Magic Deck Vortex: Fit the Flavor Contest 2008

Surprise! Did you think I was going to let the MDV Super Series die just like that? It continues to roll on as we move into the second Major contest of the 2008 season, Fit the Flavor!

Are you familiar with the game? I hope so, because it is going to be highlighting MDV Red for the next few weeks!

Step on inside and get acquainted with the rules and get started on your design.

Fit the Flavor is a little game that popped up on MDV a good while ago; August of 2006 to be exact. Your Worst Nightmare (YWN) brainstormed the concept that Streetz had come up with for his Celixia Stand Alone expansion set and came up with a good design. Then remarkably, it disappeared, only to be lost in the refuge of the forum archives.

When the MSS came around, Tynion decided to breathe life back into it, and after some discussion with Cashew, the Contest Admin, they brought it back as a recurring contest.

That however, was not enough, as the original game was many rounds long. The current MSS version of the game is only one round at a time, and they are not connected at all. This is not how Fit the Flavor was designed to work!

In the pattern of MDV Idol, Fit the Flavor will be broadcast across the main site as an entertaining event to not only compete in, but also get in some laughs at each others expense.

“But how exactly does the contest work?” I am so glad that you asked. Here are the original rules as described by YWN:

The guidelines are as follows: I post a piece of flavor text and you make a card for it. It can be any kind of card as long as it Fits the Flavor text. I will allow two other judges besides myself.

You may enter this contest at any time.

There will be four rounds. For the first three rounds I will post only one piece of flavor text. The fourth round will have two or three pieces of flavor text, depending on things before then.

You will be scored out of 30. Flavor (if the card fits the flavor text given), Fairness (if the card is undercosted/overcosted), Playability (if the card playable in any way) and Color pie(if the card has the right color) will all factor into those 30 points (with originality granting a few more points). Just don't do too complex or wordy cards (cards like Ice Cauldron are no-no).

The winner at the end of four rounds will get the right to proclaim self as victor. But just to show you we're not cheapskates, the three first qualifiers will also get a special, magnificent, one-of-a-kind, tear-inducing, blue stapler that they will share in between them.

Note: You can find that contest and its results here.

What a silly man that YWN. Since these rules were made for a small contest, we need to further develop them for the number of participants that we expect. Therefore below you will find the official rules:

Now, during the original contest, an idea was offered by Cashew, long before he became the Contest Admin:

Cashew said:

You should amend the rules as such:

1. Scoring for the final round will consist of two cards judged separately.
2. The higher score of the two cards will be the official score for round 4.
3. The lower score of the two cards may be substituted for any previous round's score or missed round.

Do it. I dare ya sucker.

Well, YWN did not dare to do it. However, this suggestion will be utilized in this contest. The final round will have the possibility of two separate cards. You can do both, one, or none. If you do none, you get NOTHING! If you do one, you get that score as your round four score. If you do both cards, you get the higher score as your round four score, and the option of replacing one of your first three round scores with the other cards score.

In round four he scores 25 on his better score and 24 on the other. He would then get 25 points for the fourth round, and then can either put 24 in his Round 2 lazy spot, or could replace either the Round 1 or Round 3 scores with the 24 since it is a higher score.

Speaking of rounds, it should be stated now that anyone can play at anytime. There is no registration except to post your submission for the round. If you only want to play one round, then only play that round. If you want to start in Round 3, then start in Round 3.

Scoring for each submission will be a 25 point max system as Cashew has designed for the ongoing Fit the Flavor contest in the forums:

There will not be the numerous judges as before however. Tynion will be your lone judge since this is a fast paced contest; we don’t want to be bogged down waiting for numerous judges.

As the contest rolls on, all the scores accumulated by each player will be tallied together which will give the players an overall score. It is this score that will determine the winner of the Fit the Flavor Major Contest.

Now for the legal mumbo-jumbo that you probably all know by heart when it comes to designing a card for MDV contests:

That’s it! All you get is a lousy flavor text and a boot in the rear as you walk out the door! Get to designing fellas, you have five days.

You can ENTER THE CONTEST by posting your entry here.
You can discuss this article in the MDV forums here.
Find other articles by this author here.
Find other articles from this series here.