CCDD 102920 - Executioner's Choice

I have a soft spot for card designs that give my opponents tough decisions, like Fact or Fiction. Here's a relatively simple one.

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 100620 - Relentless Brutality

This is a bad idea for a mechanic, but it's still kind of cool.

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.

CCDD 091820 - Over My Dead Body

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

CCDD 072820 - Dovin's Prerogative

Most high-profile "hate cards" target specific broken strategies: Relic of Progenitus for graveyards, Stony Silence for artifacts, Damping Sphere for storm, and so forth. A while back I thought about turning this around. If I could define what was "unreasonable" in a game of Magic, and target that, then maybe I could create the One Hate Card To Rule Them All. Here's what I came up with.

CCDD 072620 - Confront the Sorcerer

This semi-top-down design was a real pain to template. It ended up as an interesting variant on the "modal spell, but opponent chooses" idea.

CCDD 042120 - Touch of Frost

Here's another card from the Have They Really Never Printed This? file.

CCDD 040120 - Gatling Blast

For a bottom-up design, this card went through a crazy number of templating iterations. I knew what I wanted it to do, but not how to do that in a clean and intuitive way. Finally I realized that I could get the text box down to four lines by reusing an existing set mechanic.

CCDD 031620 - You're Nothing Without It

A while back I was brainstorming ideas for making artifact / enchantment removal more appealing. Naturalize is a good card when it has relevant targets, but it often doesn't, so it tends to want either alternate modes (e.g. Return to Nature) or some kind of upside. Here's one flavorful way I found of adding upside.

CCDD 031220 - As Nature Intended

Nothing too fancy here, just an interesting way to interact with artifacts and enchantments. The tech is pretty common (Sudden Disappearance is the closest analogue, and there are several other mass-flicker effects for creatures only) but using it reactively against opponents' strategies seems novel.

CCDD 030920 - Stare Down

Here's a conditional counterspell that's kind of the opposite of Mana Leak and company: potentially oppressive in the late game but much less reliable early on.

Eternal Analysis 014—Ambush and fast spells

Eternal avoided making Magic's mistake of taxonomically dividing sorceries and instants: They're all spells, but some are fast and some aren't. Then they dropped the ball.

CCDD 091218—Ever Vigilant

Cool Card Design of the Day
How kosher is it to grant a keyword to all your creatures, but first reward all your creatures that already have that keyword?

Walk with me.

Weekend Art Challenge 022318 - Most Expensive Common Instant

Click through to see the requirements for your design test, 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 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 011816—Stern Response

Cool Card Design of the Day
1/18/2017 - Stern Response is comparable to Swords to Plowshares against a 6+ power creature, costing you some life rather than gaining them some. Unless you blocked with an 0/7, in which case it's better. Or unless you're willing to bribe the court to expedite your enemy's sentencing.

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.