[Finished]VCCR_1: Rival Rumble [FINISHED]

[Northern Sage]

[spoiler=Might be shockingly bad, but here goes.]

 

1 tuner + 1 or more non-tuner(s)
This card can attack all monsters your opponent controls once each. If this card attacks a defense position monster, inflict Piercing Battle Damage to your opponent. During the End Phase, if this card battled this turn: Place 1 Decay Counter on it. This card loses 500 ATK and DEF for each Decay Counter on it. Once per turn, during either player's turn: You can tribute 1 other monster you control, or banish 1 Synchro Material used to Summon this card from your Graveyard; Remove Decay Counters from this card up to equal the Level of that monster.

 

 

[)e//!s0P]

[spoiler=Terrible cards(Most likely)]

Draconian Emperor of Legend

LIGHT/Dragon/Ritual/Effect/Lv8

Must be Ritual Summoned, and can't be Special Summoned any other ways. Once per turn, if your opponent activates an effect, target one card on the field; negate it's effect, and destroy it, and if that card was a monster, this card gains ATK equal to half the destroyed monsters original ATK. This card cannot attack directly If this Ritual Summoned card leaves the field, banish one Ritual Spell Card and monsters that's levels equal 8 or more, and if you do; Special Summon this card( this is considered a Ritual Summon).

3050/2450

 

Draconian Legend Ritual

Ritual Spell

You can use this card to Ritual Summon "Draconian Emperor of Legend". You must also tribute monsters from your Hand or Field That's levels equal 8 or more. If this card is Banished by the Effect of "Draconian Emperor of Legend", target one face-up "Draconian Emperor of Legend", and if you do; it gains this effect:

Once per turn, If this card battles with a monster Special Summoned from the Extra Deck, you can activate this effect. During the beginning of the Damage Step, Return it to the Extra Deck, and this card can declare an attack on another monster in a row.

 

 

[VCR_CAT]

Just a reminder, Jelli, you can do the Ritual Spell as a part of your entry, if you have one in mind. I know there's a ritual spell that summons LIGHT rituals generically, so it's up to you. I will also confirm with Speedroid and then give a couple days for everyone to make any last-minute changes.

[VCR_CAT]

Today's the last day to make any edits or changes! Once we hit 12:00 AM PDT, submissions will be locked down and judging period will begin!

[VCR_CAT]

That's a wrap! Thank you all contestants for entering and taking the time to put together your cards! I'll be judging your entries and have the results up soon!

[Self-Destruct Button]

Would like to judge too as I told VCR earlier.

Criteria: 

Balance: /40

Creativity: /30

Flavor: /20

Grammar: /10

[VCR_CAT]

Would like to judge too as I told VCR earlier.

Criteria: 

Balance: /40

Creativity: /30

Flavor: /20

Grammar: /10

 

I would have appreciated this being posted a bit earlier, but if nobody has any objections I don't see why not.

[Fruiota_Hiroshi]

I have no issues with it as long as he grades fairly.

[Northern Sage]

Couldn't hurt I guess

[VCR_CAT]

 

Alright, let's begin with the first set of results!

 

In order for submission!

 

[spoiler=Garland Chaos - Des Prison Armor]

 

Balance: 25 / 35

Creativity: 29 / 35

Flavor: 19 / 25

Grammar: 4 / 5

Total: 77/100

 

There was quite a bit I liked about this card, but also quite a bit holding it back. To start the balance just kinda feels all over the place. I like the idea of using a Continuous Trap as a material because it, for the most part, gates when this card can hit the field. However, its main effect is honestly a little crazy; it becomes essentially a better Clearwing Fast Dragon in practically every right. Easier to summon, especially considering how True Dracos became an archetype focused on using continuous Spells and Traps as materials for summons, with an effect that carries the same potency but can target whatever it want. Moving onto creativity, I like the ideas behind this card, having an oppressive nature, but it doesn't really feel like an ace. This is the kind of card that you would throw down to back up a field and cement your position, not center your strategy around necessarily. And this ties into flavor as well, because it doesn't quite feel like rival material. I feel like with the flavor you have right there, there's a lot of potential to move into something -very- cool, but it stops short at an effect that's more basic and cut-and-dry. You start with something with the continuous trap nature, but it doesn't go much further than that.

