Welcome back to Design League! We’re kicking Season 3 off with a tough challenge, so let’s get right into it.
Qualifier 1 – Wheat from the Chaff
Many common card designs end up in the bulk bin, but some of them go on to be important role players in constructed environments. Our first challenge is:
Design a Common card that is a roleplayer in a Standard Constructed environment.
- One card submission.
- Card must be common
- No card type restrictions.
- The submission assumes a theoretical standard environment; we’ve included some examples of current standard commons that are role players.
- A reminder that common cards entering the standard environment also exist within a limited environment.
You can review the full judge commentary by clicking here.
Qualifier 1 – Runners Up
Atarkan Battle Belch by CryptRat
Kayiu: This is a very cool riff on the ever-present “cheap red removal” slot. Making it not hit face is heads up, allowing you to shift power into being both efficient early game and midgame removal. I like that it demonstrates a mechanical hook that’s both relevant as an archetype in limited and presents a clear direction for where this would want to be played in constructed. (Big Red, GR Midrange, etc.) It’s in a spot where it’s very pointed/has a distinct character to it, but without making it overly narrow. Easily my favorite submission this round.
Novice Summoner by JamesDaltonBell
Juliet: I can see it, but I’m a little skeptical. Two creatures for a single mana certainly feels like a reflection of the Voldaren Epicure style, and the idea of summoner-> devil token setting up the Summoner as weaker than the devil is a clever idea. This feels very M-era coreset design, as far as execution of a top-down generic fantasy design goes? This opens up sacrificing synergies, but it feels like it fall short on a sort of Bushwhacker front. I also don’t know that I want this at common, all things considered.
Qualifier 1 – Winner
Composter’s Feast by khord22
Tim: Fun card. We’re doing a half price Raise the Alarm and only get half up front. I feel this assumes the existence of really cheap and easy ways to sacrifice artifacts; I’m not totally confident that exists. The extra Pest life is nice in a slower deck but I imagine a slower deck going bigger and more powerful than this. In eternal formats I imagine the ability to get all the cheap pieces but not so much for standard.
Mark: This card screams “glint hawk me,” which is a quick way into my heart. It’s also an interesting distribution of rate. Raise the alarm effects are often seen as aggressive, but 5 life is very defensive and two chumps is defensive as well. This could fit into aggro, midrange, control sideboards, a dedicated food synergy deck, life gain matters, sacrifice/aristocrats, or an artifact synergy/eggs deck. For having so many potential homes, it’s also a pretty modest rate. It’s mostly through having multiple game pieces. I really wish pests were predefined tokens, but that’s not your fault.
Redbay: First card into the submission thread and the winner of our first qualifier! We’ll have to see if the pattern continues throughout this season of Design League. Way to go, khord!
Qualification Point Race:
Like last season, you can earn a Design League Tournament slot by consistently impressing our panel of judges. Your current Qualification Point Race Leaders as follows:
| Designer | Qualification Points |
| Craftedlavaistrue | 2 |
| CryptRat | 2 |
| JamesDaltonBell | 1 |
| Bradley Rose | 1 |
| Pat | 1 |
| Wobbles | 1 |
That’s it for our first Qualifier, come join the Discord and jump into Qualifier 2!