CCDD 20210621 - Harmonic Coordination

There is surprisingly little mono-G top-down design space in a Heist Movie theme. I put the clockwork maneuvering of the squad in the Common Bond/Seeds of Strength space, but I wonder if I forced it to be different targets if it would be a better design.

CCDD 101520 - Predator's Roar

The idea behind this card was to make a combat trick that rewards you specifically for using it to win combats.

CCDD 032220 - A Little Something Extra

Combat tricks are a bad value proposition in many ways. They aren't consistently worth a card, they're vulnerable to instant-speed removal, and so on. What's more, they aren't even all that tricky. Because they cost mana they're at least somewhat telegraphed, and easy to play around once they're suspected. What would it take to work around that problem? Here's one idea.

CCDD 022020 - Gather Strength

This design brought to you by the Department of the Obvious:

CCDD 08222019 - Martyrize

I played around in every color but Black this week, and I did creatures and enchantments, so I set out to make a Black Instant for today's design. I initially though something along the line of Persecute. I wanted removal that would prevent a player from casting cards with the same name for the rest of the game, but that ended up feeling more white, in the vein of Exclusion Ritual. Tinkering around, I settled on the flavor of a dying creature becoming a martyr, and ended up with this:

CCDD 082218 - Fastball Special

My current design obsession is translating X-Men mythos into magic cards. Part of what makes the X-Men tick is when they are able to combine their powers in cool and interesting ways.

CCDD 022718 - Conjured Augmentation and Cascading Design Restrictions

Holy guacamole, the GDS3 design test is fun. My first two first draft designs were an Uncommon Azorius Enchantment and an Uncommon Orzhov Creature. Those decisions put the tightest squeeze on what I would be able to do in Boros and Selesnya, so those are the cards I decided to tackle next.

CCDD 051617—Sylvan Ambush

Cool Card Design of the Day
5/16/2017 - Here's a combat trick that repays its mana cost. Or untaps your creatures. It's slightly tribal, favoring elf decks, but usable in any green creature deck.

CCDD 011217—Wild Strength

Cool Card Design of the Day
1/12/2017 - We've seen Healing Salve and Lightning Bolt meet up in Lightning Helix. What kind of damage could you do with Giant Growth and LB? I'm guessing, quite a bit.

CCDD 011117—Multimorphosis

Cool Card Design of the Day
1/11/2017 - Multimorphosis is meant to be a shifter's take on Seeds of Strength. It can only target your own creatures though: otherwise you could kill 1-3 of your opponent's. It's blue and so, appropriately tricky.

CCDD 011016—Hail the Pantheon of Dragons

Cool Card Design of the Day
1/10/2017 - Using Manamorphose as a model for a 'free' combat trick. Of course, the real trick is whether to cast this before combat or find another instant effect to fuel with it.

Weekend Art Challenge 123116—jaggudada, aaron miller, yuchenghong & lucastorquato27

Click through to see the illustration and design requirements for your single  card submission, due Monday morning. Every submission warrants feedback, which you may use to revise your submission any number of times. I will aim to review the most recent submission from each designer.

CCDD 122816—Strength of Character

Cool Card Design of the Day
12/30/2016 - Rounding out the week of white combat tricks with the most simple and obvious. Not yet printed.

CCDD 122916—Call to Stand

Cool Card Design of the Day
12/29/2016 - Divine Favor as a combat trick.

CCDD 122816—Join the Fray

Cool Card Design of the Day
12/28/2016 - Here's a very simple combination of Raise the Alarm and white P/T boosting.

CCDD 033015—Rage

Cool Card Design of the Day
3/30/2015 - The exact cost to power ratio is debatable, but here's a red common I can't believe we've never seen.

CCDD 032615—Thrill of the Hunt

Cool Card Design of the Day
3/26/2015 - A green trick with conditional cantrip.

CCDD 030415—Leaping Frog Strike

Cool Card Design of the Day
3/4/2015 - There's a lot of merit in the idea behind Jade's Great Cleave and Czynki's Strike of the Student. I wanted to explore a shorter iteration to see if we can find something that strikes the same nerve but is simple enough for common.

CCDD 051112—Doom Blow

Cool Card Design of the Day
5/11/2012 - As a combat trick, Doom Blow looks unusually strong. The combination of first strike and deathtouch has only appeared on three cards—Glissa, the Traitor, Nirkana Cutthroat & Pestilent Kathari—all either multicolor or requiring additional mana to turn the dial up to 11. Black isn't exactly known for combat tricks. Sure, instant-speed -1/-1 effects are sometimes used to change combat math, but there are few black tricks you want to cast on your own guy; Deadly Allure, Tainted Strike & Virulent Swipe comprise nearly the entire list in Modern.