I’d have loved to participate in Wizards’ Great Designer Search 2, but the fact of the matter is that I’m simply not ready yet. Magic’s become a big part of my life, but I’ve only been playing it since March 2010. While I have cards dating from Revised Edition to Scars of Mirrodin, my knowledge of the game — its myriad archetypes, inventive mechanics, and diverse formats — just isn’t especially great.
Having said that, I think one of the best things I can do to accelerate my development as a Magic player (and, potentially, designer) is to give it a shot anyway. I’ll undoubtedly be learning a lot, and I can apply that newfound knowledge to my near-term play. So, while it’s much too late to get on board in any official capacity, I’m going to chart my progress on (mashedmarket). My plan is to start with the multiple-choice test and go from there. Seeing as how the first three questions deal with a specific example, I thought I’d answer those today.
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Questions 1–3 refer to the following card:
Fast Guy
Creature – Human
3/1
Lifelink, haste
1) Which color is most appropriate for this card?
a) white
b) blue
c) black
d) red
e) green
Yeesh. So far as I know, lifelink is generally a white ability. And haste is practically always red. I’ve seen lifelink on black cards, and haste on at least one green. Lifelink feels like it could be a green ability; the natural world is full of growth and vitality. Also, I think one my kitchen table-playin’ buddies said something about green and life gain going hand in hand back in the day. Green it is. Final answer.
2) Which rarity is most appropriate for this card?
a) common
b) uncommon
c) rare
d) mythic rare
Being confronted with this question makes me realize that I have only the foggiest of ideas as to what the difference between an uncommon and a rare is. My gut says this card is FAR too vanilla to be mythic and just that much fancier than a common. Uncommon.
3) You are changing one of Fast Guy’s keywords to another one. Which of the following combinations would result in a card that could not be monocolored?
a) first strike, haste
b) flying, haste
c) lifelink, shroud
d) lifelink, vigilance
This test is hard! But breaking it down piece by piece should help. First strike and haste. I could see both those abilities on a red card. Now, flying and haste? That’s a weird combination, but flying shows up in a lot of places. Lifelink and shroud. Shroud’s so blue it’s not even funny. And lifelink and vigilance has white written all over it. Got to be #C.
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Two out of three! Not bad? I’d say that, except Mark Rosewater’s commentary indicates that number one was “a pretty easy question.” Think I’m in for a bumpy ride.
Join me next time as I stumble through another few!
All the best,
Matt Vernon.
Tags: GDS, GDS2, Great Designer Search, Great Designer Search 2, Magic, Magic: The Gathering, MTG, Wizards, Wizards of the Coast, WotC
