General Custom Cards: The Lab

[Brad]

• Adventures should have separate names from the cards they're on, which is slightly problematic, since you tried to fit both sides of the card to the name. In some cases this works (Duck) in others it doesn't (Wind, Sewer). Anyway, ask yourself if you're happy with players saying: "I cast Wind."

I'm imagining these in some sort of semi-Un set where a lot of the cards are a bit comical somehow.

• The reminder text on the adventure side of Extract, Match, and Object is wrong.

Fixed.

• Wind feels disconnected.

I agree and don't have a fix for it, I'll see if I can find another WU word, maybe.

• Sewer feels weird and underpowered as a 0/2. Doomed Necromancer is a 2/2 for that is literally unplayable. I think you can get away with making it a 2/1 if you want to push it a bit.

Alright. I'm a bit nervous around adventures, but you're right.

• Match (the enchantment) pulls all the lands from your deck with a single land drop.

Added "from hand" text.

• Match's (the adventure) nonblue clause sticks out like a sore thumb, blue even is an enemy color of both red and green...

I was thinking that a match would be put out by something blue. There's also fewer blue creatures than the other colors.

• Object is really cool, but also really wordy. It also seems really, really strong compared to the power level of the others.

I was so nervous to make the random too weak. It IS really wordy and the half text box is rough. EDIT: I removed the flavor text to save space, but then the dash ended up on a line of its own, so I removed the loot because it felt like the weakest effect. Now it's like a mix of Awakening Zone and Cunning Sparkmage.

• Convert feels disjointed. You could easily make the creature an artifact creature to fit a bit better.

I thought about that, but I have a hard time imagining a machine as a religious convert.

I actually find the polysemous names cute! They also helped me learn the word polysemous, so it's been educational too. Wizards wouldn't do it, but don't let that stop you.

I learned the word "homograph." Words that look the same but have more meanings.

--Match should probably have at least one "basic" on it. As it stands, it's a busto T4 lands enabler that is also a removal spell from T1.

Added so it's played from hand. The idea was to match your land drops. Like a Wild Pair for lands. I almost just did Wild Pair text, but it was enough wordier that it shrunk the text a decent bit.

R for 2 damage to a creature is very, very good value--see Spikefield Hazard.

It might become 2 mana for 3 damage, but it's already limited to creatures, which hurts it.

--Extract seems crazy good for a control deck as a more different Pyrite Spellbomb combined with Check for Traps, both of which are playable on their own.

Yeaaaaahh... It's hard because both sides of the spell feel unplayable once you start costing them up. I was viewing it as good Thoughtseize and a Seal of Fire with a mana added to both. Maybe Extract becomes good Duress. I'll see where the overall power level lands and adjust accordingly.

--Might some of these work better with higher mana costs on the adventures? Right now if I'm playing these cards, they're mostly gold cards that I'm looking to juice for maximal value, and by making some of the adventures the primary mode you might be able to spice things up a little.

Definitely my first time designing adventures and they're a weird card type. I was scared that some might suck if I don't have both halves cast, but I'm going to go look into this!

But overall I really like these!

Thanks. They're pretty fun, I think.



CardConjurer sucks for making split cards. I'd have to go edit the art myself to have it fit across both sides of the card... Anyone have a strong alternative?

 

[LadyMapi]

My only complaint about those adventures is that a lot of them feel very disjointed. The best way to approach designing adventures is to ask yourself how well the two halves work with each-other.

I honestly think my favorite example is this fellow:



This guy is actually pretty modal, since the Adventure enables the big chonky main part of the card but is a pretty meh way of doing it (a vanilla 1/1 for ? Bleh). So the card feels like an actual package, not just two cards that were randomly stapled together.