 

This card is looking down a good direction, I feel like with some more work it could be something very cool, but it also feels held back by a very narrow focus in use and a frankly kinda busted effect. A point was deducted in grammar for the "one target per turn" clause. You could've just left it at "You can only activate this effect of '_______' once per turn" and left it at that; the extra single-target bit I'm not even sure what that's doing.

 

 

 

[spoiler=Kid Gambino - Necroburn Dragon]

 

Balance: 31 / 35

Creativity: 30 / 35

Flavor: 23 / 25

Grammar: 5 / 5

Total: 89 / 100

 

There's a lot going for this card that I really like, and I was very impressed with this entry. It has a simple, yet strong effect, that at the same time relies a bit more on working with other cards, yet can still stand on its own. Balance-wise, as far as rank eight monsters goes, this card doesn't feel too much stronger or weaker than the average monster in this pool. It hits a nice sweet-spot that leaves room for other monsters to shine, but without making itself too weak. In terms of design, I like the spin on its effect. You took a common mechanic that cards use with destruction and burn, but spun it differently to not necessarily provide the means of destruction itself. Admittedly it's not a very complex change, but it's enough that changes the use of the card to stand on its own and combo with other cards very well; it's open-ended and works on your own stuff as well as the opponent's, and can really reward a creative player for its use.

 

With that in mind, it very much feels like a rival's ace; it's the main star of the deck that you can focus around, and can create a terrifying presence on the field if the player is supporting it just right. Overall, an entry I was impressed with and I hope to see more of your work in the future!

 

 

 

[spoiler=Parenthesis - Infernescent Conflagrim / Ignition]

 

Balance: 31 / 35

Creativity: 32 / 35

Flavor: 22 / 25

Grammar: 5 / 5

Total: 90 / 100

 

Try saying that name five times fast! Riding on the wave of monsters that really feel like a Rival's ace, there's honestly just, again, a lot going for this card. I feel like a broken record when I say that the main effect of this monster is something simple, with its ability to be used multiple times depending on what you have on hand is a neat design for cards. It relies on combos with other cards and structuring a chain of effects to make the most of its effect, which comes into a card that can be used fairly creatively depending on what you use it with. The banishing mechanic of the spell and how this interacts with the summon and re-summon is a little concerning with multiple copies, but it becomes something that can only be done with a specific setup. Regarding flavor, you got that idea from Tricksters, didn't you?

 

Overall, just really feels like an ace's card with an effect that ranges from "okay" to "very good" depending on how it's combo'd and used. Very nice.

 

 

 

[spoiler=Belle - De-Linker Nightmare]

 

Balance: 15 / 35

Creativity: 28 / 35

Flavor: 20 / 25

Grammar: 5 / 5

Total: 68 / 100

 

I'm going to start with balance because, that's the biggest problem with this. Quickplay removal on a very easily summoned 3000 body is one thing; quickplay removal that becomes basically a mini-nuke is another. In contrast to another card that's seeing quite a bit of attention as being very good, namely Firewall Dragon, it has a lot more requirements in place for its once-per-life bounce, but has the caveat of either hurting the opponent or helping yourself. In this card's case, the only real optimal use is holding onto it to shut down an opponent's turn early. With the potency of this effect, and its strength, it's just way too easy to get out for what you're getting, or on the flip side, just waaaay too strong for its ease of summon.

 

In terms of creativity and flavor, the card doesn't really stand out in any particular way. Not to say it needs some kind of special effect or condition to work off of, but the design itself just feels overall very standard. In terms of it being a rival card, it does that job well by feeling like the opposite to a main character's card, but at the same time it feels almost too opposite instead of being something all on its own.

 

 

 

[spoiler=Hiroshi - Link Destroyer]

 

Balance: 15 / 35

Creativity: 25 / 35

Flavor: 10 / 25

Grammar: 5 / 5

Total: 55 / 100

 

On the flipside of cards being overpowered, this card is just, frankly, far too underpowered. A huge problem with this card is that a Link monsters Link Number is essentially how many monsters are needed to summon it, and considering it needs a minimum of two for its non-tuner requirements, you're sitting at a monster that has more or less becomes a 3-7 non-tuner monster investment, and for what you get it's far from worth it. For creativity I do need to commend you for finding a way to encorporate Link monsters into the summoning conditions, albeit in a manner that's far from practical. Flavor-wise I'm not sure what this card wants to be, considering it seems to be against Link monsters but at the same time requires them as materials. As well, the card just doesn't feel like a rival's ace; it's a defensive card that counters a very specific kind of strategy, and it lacks the open-endedness that a deck's main monster typically has.

 

 

 

[spoiler=Reptilious - Dretion, the Banished King]

 

Balance: 16 / 35

Creativity: 28 / 35

Flavor: 20 / 25

Grammar: 4 / 5

Total: 68 / 100

 

As far as generic and even semi-generic synchro-8 monsters go, the removal potential on this card, combined with what it can combo with, is just frankly insane. The quickplay banish is another problem all in its own, and while it has the cost of removing itself in the process, cards like Drident have shown that quickplay removal is very good even if the monster that's using it is a 0/0 sitting duck. This card takes it to another level. As far as flavor and creativity goes, it feels like a card that Konami would make in the Zombie pool of tricks (although honestly not to this degree of strumf), and it hits all the right buttons in terms of feeling like a good zombie synchro. The problem here is, it doesn't feel like an ace. As far as monsters go, this doesn't feel like something a deck is necessarily going to center itself on; it feels more like a Synchro Castel in terms of how it's going to be used than something that's going to be front and center and revolved around.

 

 

 

[spoiler=Black - Sterlingflame Dragon]

 

Balance: 32 / 35

Creativity: 33 / 35

Flavor: 21 / 25

Grammar: 5 / 5

Total: 91 / 100

 

This is probably one of the most solid designs on the list, and compared to a couple other designs on the list, it stands on its own as a main ace and boss with how it plays and how its effects interact with each other. There's a good sense of balance between investment to summon and what the player is rewarded with without making itself impossible to remove. If there was something I would fault this card with, it's that it feels almost a little cluttered, in terms of function and theme as well. There feels like a lot going on in a lot of ways, overall, and trimming down the fat would make this card really shine. Overall, it's still a very solid design with a lot of opportunity for not just standard effects but for combos with other cards as well. And, just playing off the concept of there just being a lot going on in this card, it all plays together with coherence, which is very good to see.

 

 

 

[spoiler=Dragon Sage - Betavoltaic Beacon]

 

Balance: 28 / 35

Creativity: 30 / 35

Flavor: 18 / 25

Grammar: 5 / 5

Total: 81 / 100

 

As a design, I like this card and I feel like it's close to really becoming something on its own. The main issue I have with its mechanical function lies around the use of counters. I scored you high as I did on creativity because you're making a pretty neat use of counters in this card, but it's held back as simply being a drawback to its stats and design that just... frankly doesn't feel like enough to justify the drawback. The other issue with this counter design that just doesn't feel like it's being used terribly well is that it doesn't accumulate many counters at all, and it's just a card that's honestly going to die before you're ever going to need to remove the counters yourself anyways. It fills a unique niche in the synchro 8 pool as the multi-attacker, but I honestly feel more work could have been done to really solidify its effects and mechanics.

 

In its current state now, this card feels less like a rival's ace and more like a one-off minor villain's ace, or even just a teched monster to run; it doesn't really shine enough to take center stage, but I honestly think it would with some more work done on its functionality. Overall, a cool design.

 

 

 

[spoiler=JellisOP - Draconian Emperor of Legend]

 

Balance: 10 / 35

Creativity: 23 / 35

Flavor: 15 / 25

Grammar: 5 / 5

Total: 43 / 100

 

Honestly, this card just does way, way, way too much. Sigfreid negation on top of direct attacks with an absurd float that just makes it stronger in the end with no absolute limit on how many times it can float since its float counts as a Ritual Summon. In terms of balance, this card is just frankly kind of absurd. The incoherence of the design seeps into the other aspects as well, because instead of something on its own it just feels like a bunch of different monsters cobbled together. While it definitely feels like the main ace of the deck, the overall mish-mash of its mechanics and the overt imbalance just really bogs down this card. I apologize if this is a bit too blunt; hopefully you'll return for a future contest with something a lot better than this.

