General Custom Cards: The Lab

[Velrun]

Yeah I agree @Chris Taylor it doesn’t ruin games. It’s just an efficient draw spell.

 

[Onderzeeboot]

I do find it a bit weird to be making a 1/1 dragon token, regardless of the art
I've been trying to find a use for this art for a while now:

Mermaids and Losing your footing by Sam Hogg
So much of the identity of red that gets expressed in magic is Rage, Fury, Conflict, War, Blood etc, with the occasional glance of anything else (Cathartic Reunion really deserves better art, I always thought Chandra would be more of an ugly cry kinda person but then again this art is hardly the worst thing to happen to her character)
Red is the color of passion and joy too, we just don't see it because it doesn't make for a good 2 drop or burn spell

Share a Story
Sorcery
For each creature target opponent controls, exile the top card of your library. You may play those cards until the end of your next turn. Whenever you cast a spell before the end of your next turn, target creature can't block this turn.

 

[spicewitch]

Cohellrider, ragavan

oooh, i really like that hellrider as an "and now let's stop heckin around" card. Do you think the effect is too dramatic at any price? Or might you cube it at, say, 3 or 1?

also, legendary monkey pirate! what a beautiful type line! legendary! monkey! pirate!

 

[Chris Taylor]

Don't get me wrong, I run hellrider. But I can see how it might ruin games for people.

 

[blacksmithy]

i would run hellrider at 1RR if i supported aggro

 

[TrainmasterGT]

i would run hellrider at 1RR if i supported aggro

Can we give it Waifu art and call it the Blacksmithy Special?

 

[Jason Waddell]

I don't think Hellrider is too much. In my opinion it's a pretty fair card.

 

[Karshtakavaar]

I'm in the market for a top-end threat for Devotion Stompy in a two player cube, but neither Primalcrux nor Khalni Hydra have any value outside that specific deck and space is at a premium.
Was thinking about a Pentavus but for devotion and tribal decks:

A Whole Pile of Snakes With Their Tails Tied Together
Snake Hydra
Chroma - ~ costs less to cast for each green mana symbol among permanents you control.
~ enters the battlefield with 5 +1/+1 counters on it.
Trample
, Remove a +1/+1 counter from ~: Create a 1/1 green snake creature token.
Sacrifice a snake: Put a +1/+1 counter on ~.
0/0

Too pushed? Consider that it's going to see play with Yorvo.

 

[Velrun]

Put it on a card and see how it reads.

My bet is that it probably has two or three lines of text too much.

 

[blacksmithy]

Put it on a card and see how it reads.

My bet is that it probably has two or three lines of text too much.

i think that’s absolutely correct.
good heuristic on customs: if your custom card maker starts pinching down the text, you probably wanna simplify the card a bit

 

[Velrun]

Here's the full text of the card.

Chroma - A Whole Pile of Snakes With Their Tails Tied Together costs less to cast for each green mana symbol among permanents you control.
A Whole Pile of Snakes With Their Tails Tied Together enters the battlefield with 5 +1/+1 counters on it.
Trample
, Remove a +1/+1 counter from A Whole Pile of Snakes With Their Tails Tied Together: Create a 1/1 green snake creature token.
Sacrifice a snake: Put a +1/+1 counter on A Whole Pile of Snakes With Their Tails Tied Together.

 

[Humpty_Dumpty]

Here's the full text of the card.

Chroma - A Whole Pile of Snakes With Their Tails Tied Together costs less to cast for each green mana symbol among permanents you control.
A Whole Pile of Snakes With Their Tails Tied Together enters the battlefield with 5 +1/+1 counters on it.
Trample
, Remove a +1/+1 counter from A Whole Pile of Snakes With Their Tails Tied Together: Create a 1/1 green snake creature token.
Sacrifice a snake: Put a +1/+1 counter on A Whole Pile of Snakes With Their Tails Tied Together.

A snappier name for the card might help. Snake Knot. Ball of Hiss. Fanged Tangle. Fangle.

 

[Onderzeeboot]

With all the correct rules text and some classic art, it looks like it just crosses the max 9 lines of rules text guideline. Compare, e.g.



You can all judge for yourself whether that makes the card unreadable or whether it's okay However, by choosing an even shorter name, and dropping the chroma keyword (how many chroma cards are you running anyway), you can get it to fit in 9 lines! Ladies and gentlemen, I present you SNAKEBALL!

 

[Karshtakavaar]

Thank-you everyone for your input on my dumb-ass idea. I absolutely love the art you found for it as well Onderzeeboot. I think I have to get it printed and play it now, it's gone too far for any other result

My bet is that it probably has two or three lines of text too much.

i think that’s absolutely correct.
good heuristic on customs: if your custom card maker starts pinching down the text, you probably wanna simplify the card a bit

The original idea was

Spoiler

Titanoboa .
Giant Snake
Trample
Chroma - Titanoboa costs G less to cast and enters the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter for each green mana symbol among permanents you control.
0/0

Just a big ol' snek. Real big. Real snek.

Which is snappier but was just a big dumb idiot that died, so not really an improvement over Primalcrux or Khalni Hydra. I was thinking about a version with Affinity for Forests or green creatures (Obviously with a different mana cost) to make it more legible, but then it doesn't turbo-charge devotion on its own, so I kinda felt committed to the chroma version.
Next attempt was a Hooded Hydra meets Arcbound Ravager kind of guy - sac snakes make big, when dies get back snake tokens, can sac it to itself for value.

Spoiler

Fydi, the Eidophage 4
Legendary Enchantment Creature - Snake God
~ costs less to cast and enters the battlefield with x +1/+1 counters, where X is your devotion to Green
Trample
When ~ dies, create a 1/1 green Snake creature token for each +1/+1 counter on ~.
Sacrifice a Snake: Put a +1/+1 counter on ~.
0/0

Snake that is very hungry and may end up eating itself, thereby releasing all of it's previous meals a la Cronus. Probably a creature of myth wtih a story like that, so a god and enchantment?

That idea invalidated removal a little -too- well considering the powerlevel of the intended environment. Probably also why I forgot the "another" in the final 'attempt' (Read: Stapling together of two unrelated cards and ) - thanks for fixing my wording on that and the cost reduction, zee. Also where I gave up on being clever and just used the Pentavus ability, as it goes well with cost reduction.

Really appreciate all the input <3

 

[Onderzeeboot]

I like the concept of Pathways, but hate the execution.

So, I've been running Pathways for a while now in my cube, and this has bothered me as well. I'm wondering if this could replace them.

Spoiler: The rest of the cycle for my cube

All art by Alex van der Linde.

 

[Onderzeeboot]

Thank-you everyone for your input on my dumb-ass idea. I absolutely love the art you found for it as well Onderzeeboot. I think I have to get it printed and play it now, it's gone too far for any other result

I've got a higher resolution version that is too big to upload here. Maybe PM me if you want it

 

[Karshtakavaar]

Here's the full text of the card.

Chroma - A Whole Pile of Snakes With Their Tails Tied Together costs less to cast for each green mana symbol among permanents you control.
A Whole Pile of Snakes With Their Tails Tied Together enters the battlefield with 5 +1/+1 counters on it.
Trample
, Remove a +1/+1 counter from A Whole Pile of Snakes With Their Tails Tied Together: Create a 1/1 green snake creature token.
Sacrifice a snake: Put a +1/+1 counter on A Whole Pile of Snakes With Their Tails Tied Together.

So, as we learned today with Mishra, you can have almost 150 words on an official magic card.
90 seems perfectly acceptable

 

[Onderzeeboot]

So, as we learned today with Mishra, you can have almost 150 words on an official magic card.
90 seems perfectly acceptable

On three official Magic cards (one of which has a super-sized text box even)

 

[Velrun]

@Karshtakavaar
I’ll give you this With the way Wizards do things..it probably won’t be many years until they could print your custom card as is.

 

[Velrun]

@Onderzeeboot
Not Magic related but custom related. I’ll write here instead of in a PM because maybe others will find it useful too.

Can you help me find the best Middle Earth (or The Lord of the Rings/Hobbit/Rings of Power) artwork of a world map in as high resolution as possible?

You’re always amazing at finding good artwork. Maybe your skills go beyond finding pictured for land cycles, creatures and other Magic related artworks.

In my home cinema I have a large 180x120 map of Westeros, Essos and the rest of the known world from A Song of Ice and Fire. I also have a The Lands Between from Elden Ring (which is kind of a spoiler to have hanging on the wall for those who haven’t finished the game). They are both acoustic prints which means they are thick and made from a material that absorb sounds for a better listening experience. Now I’m looking for one of Middle Earth or the known world of Tolkien.

 

[Onderzeeboot]

@Onderzeeboot
Not Magic related but custom related. I’ll write here instead of in a PM because maybe others will find it useful too.

Can you help me find the best Middle Earth (or The Lord of the Rings/Hobbit/Rings of Power) artwork of a world map in as high resolution as possible?

You’re always amazing at finding good artwork. Maybe your skills go beyond finding pictured for land cycles, creatures and other Magic related artworks.

In my home cinema I have a large 180x120 map of Westeros, Essos and the rest of the known world from A Song of Ice and Fire. I also have a The Lands Between from Elden Ring (which is kind of a spoiler to have hanging on the wall for those who haven’t finished the game). They are both acoustic prints which means they are thick and made from a material that absorb sounds for a better listening experience. Now I’m looking for one of Middle Earth or the known world of Tolkien.

This is the largest good map I could find.

This one's even higher resolution, but it's missing text near Weathertop and Mirkwood Forest, as if someone erased part of the text in both places.

If you've got money to spare, there's sellers all over the internet offering cool maps, like this one, for a fee.

 

[Velrun]

Thank you @Onderzeeboot

I got money to spare but I am not looking for a regular print. I want the file so I can take it to the printing acoustic audio printing company. Otherwise it's just art which can also be fine but I'm looking for the effect + the art.

Nice catch with the Weathertop. It's also in blank white so that I can't have.

I have contacted the company that sells the prints from your third link to ask if I can buy the file for download and to ask for the highest resolution they have available.

Thank you very much!
And if anyone else has some high quality The Lord of the Rings map-style arts, please share them still

 

[Mown]

I just cut Skyclave Shade and I was lamenting how +1/+1 counter/sacrifice fodder is a pretty neat niche.

Devkarin Test-Subject
Creature - Plant Elf
Graft 1
: Return ~ from your graveyard to the battlefield tapped. Activate this ability only if a creature entered the battlefield this turn.
1/0

 

[Chris Taylor]

I'm not convinced you want overlap between "archetype which wants creatures moving zones as much as possible" and "keep your creatures in play so they benifit from +1/+1 counter synergies"?

 

[Mown]

Foolish to think I wouldn't want overlap between anything I can get my hands of, even stax and storm if such a thing could exist.
Besides, my only actual +1/+1 counter incentive is The Ozolith, which doesn't really mind. (And Together Forever, which also works in that overlap, but I'm not sure how I actually feel about that card.)