General Custom Cards: The Lab

What color should this border be?
Extinction Zone.pngNote: I couldn't figure out how to get the paint brush by the artist's name in this frame, but it seems kind of obvious what the name is, based on the placement.
 
The color of the frame of lands are there to help your opponent cipher which colors of mana you have access to.

Cards like Prismatic Vista and City of Brass have multicolored frames because you have access to all colors.

Cards like Evolving Wilds and Terramorphic Expanse do not because they do not give you access to all colors. They only give you access to a tapped land which in turn could have a colored border.

A card like Grasslands has colored
border because when it is tapped, it doesn’t give you access to mana just like any other land but when it is untapped it gives you access to white and green.
 

Chris Taylor

Contributor
So... This taps for {B}, right? :p
If you put this in your deck thinking it taps for black, you might be making an error of too many utility lands.
If you put this in your deck thinking it's a colorless land, there's aprox an 80% chance (Quik Mafs) that it's literally useless.
 
I see "uses black" as a valid reason for border coloration the same as "makes black"
That is not how Wizards see it. And I believe if got some experience, you would also not see it this way.

Having a black frame on a land that doesn’t add black mana will lead to many, many, many situations where someone will tap it for {B}. Some of those times a player will notice.

When the controller themselves notices:
“Why doesn’t this tap for black mana when it is a black land???”

and

When opponent notices:
“I know it is confusing but Volrath’s Stronghold doesn’t actually tap for black.”
 
I don't think it would be that big of an issue, especially if Chris has used it in actual play and not had any bad outcomes.

I honestly think it's fine both ways. One way prioritizes the mana ability, one prioritizes the activated ability.
 
Having a black frame on a land that doesn’t add black mana will lead to many, many, many situations where someone will tap it for {B}. Some of those times a player will notice.
To give anecdotal evidence, I regularly see myself and others forget that this doesn't tap for {B} without sacrificing a creature:

 
fortress of secrets gets an immediate helllll yeahhh from me
I think you saw the post that was up for two seconds then deleted lol. The images were too janky here. Here's the full thing:


Lands so far. They're in alphabetical order, so it's kind of dumb.
I tried to make them similar power levels to shock-fetch. The tri colors had to be a little janky to get away with being untapped and the duals need a minor drawback.
EDIT: That imgur embed is so nice.
 
I think you saw the post that was up for two seconds then deleted lol. The images were too janky here. Here's the full thing:


Lands so far. They're in alphabetical order, so it's kind of dumb.
I tried to make them similar power levels to shock-fetch. The tri colors had to be a little janky to get away with being untapped and the duals need a minor drawback.
EDIT: That imgur embed is so nice.
I really like this design!
 
I don't see why they would be triggering– they do tap for mana in their own right!

@blacksmithy care to explain?
He's a land hater and making two nonblack mana is pretty sketchy.

Glad no one has said anything is obviously out of place yet.

Is MPC the primary way people make cards? Kind of sick of $10-50 lands that aren't even specified to my weird color pie.
 

Chris Taylor

Contributor
Is MPC the primary way people make cards? Kind of sick of $10-50 lands that aren't even specified to my weird color pie.
If you're super happy with these, MPC is excellent
If they're still in the testing phase, I'd just print em out and stick em in sleeves

Obv those are super vague :p
 
If you're super happy with these, MPC is excellent
Reasonably happy. No one has given me any reasons that they suck yet, so that's a good sign. Debating customing all my lands. Maybe I leave some real lands in there. Not sure yet.
If they're still in the testing phase, I'd just print em out and stick em in sleeves
How much testing does a land need, ya know? I'm pretty confident it'll tap for colors.
 
Top