TTC - Thoughts on BTT Draft

Discuss our latest podcast about Magic: The Gathering.
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Amake
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Re: TTC - Thoughts on BTT Draft

Postby Amake » 30 Mar 2014, 02:34

Image
Why yes, that is a Stephen King reference.
"I know I tend to sound like I think what I say is written in stone, but please ignore that. I assure you I'm well aware that I have no idea what I'm talking about." -Amake, 2015
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Re: TTC - Thoughts on BTT Draft (MY EXCEL CARD)

Postby Onytay_Organmay » 30 Mar 2014, 03:01

Hey Graham,
I watched all of commodoreHUSTLE and finally made this. Maybe you could talk about it on TTC. Love the Show.
http://mtgcardsmith.com/view/final-boss-of-excel

Cheers,
Anthony Hewitt Morgan from Germany (who's actually semi-Polish and semi-American)
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Re: TTC - Thoughts on BTT Draft

Postby pillinjer » 30 Mar 2014, 06:53

Image

Felt as the only way to win against Excel was naked, the card needed to be something like this.
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Re: TTC - Thoughts on BTT Draft

Postby Failer » 30 Mar 2014, 09:47

Hey people! First post on the forums!

Here's my take on the Excel Final Boss. Not as flavourful as the other designs posted thus far, but still difficult to deal with.

Image

I imagined it as a sort-of Aetherling - a card that can go into a control-type deck (obviously the type of deck Excel would be represented as) and just be a 'hard boss', to quote Beej, once it resolved. This is the kind of card that the guys were talking about at about 30:20 in the video - this is the card that makes James angry.

TTC is a damn good podcast/series/whatever, and I hope LRR continues with these card-design contests.
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Re: TTC - Thoughts on BTT Draft

Postby undecided44 » 30 Mar 2014, 11:38

Here's a couple takes on the "final boss of Excel," from the perspective of someone who designs and programs spreadsheet models for a living. Sorry but I'm a noob in card design and terrible in art, so please forgive the formatting and lack of image...

Title: Circular Reference
Casting Cost: 6
Type: Creature - Formula Error ["Error" being a relevant tribal affiliation]
P/T: 7/2
Rules text: First Strike
When Circular Reference enters play, put an artifact token into play under your control called "Excel Help." Circular Reference has Indestructible and Hexproof and cannot be sacrificed while a permanent called "Excel Help" is in play.

Flavor text: "I know what's wrong with the formula, I just can't fix it until the program is done telling me what it thinks I don't know."

--------------------------
For those unfamiliar with the circular reference error in Excel, any time you enter a formula that in any number of steps is self referent (i.e., through any series of calculations the cell's value depends on itself), when you try to leave the edit formula box by activating another cell, Excel immediately panics, stops everything, highlights the cell, gives you the formula trace lines between all cells in the chain, pulls up a toolbar with a selection drop-down listing the included cells, and opens the help window to the "circular reference" page to explain what it is and why Excel hates it. So even when you know what it's doing and how to fix it, you can't even begin to deal with the formula until the help file loads up.

This error comes first in Excel's list of concerns 9first strike), and the error itself is easy to fix (low toughness), but the process has to start with getting the help file out of the way.
---------------------------

edit to add my second idea:

Title: Pivot Table
Casting Cost: 3 {G/U} {G/U}
Type: Creature - Legendary Formula
P/T: */*+1
Rules text:
When Pivot Table enters the battlefield, its controller chooses one:
Pivot Table's power is equal to the number of basic lands you or your opponents control;
-or-
Pivot Table's power is equal to the number of non-land, non-creature permanents you or opponents control;
-or-
Pivot Table's power is equal to the number of creatures you or your opponents control, or in your or your opponents' graveyard(s);
-or-
Pivot Table's power is equal to the number of different creature types of creatures you or your opponents control, or in your or your opponents' graveyard(s);
-or-
Pivot Table's power is equal to the sum of the power ratings of creatures you or your opponents control, or in your or your opponents' graveyard(s).

Pivot Table's toughness is equal to its power plus 1.

{3}: Exile Pivot Table from play, then return it to play under its owner's control. That player may select a new method to determine its power.

