Razor and Lily
Each of you should create a new card, intended for a Standard-Legal set (as the Storm Scale refers to) utilizing the mechanic Splice.

Cato and Tekk
Each of you should create a new card, intended for a Standard-Legal set (as the Storm Scale refers to) utilizing the mechanic The Untap Symbol .

Deadline is 8/12/2024 at 6:00pm PST However If all four entries are in, this round is permitted to close early. Once the round closes, votes will be prepared, and the least vote getting of each pair will be eliminated while the winners advance to the grand final!

Antumbra Anurid |
Creature - Frog Beast

Haste, reach
Whenever ~ leaves the battlefield without dying, create a 3/3 black Frog Beast creature token with haste and reach.
, : Return ~ to its owner's hand. Activate only once per turn.

3/3


I started off wanting to make something that could be a part of the Penumbra cycle. I decided to make the untap cost the source of the token rather than a death trigger. Following that change, I flavored the creature as a frog and tied it to the frog mechanics used in Bloomburrow. I then changed the name from Penumbra to Antumbra to reflect both the mechanical difference in the trigger, and the flavor difference of leaving a shadow behind rather than having one step out from behind the defeated creature.

so... a lot of folks around here have done various takes on splice, and the big change we all make is to move from subtypes to types: "splice onto creature" alone appears on, I would say, at least half of the splice designs in YMtC history. even Wizards has gotten in on the action with everdream and splicer's skill, so the rules have already been modified to allow it. and honestly I think it's the only reasonable way to go? so let's do it. one thing they don't seem to have done yet with splice is put abilities that modify the base card. probably 'cause that's dangerous, and a lot of text-modifying effects are likely to run into some sort of rules problem, but I think I can get away with this:

Scent Trails-
Sorcery
Convoke
Create a 1/1 green and white Insect Shaman creature token.
Splice onto sorcery
The Colonies of Et'Kara'Thataran obey but one rule: Go forth and multiply.

splices are declared before costs are determined or payed, so this will allow you to convoke the card it's on as well if you have enough creatures to tap. for reference on the power of splicing 1/1 tokens, see spiritual visit: the rest of the cost is compensation for access to convoke. I made it sorcery-only (instead of the instant/sorcery thing that Everdream used) because it felt potentially unfair to ambush your opponent with a high-cost instant when you're tapped out on their turn and you haven't shown this card yet. sorcery-only makes it more fun because you still have to telegraph your shields-down moments, and creates some deckbuilding constraints that avoid just flashing out all your raise the alarms every end step. (also gives you an incentive to convoke on your turn so you can leave mana up for instants on theirs.) 3 may seem kinda steep to add convoke, and it's possible that playtesting could bring it down to , but the reusability and self-feeding nature of it makes me lean more on the cautious side of things, considering how much additional mana this can give you access to in the right deck.

Lotus Dryad
Creature - Dryad
: Add three mana of any one color to your mana pool. Activate only once each turn.
3/1
The dryads grow dormant in the winter, only to emerge in the spring in full bloom.

Turn up the heat
Sorcery
Splice onto red sorcery - sacrifice 3 foods
Until end of turn, if a source would deal damage to a permanent or player, it deals double that damage to that permanent or player instead.
~ deals 1 damage to any target
"You can never have too much spice" - Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar