CCDD 093020 - Nepenthe

I found a cool graveyard-hate effect that wasn't worth a card in most cases, so here's a cantrip version.

The Great Redesigner Search: Mechanic

Welcome back to the Great Redesigner Search, a series where I redo all of my GDS3 entries. This week is a little bit different from the others, because I'm making all new cards as opposed to revising old ones. As always, you can read my original entries and judge commentary here.

Weekend Design Challenge 092520 - Randomizer

Hey Artisans! Click through to see this weekend's design challenge. Your mission is to design a custom magic card that follows the guidelines. Over the course of the weekend, give feedback to your fellow designers on their designs and incorporate their feedback to iterate on your own. I'll try to offer some feedback of my own starting on Monday.

CCDD 092420 - Phyrexian Control Center

This is a lot more powerful than most cards that make token armies-- Birthing Boughs, say-- but it comes with a critical (and flavorful) weakness.

Weekend Design Challenge 091820 - Strixhaven MDFCs

Happy Friday, Artisans! Click through to see this weekend's design challenge. Your mission is to design a custom magic card that follows the guidelines. Over the course of the weekend, give feedback to your fellow designers on their designs and incorporate their feedback to iterate on your own. I'll try to offer some feedback of my own starting on Monday.

CCDD 091820 - Over My Dead Body

Here's one for the "weird Spikey subgame" files (my favorite is still Zyym, Mesmeric Lord).

CCDD 091620 - Ajani, True Companion

There's no reason this had to be Ajani-- it's a very bottom-up design, inspired by cards like Serra Avatar and Touch of the Eternal-- but I think it fits his character. And it was easy to find art for, which is nice for planeswalker card renders.

The Three Immutable Laws of Magic Design

One of Magic's defining features is its mutability. Every format and every set brings with it new opportunities for players to redefine the game. Mark Rosewater calls this process of constant renewal and discovery "Crispy Hashbrown Theory" and posits that it's one of Magic's core strengths. While I generally agree with this, I have two objections. The first is that hashbrowns aren't the best example of a breakfast food you get sick of partway through and that it should be called "Pancake Theory" instead. The second is that while constant change is the lifeblood of the game, Magic has a set of qualities that should never be changed, no matter how weird or experimental you're getting. These are the three immutable laws of Magic design.

Weekend Design Challenge 091120 - Kaldheim MDFCs

Hey Artisans! Click through to see this weekend's design challenge. Your mission is to design a custom magic card that follows the guidelines. Over the course of the weekend, give feedback to your fellow designers on their designs and incorporate their feedback to iterate on your own. I'll try to offer some feedback of my own starting on Monday.

CCDD 090920 – Market Guardians

"In response, I call my stockbroker."

CCDD 090820 - Panpiper

There's nothing too innovative about today's design. I just happened to be looking at the tribute mechanic for some reason and wondered about putting more power into the modal part instead of the base creature.

CCDD 090320 - Lightning Berserker

It always bothered me a little that there wasn't much point in blocking Ball Lightning. Absorbing a few points of damage isn't normally worth losing an X/2 or X/3 creature, so the Lightning was basically just a burn spell that could be "countered" by first strike or instant-speed removal. Eventually I decided to make a version that didn't have that problem.