Flavor text: "So I put this over here, and then it just counts everything by categories?"
"Yes."
"But what good does that do me?"
--------------------------
Last one:

Title: {=MMULT(...)}
Casting Cost: 1 {G/U}
Type: Creature - Formula, Array
P/T: 0/1
Rules text:
At the beginning of his or her upkeep, {=MMULT(...)}'s controller may pay 1 {G/U}. If he or she does, place an array counter on {=MMULT(...)}. Activate this ability only once per upkeep.

1 {G/U}: Remove all array counters from {=MMULT(...)} and place a number of +1/+1 counters on {=MMULT(...)} equal to two times the number of array counters that were removed.

During its controller's end step, if {=MMULT(...)} has 1 or more +1/+1 counters and 1 or more array counters on it, remove all counters from {=MMULT(...)}.

Flavor text: /!\ You cannot change part of an array.
---------------------------------
Some explanation on this one as well: an array formula is a special case where the output of a formula spans multiple cells, corresponding to the size of the input ranges. However, once you set it up, you have to replace the whole thing to make any changes because (as the error message says) "You cannot change part of an array." This one is the formula for matrix multiplication, so it allows you to simplify the process of evaluating the product two matrices of size {n,x} and {x,n}, as long as you specify the output range of appropriate size. The bigger your span (i.e., the more turns you pay), the more powerful the formula is and the more care you have to take to get the input ranges correctly matched, but any change once you set it up means you have to start over...

So to do the math: if you cast {=MMULT(...)} on turn two and hit your land drops, you could:
1) pay once on turn 3, then pay again on turn four and activate to remove counters to get a 4/5, or
2) you hold out for one turn (so you pay on turn 3 then pay on 4 and play another 2 drop, then pay on 5 and activate to remove counters) to get a 6/7,
3) or you hold out for one more turn (so you pay on 3, pay on 4 and play a 2 drop, then pay on 5 and play a three drop, then pay on 6 and activate to remove counters to get an 8/9 that's ready to smash in.
Last edited by undecided44 on 30 Mar 2014, 21:36, edited 4 times in total.
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Uknits
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Re: TTC - Thoughts on BTT Draft

Postby Uknits » 30 Mar 2014, 15:58

So, to me , Excell is much more a method of editing and creating data. So, I decided it's much more of a tribal token deck with excel existing to stall oppenents while data multiplies and grows.

The lord is:
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He is the top end for the deck, allowing him to prevent you from doing anything useful while you become increasing frustrated and overwhelmed by the TL;DR power of the data. I wanted to avoid creating the typical, massively overpowered creatures.

It has the following creatures:
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Which would be a really good creature if not held beack by annyoing and artificial elements, such as the ones Microsoft uses to prevent it from actually being a good text editor.

Image

Suprise! I can ruin your day with erro messages!

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Using existing data to create larger and more organized data is really the point.

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Creating bigger and more data by plagerizing other people is a time honoured tradition.

Image

And of course, being obnoxious while plagerising is Microsoft's favourite thing.

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Admitedly a functional reprint, it is both synergetic and fits with Excel using data for multiple functions to save time.

Image

Drag and drop

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Of course, the deck needs a win con, and updating to a new edition to take your money has always been microsoft's win-con.

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And, fitting with the stalling and slow theme of excel and the tempo of the deck, here is a classic counterspell!

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And one more spell to stall while you build board posistion.

Image
Image

Because basic lands. The final deck layout is:
2x Clippy
4x Bugged Data
4x Unexpected Error
4x Copy and Paste
2x Cut and Paste
4x Autosum
4x Copy Spreadsheet
4x Updated Edition
4x Loading Time
2x Double Click
2x System Crash
12x Forest
12x Island
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Re: TTC - Thoughts on BTT Draft

Postby waspbait » 30 Mar 2014, 16:42

Here's my addition...

It's a Colourless Devotion Artifact

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9iToKEB1fxleXAyRGhpMUlKaEU/edit?usp=sharing
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Re: TTC - Thoughts on BTT Draft

Postby Kinpatsu » 30 Mar 2014, 20:41

I had way too much fun doing this. Based in Dev Hunter, because why not.

