General Custom Cards: The Lab

Velrun

Velrun

This is an apreciation post <3

In the past, whenever I made custom cards for my cube, they were always designed in Magic Set Editor2 and printed by a printing company in Copenhagen. They looked exactly like Magic cards except the quality was a bit subpar because of the quality of MSE2. Furthermore I had to cut the paper and attach them onto existing Magic cards and single sleeve them up. If I double-sleeved the cards would be too thick and recognizable from normal Magic cards.

But then something Magic happened...

On the very last day of 2021 Blacksmithy offered to help me with my custom cards and I took him up on the offer. Over the course of a month, (where he patiently kept changing designs whenever I wanted) we designed 36 custom cards together. Some of the cards were greatly inspired by Onde in this thread. Smithy used CardConjurer for most of the cards and Artificer for a selected few. He used MakePlayingCards to print the cards. No paper, no cutting with scissors. Just cards that look like real Magic cards.

Here is how accurate they look to real Magic cards

Suntail Squadron.jpg

Compare to regular Suntail Squadron


But what about the size of the card?

Height.png

Exactly same height

Width.png

Exactly same width

Exact.png

Exactly the same size from all angles. In this picture I am holding the Mishra’s Factory and Suntail Squadron together.

They also feel like normal Magic cards in hand.

Blacksmity made 36 cards for me
Here are some examples of the cards Blacksmithy made for me

Alchemy 18.png

The cards I wanted to test in my cube from Arena's Alchemy set + Jumpstart: Historic Horizons

Lands 20.png

The completed Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth and Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth

Lessons.jpg

Five ally Lessons. I suspect Avatar and Faerie to be a little too strong.

Custom 18.png

Some custom cards I really like.

The card are prettier in real life than they are on these pictures. The pictures are a bit dark and grainy because I took them inside. The custom cards above doesn't look good on this picture but they do in real life. Here is a picture of Sanguine Brushstroke taken outside.

Sanguine.jpg

If you think of ordering from Make Playing Cards, make sure you remember to choose the 'Superior Smooth' option.

I greatly appreciate Blacksmithy doing this for me. Taking the time, giving great customer service and the finish result is 100 % accurate! He found all the names for the artists. Thank you @blacksmithy <3

Promised tagging
@Onderzeeboot
@Brad
 
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Onderzeeboot

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
blacksmithy said:
my order came in too! a lot of it was just old border stuff, but i also got some EDH stuff as a present for my cousin and some planeswalkers (finally) for the cube. REALLY happy with how Card Conjurer’s stuff prints:
https://imgur.com/a/VavzIpu

EDIT: wow my lighting sucks lol
Click to expand...
Said every raging MtG fan: How hard can it be to take a fricking decent picture of these leaks?!

:marofl:
 
Mown

Mown

I've been debating with myself these past days if I should be the guy that comments on the missing border cover for the legend crown or not. That aside, they look great, I should really get around to order some cards (with paypal).
 
Velrun

Velrun

Mown said:
I've been debating with myself these past days if I should be the guy that comments on the missing border cover for the legend crown or not. That aside, they look great, I should really get around to order some cards (with paypal).
Click to expand...

If you’re talking about the ones I posted above, the legend crown is a bit different than normal. But it is still there on all the legendary lands and creatures.
 
Chris Taylor

Chris Taylor

Contributor
Looking for ideas: Red 2 drop creatures

Archetypes: I run +1/+1 counters, prowess and aristocrats.
Role: hopefully something not wholly aggressive or wholly defensive. I've had issues with "can't block tribal" decks by happenstance of what cards fell into decks I was running.
Power Level: I call it a 7? I run swords to plowshares and lightning bolt, but not goblin guide or grave titan. My environment is a very fair, no combo environment.

Though honestly throw ideas at the wall, it's usually pretty doable to add power

Random, semi-related design thoughts:
In the back of my idea archive file is a keyword I hope I never use: Square {N} (This creature enters the battlefield with N +1/+1 counters)

Because of the dimensions of my +1/+1 counters archetype, cards that get counters throughout regular gameplay (no matter how easily) are less desirable then cards that have those counters up front. Even something that gains counters as easily as vinelasher kudzu is still another thing that needs to appear in order in an archetype that already suffers frustrating problems when you draw your cards out of order.

