cc monthly [Finished]CC Monthly Series [June 2015] - JUDGING PERIOD

[宇佐見 蓮子@C94]

I'll get working on the judging soon enough once giga becomes available, but for now i'd just like to say that i'm very disappointed in the entries, and that if it was up to me, i'd rather not give the prize to anyone.

[Flash Flyer - Sakura]

Alright, but try to get it in by Tuesday/Wednesday at the latest (which should be more than sufficient time to grade three entries).

I understand you're still recovering from jet lag (and other things), so not expecting the scoring right away; however it is rather unprofessional to keep the contest open for 2 weeks after expiration due to judging.
 
If Giga is not available for whatever reason (he had a bit of an emotional issue earlier this week, so unsure if he's ready to do things; hopefully he's fine), then just do it on your own. You two should have your own opinions on the cards, independent of one another.

 

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Anyway, I've graded the entries thus far.
No one got in the 90's this time, but for the most part, things were okay.
 

This time, I have provided a short review of the card (it does help me in checking over stuff); much like how I would expect you all to critique in CC.

As usual, do ask for clarification if I missed things + believe you deserve a higher score in certain areas.

 

[spoiler=Sakura's grades]
Base
B: 50
C: 30
O: 20
Total: 100

Gadjiltron
B: 42
C: 24
O: 20
Total: 86

As a whole, card seems okay. It would've been a bad thing on your part not to make this a generic excavator, because the game's gotten to the point where stuff triggers like mad.

Sylvans could use the added piercing power to get over stuff. That, and those other relevant ones nowadays. Not sure if Aromas could have a use for this, however. (They might appreciate the slight boost, but not sure on that; likely yes).

But yeah, it helps shuffle through your Deck, so you can get rid of potential dead draws later on or at least get an idea of what you're drawing later.

That being said, it is pretty much a Sylvan tech for its intents/purposes and can set up the Graveyard for triggering them. Personally not really fond of them getting another toy that can trigger stuff for them with better precision than others.

Instinct
B: 20
C: 22
O: 19.5 (Pretty much capitalization after the semicolon; should be lowercase. Otherwise, everything else was fine.)
Total: 61.5

Flavor-wise, you did fine with reflecting the star fruit's thing in a card. However, keep in mind that it can act like a soft reset to an extent, if you are losing in LP (essentially giving you a second chance at surviving).

However, you did make this a once per Duel card; so indeed you will need to consider when it is the best time to use this card. Most of the time, I can assume this would be played during cases when you need that most (late-game). You'd also need to make sure this card doesn't get Mind Crushed.

It also messes with Aromas and other LP-increasing Decks to an certain extent, so there's that to contend with.

Dragon Sage
B: 41
C: 26
O: 20
Total: 87

As you intended, this card is essentially Aroma support. It is nice as a countermeasure against Chain Burn and other card effects that inflict LP damage. That, and it reverses any burn that would result from Simochi/Reficule and other anti-healing. (Heck, it can reverse the burn from Aegis and other common healing cards that boast negative effects)

That, and it can reverse damage to Aromas in battle (assuming I read it correctly); maintaining their LP conditions and all that other stuff to do it. Indeed, LP gain is important for them; but is rather slow due to their Trap Cards + certain support cards.

However, while the opponent can still kill this card in battle; this card effectively turns battle damage and the like into LP restoration. In terms of Aegis, this card effectively turns it into free 6K LP boost should it get popped (considering removal is common).

Although Prime Material / D'Arc already reverse damage without question, they are restricted to effect burn. I wouldn't have as much problems with this card, if it did have a once per turn limit on it.

(I made a card that does something identical to yours a while back, except that it's once per turn in terms of the damage reversal in battles.)

On a sidenote, this could probably work in D/D's in the event you lack D'Arc or Leonidas to reverse Covenant burn, but it's likely that you'll have them out (plus this doesn't really synergize well for them).

 

 

[Northern Sage]

I'm reading a miscalculation in my score. Should add up to 87, not 84.

[Flash Flyer - Sakura]

I have made the final fix (likely forgot to update the final, since I gave back some points in certain areas upon looking it over again), but otherwise everything should be accurate at this point. 

 

If Giga and/or Toyo do not submit their scores by this coming Tuesday night (at 11:59 pm HST); I'll have to go on without them + just use the scores that were already given.

As noted, it is rather unprofessional if a tournament is dragged on for longer than necessary due to grading lapses.

[(GigaDrillBreaker)]

Here are my scores:

 

[spoiler=Gadj]

Ok, so basically you made a new Sylvan, in everything but name. Now, there are a few issues with this approach:

1.) It doesn't work with Charity. This hurts it badly. A hand with Charity, Koomushroom, and this rather than another Sylvan is depressing as hell, and I honestly feel that this situation alone is enough to have it low on the priority list for use.

2.) Sylvans are already very good at what they do. They are the sort of deck that, if they are given 1 too many enablers, could become ridiculous. Fortunately, that is not a problem becaaaaaaauuuuuussseee...