Image
Stop staring.
undecided44
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Re: TTC - Thoughts on BTT Draft

Postby undecided44 » 30 Mar 2014, 21:53

Qegixar wrote:I imagine Excel's bosses would take the form of really convoluted formulas with bad values that you need to fix by cleaning up your data, or something like that. So I wanted to put some formulas in it. Anyone fluent in Excel should know what it does.

Image


sorry to be explaining the joke here, but are you sure you'll get what you want from your formula? The different argument order between the old =sumif(...) and the new =sumifs(...) is making me wonder about your intent...

sumif([criteria] range, criteria, [sum range]) would give you power equal to the sum of the power of all creatures not named $VI$65536,
while sumifs(sum range, criteria range 1, criteria 1, [criteria range 2], [criteria 2],...) would give you 0 because the text cells in the range Creature:Name count for 0 in the sum

the way you have it is funnier, but much less of a challenge
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Re: TTC - Thoughts on BTT Draft

Postby andysouptin » 30 Mar 2014, 22:06

First attempt at one of these, here goes nothing

Image
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Daaska
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Re: TTC - Thoughts on BTT Draft

Postby Daaska » 31 Mar 2014, 03:42

I know you guys asked for a single card but Excel feels like more of an endless wave of monotony and sadness, so I've tried to make a 'face the X' style deck out of it.

Face the Sheets

At the start of each of the deck's upkeeps, the top 2 cards are revealed, if the revealed card is a creature it is put onto the battlefield, if the revealed card is a spell it is cast immediately. In addition, whenever a card is revealed from the deck's library, it is immediately put into play or cast, as appropriate.

I'll put a quick explanation of each of the mechanics here just to give you an idea of what the hell is going on below although I'm sure some of you will be able to guess what each mechanic does.

Co-ordinates; X,Y - A creature with Co-ordinates gains banding if there is another creature in play, with Co-ordinates, and that creature shares either the X Co-ordinates value or the Y Co-ordinates value. Additionally, a creature which gains banding in this way, may only form a band with a creature which shares either the X Co-ordinates value or the Y Co-ordinates value.

Sum; X - A Creature with Sum gains power and toughness equal to the combined powers and toughness' of all creatures in play with creature type X that you control.

For an estimate of distribution of the cards, assuming a 60 card deck;
32 x Cell
8 x Sheet
4 x Book
1 x Excel
8 x Formulae
4 x Rows and Columns
2 x Alt + F4
1 x Spreadsheet



Cell
Colourless, 2/2
Creature - Cell
Co-ordinates; A,1 (Co-ordinates value varies per cell)
Defender
If Cell has banding, it loses defender.
Cell Must attack each turn is able, and must attack as a band if able.
Cell must block an attacking creature if able, and must block as a band if Cell has banding.
Cell gets +0/+1 for each other Cell it is banded with.

Sheet
Colourless, 0/0
Creature - Sheet
Sum; Cell
Reveal an additional card at the start of your upkeep.
Must attack each turn if able.
Sheet cannot block.

Book
Colourless, 2/2
Creature - Book
Sum; Sheet
Reveal the top card of your library at the start of each upkeep.
Must attack each turn if able.
Book cannot block.

Excel
Colourless, 8/8
Legendary Creature - Program
Indestructible
Shroud
Defender
Sum; Sheet
Sum; Book
Book creatures you control are indestructible.
When Excel enters the battlefield, reveal the top 2 cards of your library.
At the beginning of your first pre-combat main phase, if Excel's combined power and toughness is 64 or higher you win the game.
If Excel would be put into a graveyard from anywhere or would leave the battlefield, instead shuffle it into your library, then put the top two cards of your library into the graveyard, then at the beginning of your next upkeep, reveal an additional card.
Excel must block the attacking creature with the highest power which it is able to block.

Formulae
Colourless
Tribal Instant - Cell
All your Cell Creatures gain +1/+1 for each creature you control with 'Sum' until end of turn.

Rows and Columns
Colourless
Tribal Instant - Cell
All your Cell creatures gain 'Co-ordinates; L,10'.

Alt + F4
Colourless
Instant
Destroy all Cell and Sheet creatures you control. Each opponent sacrifices a non-land permanent for each Cell or Sheet creature that was destroyed.