 

 

 

[spoiler=Standings]

1. Black - 91 points
2. Parenthesis - 90 points
3. Kid Gambino - 89 points
4. Dragon Sage - 81 points
5. Garland Chaos - 77 points
6. Belle / Reptilious - 68 points
7. Hiroshi - 55 points
8. JellisOP - 43 points

 

 

 

Final standings and prizes will be awarded when SDB's judging is complete and his totals added with the final total score being out of 200.

[GarlandChaos]

And those are the exact results I expected. Wheeeeeeeeee.

 

*dies a little inside </3*

[(GigaDrillBreaker)]

I actually made the card the day before I saw Trickstars, hence my excessive reaction to a burn based archetype.

[Fruiota_Hiroshi]

Well...I wasn't fully expecting that.

[Kid Gambino]

I think that was a pretty fair assessment! Thanks for creating this contest VCR_Cat, I hope there are more to come in the near future.

[Self-Destruct Button]

YCM's 503s made me start again, so no fancy introduction this time.

 

[spoiler=Des Prison Armor]

Creator: GarlandChaos

 

Balance: 22/40

Creativity: 28/30

Flavor: 15/20

Grammar: 8/10

Total: 73/100

 

What a card to start with. First thing I liked about it was how well the card reflects the flavor of the imaginary character - in terms of punishing anyone he regards appropriate, there's not much coming closer to that effect-wise. The imprisonment-part has been incorporated especially well, as anything related to destruction or banishing would have been closer to killing the foe, instead of disciplining them. Moving on to card balance, it's a very odd one to look at. The summoning restriction looks kind of weak, since you will have to wait a turn to be able to bring it out, given you have a continuous trap card, which makes it rather slow if not already prepared for. Secondly, an opponent predicting it or knowing that you play it has the opportunity to prevent its summon with the likes of Twin Twisters, MST or Cyclone, added to standard monster counterplay in the Trap Lineup potentially. That being said, I really didn't think this card could get too strong for its condition. But it did, unfortunately, as it really becomes hard to play around once it hits the field. It stops anything from a monster being able to destroy it, to a monster setting up a play which could, which would be okay-ish if there wasn't the added benefit of being able to use it immediately to negate and remove a problem card already on the field, just as a little plus to what VCR already said about it backing up a field rather than making you build one around it. 

 

Really good idea, but I don't like the execution. (Not full points in grammar because of the clunky single-target clause.

 

 

 

[spoiler= Necroburn Dragon]

Creator: Kid Gambino

 

Balance: 38/40

Creativity: 25/30

Flavor: 19/20

Grammar: 10/10

Total: 92/100

 

Overall well done is all I can say about this one - the flavor (artwork and theme-wise) is reflected in the effect, it comes off as a very strong boss not only because of its potentially gigantic ATK (5 DARKs already puts it at 4000, plus DARK isn't exactly known for sparing the graveyard) that is still acceptable for a rank 8, the crazy damage potential it has (removing a strong monster with another card, using the effect and then attacking can easily cause 5000+ damage) along with the added utility of its effect having an easily fulfillable condition (doesn't have to attack itself, doesn't have to be your card destroying something, etc.), and it can compete with Felgrand and Titanic Galaxy (close at least) balance-wise.