3.) This is really bad in Sylvans. There really is no conceivable way to get this on field. Normal Summon is best used on Marshalleaf, and in suboptimal situations Peaskeeper or Flowerknight. This means it is dead in hand, and you can't get it out of your hand with Charity. It is equally dead in deck, as lonefire blossom is better off grabbing Hermitree, Gigaplant, or even Cherubsprout, as they accelerate the deck further. This, on the other hand, won't achieve anything until the Battle Phase.

 

So yeah, it is clever in its design, but... the card is really really weak.

 

I would say this deserves about a 60

 

 

[spoiler=Instinct]

What the actual hell were you thinking? You made Life Equalizer into a monster, AND you removed its restriction. If you didn't know, Life Equalizer is incredibly powerful due to its ability to, well, MAKE YOUR OPPONENT ONLY HAVE 4000 LIFE POINTS. That is a very strong effect. Strong to the point that putting a draw prevention and once per duel clause on it does nothing to remedy it. Though it can't really be used effectively with Magical Explosion, it works just fine with Blasting the Ruins. This is NOT a way to get back in the game. This is NOT to gain life. This card promotes OTKs, and any other use is simply bad.

 

If Gadj got a 60, this gets a 6

 

 

[spoiler=Dragon Sage]

Ok, so this one is interesting. It turns damage into lifegain, allowing Aromas to trigger repeatedly by all of their self-damaging effects. Wait. No. That isn't Aromas. That is D/D/D. The card concept is interesting (though I am very much not a fan of reversing battle damage, for what I assume would be obvious reasons) but it really doesn't synergize much at all with its given archetype, aside from the sentiment of "lollifegain".

 

All considered, this gets a 45

 

[Flash Flyer - Sakura]

Actually, Equalizer is 3000, Giga [unless you were referencing this card's similarity to it]. So yeah, Blasting will end game right away in conjunction with Equalizer.

Just gotta wait for Toyo to give her marks, and we can close things up.

 

(Not trying to rush you two)

[(GigaDrillBreaker)]

1000 point difference doesn't make such a card healthy.

[Flash Flyer - Sakura]

The 1K difference doesn't change much; considering Equalizer does have a 8K LP gap needed to trigger itself.

Starfruit doesn't + is a handtrap.

 

I should've taken off more points, but I didn't.

[宇佐見 蓮子@C94]

[spoiler=gadj]

I'm with Giga in the "Card is too weak" camp. He's already tackled the issues of its supposed "synergy" with Sylvans, but i'd rather tackle it from the perspective of itself as a singular card. Plant decks are not known to be aggro. Gigavise, Plant Princess, Plant Synchro, they all use plants for anything but attacking. There's also the issue where the card costs a normal summon, something which could be spent on much better cards, namely Lonefire Blossom. All-in-all, this feels like a common in a booster pack. It's there, it can maybe pull some nice things in a dedicated deck (though I highly doubt it), but it's not at all useful.

 

Because I like power, this card gets a 40/100. Design is pretty good, but it's nothing special.

 

 

 

[spoiler=Instinct]

0/100

 

Card is an FTK/OTK enabler, and nothing else. There's no actual redeeming value to this, as it is literally just a degenerate OTK/FTK enabler. Horrid design made even worse by the fact that it's a handtrap, thus your opponent cannot actually respond to it in the same manner they would with other cards, for instance Magical Explosion. But, umm, yeah. Card has no redeeming value at all. There's nothing to it but to make more FTK/OTK builds. I'm very very disappointed.

 

 

 

[spoiler=Dragon Sage]

"Support" that doesnt support anything. I hate cards like these so much. It really would have been better off for you to not attach it with the "Aroma" name because now I have to judge it in relation to the other cards in said archetype. It really would have made for a much better card had it not been an Aroma, and is instead a "Prime Material". Not only would it fit those card's flavor, it'd also mean the card can be judged for what it is and not as a member of an archetype. Alright, moving on. Card does jack s*** in Aromas. If you've played them at all they'd rather have a Juragedo-esque card that can not only trigger their stuff but also establish board presence. Outside of that, it's got very few uses. D/D/D maybe can tech it, but I doubt its effectiveness. I dont really get why you even would have the first clause, considering it's not even a Tuner. Card has too many flaws for me, so I'll give it a 20/100.

 

 

[Flash Flyer - Sakura]

I'll leave this open for a couple of hours, so those three can see your scores + clarify anything if necessary.

For card C, it might work in D/D/D's, but not likely due to consistency issues with it being a Plant and the aforementioned Deck being Fiend-based, and unable to do much in there.

 

(I probably said something similar regarding that)

 

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For right now, the standings are thus:

 

1st - Gadjiltron - 186

2nd - Dragon Sage - 152

3rd - Instinct - 67.5

 

Prizing-wise, I'll do it later today but considering the turnout, point amount will be reduced (basically -1000 from whatever I have listed).

Hopefully the July tournament ends up better in terms of turnout and quality.

[Flash Flyer - Sakura]

Prizes have been awarded [although yeah, I am a bit disappointed in the lack of entries this time].

Let's see how July's one holds up, given the theme.

 

It should be up sometime at the end of the week.

 

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Thanks to those who participated and Giga/Toyo for judging.