Spreadsheet
Colourless
Legendary Tribal Enchantment - Cell
Upkeep; Sacrifice a Cell Creature you control
At the beginning of your end phase, reveal the top X cards of your library, where X is equal to the number of Cell creatures you have in play.
-N-
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Re: TTC - Thoughts on BTT Draft

Postby -N- » 31 Mar 2014, 08:12

I found this design thing interesting enough to register here, here's my design:

Image
cd5696
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Re: TTC - Thoughts on BTT Draft

Postby cd5696 » 31 Mar 2014, 08:51

Image

Image

Basically, he turns your entire board into a giant spreadsheet, and he is bigger the bigger the spreadsheet is. He also makes the cell tokens (witch do nothing on their own) to pump himself.
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Re: TTC - Thoughts on BTT Draft

Postby AngelSword » 31 Mar 2014, 14:06

I'm actually gonna partake in one of these! Hooray me! :D

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Re: TTC - Thoughts on BTT Draft

Postby Mehew7 » 31 Mar 2014, 14:11

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He must be a boss... because he is THE LORD OF EXCEL :D
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Re: TTC - Thoughts on BTT Draft

Postby alvarlux » 31 Mar 2014, 16:17

Had to make an account just to take part in the card creation...

Image

The idea behind this guy is that he's not a quick death - he grinds you out with inevitability. He can tap you down, buff his friends, and "autorecover" brings him back to life.
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Re: TTC - Thoughts on BTT Draft

Postby Iciilix » 31 Mar 2014, 17:11

Excel
7UUU
Legendary Creature - Office
Protection from clothed creatures.
When Excel enters the battlefield, arrange your library into at !east two separate piles. Excel's power is equal to the number of cards in the smallest pile.
Excel's toughness is equal to the number of piles.
When an effect targets your library, or requires you to draw cards, you may pick which pile to use for that effect.

And as a little bonus:

Conditional Formatting
XU
Sorcery
All permanents with converted mana cost X become the color of your choice.

Data Verification
2U
Counter target spell whose casting cost is not equal to its converted mana cost.

Data Validation
3UU
Return all permanents whose type change this turn to their owners' hand.

Auto-Align
5U
Enchantment
When Auto-Align enters the battlefield, arrange you and your opponent's permanents into a perfect grid.
Any cards played that do not fit into the grid are immediately countered.
Last edited by Iciilix on 01 Apr 2014, 05:18, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: TTC - Thoughts on BTT Draft

Postby Skaiil » 31 Mar 2014, 20:58

Made an account specifically for this topic (Excel card ideas). I went with the first weird ideas that popped into my head, and one of those ideas was to make a cycle of "Microsoft God" cards; not just Excel, but the other office programs as well:

Microsoft Excel / 3G / 5/5 / Legendary Artifact Creature - Program
Indestructible
As long as there are less than seven different numbers among the powers and toughnesses of creatures you control, Excel isn't a creature.
3GG: Artifact creatures you control become X/X until end of turn, where X is the greatest power among creatures you control.
3GG: Put Y 1/1 Tab artifact creature tokens with haste onto the battlefield, where Y is the greatest toughness among creatures you control. Exile those tokens at the beginning of the next end step.

Microsoft PowerPoint / 3R / 6/4 / Legendary Artifact Creature - Program
Indestructible
As long as there are less than seven cards in your graveyard, PowerPoint isn't a creature.
At the beginning of your upkeep, put the bottom card of your graveyard on the top or bottom of your library, then put the top card of your library into your graveyard.
2RR: If the top card of your graveyard is an instant or sorcery, you may cast a copy of it without paying its mana cost.

Microsoft Access / 3B / 4/4 / Legendary Artifact Creature - Program
Indestructible, flying, lifelink, trample, first strike
As long as there isn't a keyword ability shared by at least five permanents you control, Access isn't a creature.
2BB: Until end of turn, creatures you control each gain "Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, that player puts that many cards from the top of his or her library into his or her graveyard."

Microsoft Word / 3U / 7/7 / Legendary Artifact Creature - Program
Indestructible
As long as less than five spells have resolved this turn, Word isn't a creature.
At the beginning of your upkeep, exile a nonland permanent you control, then cast it from exile without paying its mana cost.
1UU: Choose target spell you control. Exile cards from the top of your library until you exile a card that shares each of the chosen spell's types, then change the text of that spell by replacing all of it with the exiled card's text until end of turn, except that each instance of the exiled card's name is replaced with the spell's name. Put all cards exiled this way on the bottom of your library in any order.