---

Going down your list:

• Wind/Wind feels pretty disjointed, and I feel like the adventure part is weird (I'd associate "winding" with untapping an artifact, not rebuilding it from scratch).
• Sewer/Sewer's two halves work well with each-other, but I feel like it could be stronger. (Also, the "Sewer" adventure feels weird, since you don't generally "sewer" stuff, unless this is some local dialect thing that I'm not familiar with.)
• Extract/Extract feels pretty disjointed, though both parts are fine on their own.
• I like Match/Match (or, at least, I like the idea). Maybe the Enchantment could tutor up another land with the same name when you play lands from your hand?
• Plain/Plain got a chuckle out of me, at the very least.
• Suspect/Suspect feels interesting. I'd have to see it in play to see how well it works with itself.
• Object/Object has a good adventure, but I'm not a big fan of the artifact. I was kinda hoping it'd just make different game objects (Treasures, Blood, Clues, etc).
• Scale/Scale seems pretty alright. A bit basic, but that isn't a crime.
• Convert/Convert doesn't really have synergy between the two sides. Maybe if Convert (the creature) attached an Equipment to itself when it ETB'd or something?
• Duck/Duck is a solid pun, and I love it.

 

[Brad]

• Wind/Wind feels pretty disjointed, and I feel like the adventure part is weird (I'd associate "winding" with untapping an artifact, not rebuilding it from scratch).

Ok, I'm gonna go back to the drawing board on WU. I was thinking about it quite a bit and don't really have a fix for the disjoint because Wind is too natural of a thing to make into an artifact and you don't wind anything that isn't an artifact.

• Sewer/Sewer's two halves work well with each-other, but I feel like it could be stronger. (Also, the "Sewer" adventure feels weird, since you don't generally "sewer" stuff, unless this is some local dialect thing that I'm not familiar with.)

Yeah. It's more so like putting something into the sewer. I'm limited on words that this works with lol.

• Extract/Extract feels pretty disjointed, though both parts are fine on their own.

I think it feels a little worse when one part has a pretty explicit thing it wants to pair with, like Wind.

• I like Match/Match (or, at least, I like the idea). Maybe the Enchantment could tutor up another land with the same name when you play lands from your hand?

I'd really like it to be same name, but some sort of 3 color green deck might not have basics with the same name if they drafted a lot of nonbasics or they drew all 3 Mountains or whatever. I wanted to avoid feel bads.

• Plain/Plain got a chuckle out of me, at the very least.

It's a heinous design lol.

• Suspect/Suspect feels interesting. I'd have to see it in play to see how well it works with itself.

I think that curving into itself is decent. I can't tell how good it is, but both halves are definitely alright.

• Object/Object has a good adventure, but I'm not a big fan of the artifact. I was kinda hoping it'd just make different game objects (Treasures, Blood, Clues, etc).

I could make it do that if I had more space. Describing the tokens is such a wordy process. The artifact simply being known as Object needed to do something strange.

• Convert/Convert doesn't really have synergy between the two sides. Maybe if Convert (the creature) attached an Equipment to itself when it ETB'd or something?

I made the creature 2/1 for W with Metalcraft-Lifelink. @Onderzeeboot How do we feel about that for a bit of a connection?

Really appreciate the feedback on these.

EDIT:
Second - 3U
It's Clone.
//
Adventure:
Second - 3W
Instant
Put target creature into its owner’s library second from the top.

 

[Karshtakavaar]

I love Duck//Duck, would very happily play that card. Now I really want to see a version of Who//What//When//Where//Why that's Duck//Duck//Goose.

I'd play Object//Object if it was
": Create one at random
a Food
a Treasure
a Clue
a Blood"

Like, Wizards doesn't bother to describe tokens half the time nowadays so that would be pretty close to how they'd template it.

 

[Brad]

I love Duck//Duck, would very happily play that card. Now I really want to see a version of Who//What//When//Where//Why that's Duck//Duck//Goose.

I'd play Object//Object if it was
": Create one at random
a Food
a Treasure
a Clue
a Blood"

Like, Wizards doesn't bother to describe tokens half the time nowadays so that would be pretty close to how they'd template it.

Yeah. I could totally not put the descriptive text, but I worry that my players won't know what's going on. They're solid players because they've played for a long time, but very few of them keep up with anything.

Currently looking into heteronyms, words that are spelled the same but pronounced differently. If I can get the ten cards to be heteronyms, there won't be any confusion over which half is getting cast (unless the caster is confused about the pronunciations).

 

[Onderzeeboot]

(unless the caster is confused about the pronunciations)

Pff... as if that's a thing in English. Oh. XD

(I like your idea though I want a Sow / Sow with a piggy and some seeds )

Edit:
Sow
Creature - Animal
When ~ enters the battlefield, each player sacrifices a land.
2/1
//
Sow
Sorcery - Adventure
Search your library for a basic Forest card, put that card onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle.

