm looking for and what I need to properly enforce this calendar is someone who is able to keep up with that calendar reliably, every single week. Of course, things can happen in real life that we can't possibly expect or foresee during the month, such as myself hosting December and my father dying right as Round 2 was happening. Should something like that happen to you in real life, remember this: you will not be alone. Your fellow judge(s) will be there to help you. And if it's just me, I will be there to help you. Just pm me saying that you won't be able to make your judgments on time and I will take care of it. What I'm talking about is the same kind of collaboration as when my father died in December while I was also hosting the DCC, one of my fellow DCC hosts essentially took over the rest of the month (it was void_nothing in this case, but I'm sure Rithaniel would have done it too). This is exactly what I'm talking about: if a sudden problem arises in real life that causes you to not be able to respect the judging deadline, I will do what void_nothing did for me in the December DCC and be there for you. This is at the same time a promise and a requirement on my part as host for this month.
I hope this extra requirement to sign up as a judge will allow us to repeat what we did in January, March, and June and finish the contest only a few days into the next month at most. I'm very determined to do it again, exactly as I was the previous times. On January, we proved that it's possible. On March and June, we proved that it's repeatable. This month, I want to confirm that it's repeatable, and that, to say it with an expression that we're using a lot in my family after my father's death, that it can be our new normality for the MCC. It was actually the old normality, as things went back when we still were on Salvation, but I want to bring it back and turn the old normality into the new normality. It appears that it's actually slowly becoming the new normality, and I want to keep that going.
Also, Round 3 pairings being based on the total score from Rounds 1 and 2 will be returning as well. It went over very well on December, January, and March, and has become an ongoing thing since then. On June, I've tried a different matching based on feedback from previous months: assuming six players in Round 3, it went 1st vs. 4th (instead of 6th) and 3rd vs. 6th (instead of 4th), the pairing of 2nd vs. 5th didn't change. The intention was to reduce bad feelings for the lower ranked players, but I noticed that July and August both used the classic system of 1st vs. 6th and 2nd vs. 5th. I have not decided yet which of the two systems to implement this month, and I'll do it based on what you all tell me in the discussion thread.
Split Subchallenges will return as well, and they also have become an ongoing thing by now. They are back as well, but I'll do them exactly as I did on June. Not every round will have the same number of split Subchallenges. In Round 1, both Subchallenges will be classic additional requirements each worth 1 point, no split. In Rounds 2 and 3, Subchallenge 1 will be a classic one worth 1 point while Subchallenge 2 will be split in two requirements each worth 0.5 points. In Round 4, both Subchallenges will be split, for a total of four additional requirements each worth 0.5 points, for maximum difficulty. I'm using split Subchallenges as a means to increase the difficulty from one round to the next, as I believe it should always be in the MCC.
The "intended flavor" part from my previous month (June) will NOT be back this month. I think it went over way less impactful and enjoyable that I believed it would have been. No problems, I am a scientist so I do know that some experiments are bound to fail. And as I consider it a failed experiment, it will NOT be back this month.
No feedback polls will be up after this month is over. If you have any feedback, I encourage you to post it in the discussion thread.
All of that said, let's go back to my normal pattern for the judge signup thread.
If you've already judged before in the MCC, just post in this thread and that's enough.
Otherwise, if you've never judged before, there is a little extra step required: please try to judge the sample card you can find below with the MCC rubric and post your sample judgment here. I will reply to you as soon as possible with my own thoughts about it and if you did good enough of a job, I will officially welcome you as an MCC judge.
Anyway, whether you've already judged the MCC or not, please remember the extra timing requirement this month though before deciding whether to sign up here or not! (See above.) Even if that prevents you from signing up as a judge this month, I will be more than happy to have you as a player!
Sample card
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Assume all challenges (Main Challenge and both Subchallenges) are met.
Flesh Manipulation
Sorcery (R)
Gift a permanent card
Look at the top card of your library. If it's an instant or sorcery card, you may exile it. Otherwise, you may put it on the bottom. Then, exile any number of instants or sorceries from your hand or graveyard. Until the end of your next turn, you may cast cards elixed this way. If the gift you promised, spells you cast this way cost less to cast.
(If I remember to do it, I might post the list of intentional mistakes after the signups are over.)
Flesh Manipulation
Sorcery (R)
Gift a permanent card
Look at the top card of your library. If it's an instant or sorcery card, you may exile it. Otherwise, you may put it on the bottom. Then, exile any number of instants or sorceries from your hand or graveyard. Until the end of your next turn, you may cast cards elixed this way. If the gift you promised, spells you cast this way cost less to cast.
(If I remember to do it, I might post the list of intentional mistakes after the signups are over.)
MCC Rubric
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The MCC Rubric is given below, in an easily "copy and pasted" form. (Courtesy of Rithaniel.)
Code:
[b]Design[/b][b](X/3) Appeal[/b] - Do the different player psychographics (Timmy/Johhny/Spike) have a use for the card?[b](X/3) Elegance[/b] - Is the card easily understandable at a glance? Do all the flavor and mechanics combined as a whole make sense? [b]Development[/b][b](X/3) Viability[/b] - How well does the card fit into the color wheel? Does it break or bend the rules of the game? Is it the appropriate rarity?[b](X/3) Balance[/b] - Does the card have a power level appropriate for contemporary constructed/limited environments without breaking them? Does it play well in casual and multiplayer formats? Does it create or fit into a deck/archetype? Does it create an oppressive environment? [b]Creativity[/b][b](X/3) Uniqueness[/b] - Has a card like this ever been printed before? Does it use new mechanics, ideas, or design space? Does it combine old ideas in a new way? Overall, does it feel "fresh"?[b](X/3) Flavor[/b] - Does the name seem realistic for a card? Does the flavor text sound professional? Do all the flavor elements synch together to please Vorthos players? [b]Polish[/b][b](X/3) Quality[/b] - Points deducted for incorrect spelling, grammar, and templating.[b](X/2) Main Challenge (*)[/b] - Was the main challenge satisfied? Was it approached in a unique or interesting way? Does the card fit the intent of the challenge?[b](X/2) Subchallenges[/b] - One point awarded per satisfied subchallenge condition. [b]Total: X/25[/b]*An entry with 0 points here is subject to disqualification.As always, since I am hosting, I am also going to be a judge. The number of judges we need depends on how high the player participation will be. If player participation is so high that more judges will be required I will certainly not complain! That's a problem that I actually would like to have! But if the participation is too low, I am also ready to judge solo, as both void_nothing and myself have already done multiple times in the past.
Judge signups will stay open until the design deadline for Round 1 or until we get enough judges, whichever comes first. The judge signups will be going on in parallel with Round 1.
Round 1 will be posted on August 31st, as per the calendar above.
Statistics: Posted by bravelion83 — 1 month ago — Replies 2 — Views 492