 

Not much else to say here. *slowclapping*

 

 

 

[spoiler=Infernscent Conflagrim plus Spell]

Creator: Parenthesis

 

Balance: 35/40

Creativity: 29/30

Flavor: 19/20

Grammar: 10/10

Total: 93/100

 

Another example of an excellent boss - I especially like that it is a Ritual Monster, and given the inconsistent and resource-demanding summoning mechanic, it already forces you to focus its Deck around it just because of what it is. And that doesn't end there - Its effect requires the same thing, as it won't do much of anything alone. Although this rather weird for an ace monster, as they usually just win games on their own, this card does a different take on that by becoming more and more powerful depending on how many cards you can use with it, ultimately destroying up to 3 cards, and adding at least 600 potential damage to whatever board you have, which is a rather creative way of making an ace monster imo. 5 points subbed from card balance though because the Spell Card returning for free-ish, added to the fact that it can also summon banished "Infernescent" Ritual Monsters, really pushes it over the edge in terms of utility in a Ritual-Based Deck. If said imaginary character had more "Infernescent" Ritual Monsters, this would be even stronger.

 

 

 

[spoiler= De-Linker Nightmare]

Creator: .Belle

 

Balance: 10/40

Creativity: 15/30

Flavor: 15/20

Grammar: 10/10

Total: 50/100

 

First things first: I don't think this card looks like an ace-monster. I don't want to be harsh here, but to me it looks like a card koomy would make as generic Link-Summon counterplay (like they do with any new mecanic), only infinitely more broken. Not only is this very easy to summon, it also has a very potent effect that can potentially win you the game on its own, given how much investments Link summons will (mostly) take and how much monsters rely on the Extra Deck in general. Honestly, I think depending on the format and how many Link Decks/Extra Deck reliant Decks would be in there, I think this card would be sided or mained in triples in basically any deck, especially since it can not only destroy Link / Extra monsters, but any card on the field - even Spells/Traps, even face-downs! This also doesn't really play into the theme of this contest - I can't think of a mindset a character could have to use this card as a ace. Like, if they hate Link Monsters for a reason, that would be a start, but then it doesn't make sense for it to destroy other cards too.

Didn't hit the mark here. Sorry. (Again, I don't want to be harsh :c )

 

 

 

[spoiler= Link Destroyer]

Creator: Fruiota_Hiroshi

 

Balance: 16/40

Creativity: 25/30

Flavor: 15/20

Grammar: 10/10

Total: 66/100

 

Balance rating is mostly because of what VCR aleady stated, not gonna repeat him. (redundance is bad!) Where I disagree with him is that it using Link monsters contradicts its general anti-link nature. I think it makes some kind of sense to use Links as material, in the way that it sends them to the graveyard during the summon, ultimately putting itself over their use and kind-of-but-not-really destroying them. I don't see this as an ace though, as they should be the general focus of the Deck, and a card that only works against one summon mechanic has an array of bad matchups where it isn't even worth summoning - contradicting that idea.

Nice experiment, kudos to Hiroshi for the creativity.

 

 

 

[spoiler=Dretion, the Banished King]

Creator: Reptilious

 

Balance: 13/40

Creativity: 28/30

Flavor: 14/20

Grammar: 7/10

Total: 62/100

 

First things first - While the "banished king" flavor has been really well incorporated into artwork and effect, I frankly don't think it's an ace monster for a multitude of reasons. First, its effect just doesn't feel like an ace. One shot, two kills, and then nothing until it banishes itself for a really strong trade quick-removal. I feel like an ace needs so much more than that - contradicting especially that the last effect kills itself, it doesn't return, so if you summon it expecting it to be banished for its own effect, then your deck better not be focused around it because else you just lost your best monster! (hope this makes sense) And if we ignore the second effect, I also have a few gripes with the first - An ace should be a consistent threat as long as it is on the field, not just kill something once and have that be it.

 

 

 

[spoiler=Sterlingflame Dragon]

Creator: Black

 

Balance: 40/40

Creativity: 27/30

Flavor: 18/20

Grammar: 10/10

Total: 95/100

 

As I stated earlier, I generally don't like one-shot-ish effects on ace cards, but the cute battle effect and the amazingly executed recursion effect makes up for that, The restircitons keep it from being broken, its immediate impact is very strong (but balanced), and the effect to re-summon it from the Pendulum Zone (made easier by the Pendulum Effect if you don't generally banish on your own) is perfectly fine. The "from the Extra Deck" clause on the first effect is what really amazed me - just this small clause did a whole lot of work for the card in terms of balancing, and makes it one of the best cards for that criteria I have ever seen. Creativity and Flavor hold their own, not as outstanding as the balance-part, but still really good, and I could imagine this being a very solid rival ace. Grammar is clear 10/10, nothing to correct here.