So if the card needs to come with counters pre-baked, technically I can solve this problem by just making Square (tm) creatures using the keyword above, but it looks lazy. There's other reasons to not use this, but I can admit to myself I just want my cards to look like real magic cards.
 
Mown

Mown

Stormsprinter {1}{R}
Creature - Elemental Scout
Graft 1
Creatures you control with +1/+1 counters have haste.
1/1

Biomass Weird {1}{R}
Creature - Weird
Discard a card: Adapt 1.
{R}{R}, Remove a +1/+1 counter from ~: Draw a card.
2/2

Fabricate seems like a great fit for counters/aristrocrats, but I didn't find an execution I liked while thinking about it. Not sure how I ended up with two simic mechanics instead.
 
Brad

Brad

This is maybe excessively simple but

1R
Devour 1
2/2

Something with "RR, Sacrifice a creature: Return target sorcery card with (?equal or?) lesser mana value than the sacrificed creature to your hand." to prevent token sac spam? Some kinda ability like that?
 
Onderzeeboot

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
Brad said:
This is maybe excessively simple but

1R
Devour 1
2/2

Something with "RR, Sacrifice a creature: Return target sorcery card with (?equal or?) lesser mana value than the sacrificed creature to your hand." to prevent token sac spam? Some kinda ability like that?
Click to expand...
1R
Devour 1
When ~ dies, you may cast target instant or sorcery card with converted mana cost X or less from your graveyard without paying its mana cost, where X is ~'s power. If that card would be put into your graveyard this turn, exile it instead.
1/0

Recast that Lightning Bolt for 1R, or use it as a sac outlet while gaining access to bigger spells. This... actually connects all three themes...
 
Heymaker

Heymaker

1R
0/0 Creature - Zombie Army
Trample (First Strike seemed pretty strong)
~ enters with a +1/+1 counter.
While ~ is on the battlefield or in your graveyard, noncreature spells you cast gain "Amass 1".

Graveyard clause seems a bit strong perhaps? Think there is some room to move and tweak abilities to get it where you want though.
 
Maldar

Maldar

OGb7aU2.png

I have this one in my cube. It hasn't made the cut in any drafts yet but I really like the design of it.
 
Sinner2221

Sinner2221

Chris Taylor said:
Looking for ideas: Red 2 drop creatures

Archetypes: I run +1/+1 counters, prowess and aristocrats.
Role: hopefully something not wholly aggressive or wholly defensive. I've had issues with "can't block tribal" decks by happenstance of what cards fell into decks I was running.
Power Level: I call it a 7? I run swords to plowshares and lightning bolt, but not goblin guide or grave titan. My environment is a very fair, no combo environment.

Though honestly throw ideas at the wall, it's usually pretty doable to add power

Random, semi-related design thoughts:
In the back of my idea archive file is a keyword I hope I never use: Square {N} (This creature enters the battlefield with N +1/+1 counters)

Because of the dimensions of my +1/+1 counters archetype, cards that get counters throughout regular gameplay (no matter how easily) are less desirable then cards that have those counters up front. Even something that gains counters as easily as vinelasher kudzu is still another thing that needs to appear in order in an archetype that already suffers frustrating problems when you draw your cards out of order.

So if the card needs to come with counters pre-baked, technically I can solve this problem by just making Square (tm) creatures using the keyword above, but it looks lazy. There's other reasons to not use this, but I can admit to myself I just want my cards to look like real magic cards.
Click to expand...
Strangleroot Geist seems like a card which could be a red 2 drop.
 
Velrun

Velrun

I have a few cards in my cube where we have altered the mana cost. Sometimes Wizards print a card we like but we want to change the cost. Here are some examples:

Ashiok's Erasure
https://imgur.com/Fusnd9j

Helm of the Host
https://imgur.com/rcinPla

Golden Guardian
https://imgur.com/gH6xMeJ

Nyx Lotus
https://imgur.com/AiRYzkT

Oko, Thief of Crowns
https://imgur.com/26TRyFN

We use stickers
There are about 15 cards with altered mana cost in the cube (1500 cards)

To see the full resolution of the pictures, click on the link. This page downscales the quality.
 
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