Microsoft Outlook / 3W / 4/6 / Legendary Artifact Creature - Program
Indestructible
As long as less than five different cards have been added to your hand this turn, Outlook isn't a creature.
You may spend mana as though it's mana of any color to cast spells.
1WW: Reveal your hand, then another target player chooses a card from it, adds that card to his or her hand, and you gain life equal to that card's converted mana cost. That player reveals his or her hand, then you choose a card from it and add that card to your hand.
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Re: TTC - Thoughts on BTT Draft

Postby Skaiil » 31 Mar 2014, 21:12

Also made legendary artifacts for each of them, like the Gods' Weapons (but sillier):

Symbol of Excel / 2G / Legendary Enchantment Artifact
Creatures you control enter the battlefield with an additional +1/+1 counter.
X, T: Target creature becomes X-1/X+1 until end of turn.

Icon of PowerPoint / 2R / Legendary Enchantment Artifact
When Icon of Powerpoint enters the battlefield, draw three cards, then discard two cards.
T, Exile an instant or sorcery spell you control: Icon of PowerPoint deals 3 damage divided as you choose among any number of target creatures.

Logo of Access / 2B / Legendary Enchantment Artifact
Indestructible
2BB, T: Target creature gains double strike and trample until end of turn.

Emblem of Word / 2U / Legendary Enchantment Artifact
Creature cards may be cast from your hand as though they have flash.
1UU, T: Copy target instant or sorcery spell you control. You may choose new targets for the copy.

Image of Outlook / 2W / Legendary Enchantment Artifact
Permanent spells you control but don't own have "When this permanent enters the battlefield, each opponent loses 2 life and you gain that much life."
2W, T: Return target card from your graveyard to your hand if it has the lowest converted mana cost among cards in your graveyard.
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Re: TTC - Thoughts on BTT Draft

Postby tamaness » 01 Apr 2014, 12:22

M.S. Excel
4BB
legendary artifact creature - construct
Indestructible
Shroud
When ~ enters the battlefield, if you do not control a token named Sheet.xlt, put a 0/0 legendary artifact creature token into play named Sheet.xlt.
At the beginning of each phase, If you do not control a token named Sheet.xlt, put a 0/0 legendary artifact creature token into play named Sheet.xlt.
As long as you control a token named Sheet.xlt, ~ gets +5/+5, flying, lifelink, infect, and cannot be blocked.
0/1

The idea is that it's broken out of the box (don't miss your triggers!), but as soon as you find a way to make that token stick around, then it's a threat.
The P3
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Re: TTC - Thoughts on BTT Draft

Postby The P3 » 02 Apr 2014, 14:51

Incoming unreadable wall of text!

Image

Transforms into...

Image
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ForOhFor Error
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Re: TTC - Thoughts on BTT Draft

Postby ForOhFor Error » 02 Apr 2014, 15:05

Image
I have no idea why I keep making custom art.

Also, decklist:

4x Basalt Monolith
4x Grim Monolith
4x Mana Vault
4x Sol Ring
4x Torpor Orb
4x Exceltimor, Eye of the Void
4x Fling
4x Soul's Fire
4x Mana Crypt
24x Mountain
Last edited by ForOhFor Error on 02 Apr 2014, 15:31, edited 1 time in total.
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Gurei
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Re: TTC - Thoughts on BTT Draft

Postby Gurei » 02 Apr 2014, 15:21

I'd imagine it'd be part of a whole "Fight the Suite" series.

Image
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Re: TTC - Thoughts on BTT Draft

Postby Johnzo » 02 Apr 2014, 18:22

Accountifex, Boss of Excel

Indestructible

Accountifex, Boss of Excel's power and toughness are equal to the sum of all other creature's power plus all other creature's toughness. If you make an error calculating Accountifex' power and toughness it deals 5 damage to you.
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Re: TTC - Thoughts on BTT Draft

Postby BearHawkWriter » 02 Apr 2014, 23:01

I posted this on an earlier page, but the card has slightly changed, and I have art for the bugger now, courtesy of my lovely lady-like. You can see her DeviantArt page here. Have a look, she'd really appreciate it.

Image

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