Saturday, May 31, 2014

Weekend [Art] Design Challenge 053114—Tesla Theme Exploration

Weekend Art Challenge
Click through to see this weekend's design challenge. Your single, final submission is due by Monday morning. Every submission warrants feedback, which I will try to provide, and which everyone is encouraged to provide as well. You may use that feedback to revise your submission any number of times. If and only if you provide a direct link to art for your submission, and the artist's name, will I mock it up and include it in a follow-up review.

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Tesla: Blueprint

Over the past few weeks we’ve generated a truly astounding number of potential mechanics and subthemes for Tesla. However, a bunch of good ideas do not a Magic set make. Now it’s time for us to really sit down and hammer out what it is we want from Tesla. It’s time to pick our theme.

Tesla Index

This page maintains links to every Tesla post to date. If you're new to the Tesla project, there's no need to read through every single post, but the bolded ones should help you get an idea of Tesla as it stands so that you can start contributing.


CCDD 052814—Dread Surprise

Cool Card Design of the Day
5/28/2014 - You could argue that Nemesis Trap is precedent for this card being black, and the art helps, but looking at this design three years later, I can't help but think it has no business in black. Green, maybe. White, surely, with new flavor.

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

CCDD 052714—Simple Hypnotism

Cool Card Design of the Day
5/27/2014 - This was my first pass at the art for the last Weekend Art Challenge, but it didn't fit the challenge requirements, so... here it is.

Friday, May 23, 2014

Weekend Art Challenge 052314—ariel87

Weekend Art Challenge
Click through to see this weekend's art and the design requirements for your single card submission, due Monday morning. Every submission warrants feedback, which I will try to provide, and which everyone is welcome to provide as well.

If you choose, you may use that feedback to revise your submission any number of times. I will post and review the most recent submission from each designer some time on Monday, life permitting. To help ensure I recreate your design accurately, please use CARDNAME instead of ~ in your submissions.

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Tesla: Mechanical Engineering

It’s been a productive week for Tesla! Between our thematic explorations and the most recent Weekend Art Challenge  we’ve generated a ton of ideas. I don’t have room to go over all of them, but there were some definite common threads. The plan is to identify them so we can find their best executions and fit them together in a cohesive theme. Without further ado: 

CCDD 052114—Fevered Melee

Cool Card Design of the Day
5/21/2014Oh yeah, it was like lightning
Everybody was frightening
And the music was soothing
And they all started grooving
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Friday, May 16, 2014

Weekend Art Challenge 051514—GameFan84

Weekend Art Challenge
Click through to see this weekend's art and the design requirements for your single card submission, due Monday morning. Every submission warrants feedback, which I will try to provide, and which everyone is welcome to provide as well.

If you choose, you may use that feedback to revise your submission any number of times. I will post and review the most recent submission from each designer some time on Monday, life permitting. To help ensure I recreate your design accurately, please use CARDNAME instead of ~ in your submissions.

Thursday, May 15, 2014

CCDD 051514—Fill the Gallows, Seeds of Atrophy & Assassin's Wake

Cool Card Design of the Day
5/15/2014 - I wanted to mess with a black removal spell that could really pick on small creatures, like a tyrant would.

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Tesla: Assembly Line

Last week we considered a multitude of implementations for Tesla’s Mecha mechanic. The comments are filled with great ideas for tweaks, but also with a number of people asking to leave Mecha by the wayside for a while. I considered that course of action myself; while Mecha is an exciting (potentially marquee) mechanic that deserves a spot in a set, the mechanic can’t drive a modern design on its own.

When we began this project we decided to hold ourselves to the standards of Wizards of the Coast R&D. Many of us have internalized some of those methods by playing with the sets they release, but the truth of the matter is that we have a pitifully small sample size.


CCDD 051414—Chaostrike

Cool Card Design of the Day
5/14/2014 - I wanted to mess with a random spell a bit. I've got three versions, each with merits and flaws, that appeal to different kinds of players.

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Friday, May 9, 2014

Weekend Art Challenge 050914—desmondwoot

Weekend Art Challenge
Click through to see this weekend's art and the design requirements for your single card submission, due Monday morning. Every submission warrants feedback, which I will try to provide, and which everyone is welcome to provide as well.

If you choose, you may use that feedback to revise your submission any number of times. I will post and review the most recent submission from each designer some time on Monday, life permitting. To help ensure I recreate your design accurately, please use CARDNAME instead of ~ in your submissions.

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Tesla—Getting the Gears Turning

I’m overjoyed to announce that as of today I’ll be joining this blog’s cast of Artisans. I wasn’t involved in either Great Designer Search, but I’ve done a whole lot of design work in the intervening years and I’ve learned an enormous amount from the discussions that take place here. I hope to provide similar opportunities for all of you.

CCDD 050714—Baloth Greatmaw

Cool Card Design of the Day
5/7/2014 - Fading posed an interesting question to me on Twitter: "Question: what tools does Green have to answer indestructable creatures? (Eldrazi)" and my answer being unsatisfying ("Being big enough to trample over or killing their caster first?") followed with "I have been thinking about it and I was wondering if there could be a reactive colorpie-following flavorful way to do it."

Wither is the best, existing, common keyword appropriate to green that can answer indestructible. What if we made a new one?

Friday, May 2, 2014

Weekend Art Challenge 050214—Water World

Weekend Art Challenge
Click through to see this weekend's art and the design requirements for your single card submission, due Monday morning. Every submission warrants feedback, which I will try to provide, and which everyone is welcome to provide as well.

If you choose, you may use that feedback to revise your submission any number of times. I will post and review the most recent submission from each designer some time on Monday, life permitting. To help ensure I recreate your design accurately, please use CARDNAME instead of ~ in your submissions.