 

 

 

[spoiler=Betavoltaic Beacon]

Creator: Dragon Sage

 

Balance: 33/40

Creativity: 29/30

Flavor: 14/20

Grammar: 9/10

Total: 85/100

 

From the very beginning, this card really had me sold on the artwork (though rather irrelevant), effect and its creativity. It being able to attack multiple times is fine, no lv8 Synchros that I know of can do that, but as VCR already stated, I don't see why the counters are a drawback, and why so little is done with them. If it would use your monsters in another way of tributing them, or the counters would benefit you (for example: You can remove conters for a turn of protection), it could really be a great rival boss monster, but like this, it doesn't really seem strong or outstanding enough for that. Subtracted 1 Grammar point because of 3 capitalization errors, and although I probably made far more of these in this review, I still feel like that's relevant. How mean of me.

 

 

 

[spoiler=Draconian Emperor of Legend]

Creator: JellisOP

 

Balance: 4/40

Creativity: 20/30

Flavor: 15/20

Grammar: 4/10

Total: 43/100

 

As I stated, I like the Ritual Approach for an ace monster, so some flavor points were rewarded, along with its effects being somewhat fitting for an empreror - apart from the float. The creativity points mostly come from the fact that it has an interesting restriction in not being able to attack directly, and the Ritual Spell giving it effects is also pretty new to me. The float coupled with its effect really really REALLY break the card though. Not only can it negate and destroy any card on the field when an effect is activated, but it also doesn't have a hard OPT, meaning if you can get two you also get two negations and two infinitely recurring problem cards. It feels like it doesn't really have a clear focus, which results in it doing far too much. There is potential though. Grammar points were subtracted for some really wonky wording, especially on the monster.

 

 

 

[spoiler=Standings]

1. Black - 95 Points

2. Parenthesis - 93 Points

3. Kid Gambino - 92 Points

4. Dragon Sage - 85 Points

5. GarlandChaos - 73 Points

6. Hiroshi - 66 Points

7. Reptilious - 62 Points

8. Belle - 50 Points

9. JellisOP - 43 Points

 

 

 

Hope you all can understand my opinions, and that I didn't do any big oversights.

[VCR_CAT]

 

FINAL RESULTS

 

Black - 186 points

Parenthesis - 183 points

Kid Gambino - 181 points

Runner Up: Dragon Sage - 166 points

 

Remaining Standings

 

5th Place: Garland Chaos - 150 points

6th Place: Reptilious - 130 points

7th Place: Hiroshi - 122 points

8th Place: Belle - 118 points

9th Place: JellisOP - 86 points

 

 

Thank you all for participating! There were some very good cards among this bunch and judging was not an easy job! Prizes will be awarded to the victors once I am able to do so (not at home right now orz). Until then, thank you for playing and I hope to see you next time!

[Blake]

I can now post the cards I designed around Sterlingflame!

 

Good game to everyone. I had a lot of fun designing it and the cards around it, after the fact.

 

That said, while I don't disagree with the logic (like, not even 1% disagree) about it being too cluttered... that's kinda what happens with ED pendulums >>;

 

They have to have a placement effect of some sort, which makes the card look clunky right away, even though t only has 1 activated effect and 1 continuous effect.

 

Clear Wing Fast Dragon taught us that JUST having a resummon P-Effect doesn't really work, especially one that was restricted like hers, so I felt I had to do a little more, and leaving it without the resummon made it feel underwhelming.

 

I definitely agree that the clutteredness is an issue, though.

 

i wonder if anyone realized the biggest twist, cause neither of you mentioned it =v=

[Fruiota_Hiroshi]

Well gg everyone, this was fun regardless of the outcome.

[👀 REP 👀]

Grats to those who got to the top 3, and good game to everyone who entered! It was fun to design the card, even if I didn't end up getting that high of a grade.