 

[Mown]

I personally think I'd just make them into separate names, like "Wind Up" and "Wind Elemental", you still have the same gimmick, and many of them get to sound a lot less awkward.

 

[LadyMapi]

Pff... as if that's a thing in English. Oh. XD

Ghoti -
Creature - Fish
Spell Mastery - Ghoti costs less to cast and enters the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter on it if there are two or more instants or sorceries in your graveyard.
2/2
////
Fish -
Sorcery
Mill three cards, then return a creature or land card to your hand.

 

[Brad]

Pff... as if that's a thing in English. Oh. XD

(I like your idea though I want a Sow / Sow with a piggy and some seeds )

Edit:
Sow
Creature - Animal
When ~ enters the battlefield, each player sacrifices a land.
2/1
//
Sow
Sorcery - Adventure
Search your library for a basic Forest card, put that card onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle.

Sow, noun, a female pig
Sow, verb, to plant seeds

I really want to use Sow Sow, but the Sow sorcery has to be some kind of card that gets lands, which makes it very green. The two green Adventures will have a white or blue creature/enchantment attached. White and blue have a total of one monocolored Boar between them, making it difficult to argue that they'd be making a Sow.

That leaves me with black or red Sow Adventures to get a green Boar creature for Sow. (I could go for a red Boar, but that gives me blue or red Adventures and isn't terribly much better.) I can't really come up with much dealing with lands for the adventure half, but here's a couple ideas.

Sow Adventure - R
Sorcery
Discard a card. If you do, search two mountains to your hand.

Sow Adventure2 - 2R
Sorcery
Sacrifice a land. Search two mountains into play.

The first one is certainly more in red's color pie, but I could probably believe the second one, too. The Sow Adventure basically has to increase the lands the controller has access to, and that's a bit difficult to do outside of green.

 

[Onderzeeboot]

Ghoti -
Creature - Fish
Spell Mastery - Ghoti costs less to cast and enters the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter on it if there are two or more instants or sorceries in your graveyard.
2/2
////
Fish -
Sorcery
Mill three cards, then return a creature or land card to your hand.

I love the joke, but Fish // Fish actually fits really well with Brad's intentions.

 

[Brad]

New batch. Using Innistrad art because it worked so well with Sewer//Sewer.

https://imgur.com/a/HpKmkRp

 

[blacksmithy]

these puns are fun

 

[Brad]

I went and looked at the Innistrad mechanics and hated all of them, so here we go AGAIN. I think there's good odds that these end up getting pushed on power level to fit some sort of Vintage Cube that I'm already working on in Ravnica.

https://imgur.com/a/oBfPlcb

Kind of loving Buffet here. Lotleth Troll has their choice of every variety of soldier to eat.

 

[TrainmasterGT]

I like these adventure designs (other than both sides sharing the same spelling of an English name, technically that's not allowed by the rules but these are customs so to hell with that), but I feel they are mostly overcosted for a Vintage Cube. The only two that I am confident are correctly costed are Convert//Convert and the adventure half of Contract//Contract. Maybe the creature half of Perfect//Perfect, although that one is a little weird because it's probably going to be reanimated or ramped into 99% of the time. The adventure side of Perfect is way overcosted, though.

 

[Brad]

I feel they are mostly overcosted for a Vintage Cube.

I said their power levels would get pushed if that's where they end up. I may even go do that now lol.

 

[blacksmithy]

Canva continues to be a fun way to make customs:

https://imgur.com/a/1ZEHJNI

 

[blacksmithy]

I said their power levels would get pushed if that's where they end up. I may even go do that now lol.

yesssss more pushed adventures pls

 

[Brad]

Another day, another idea. Buffed guild leaders. Power level is powermax-ish for a Ravnica remake. Not going Powered Cube anymore because I feel like Moxen strip a key part of green's identity.

https://imgur.com/a/figjfdG

I like most of these, but I'm a bit uncertain on some. They're mostly highly derivative of former designs of the same character. This makes for easier designs, but it also respects what WotC wants these characters to be doing.

 

[Onderzeeboot]

My brain can't handle the common set symbol XD

Edit: For some actualy content.

Isperia seems to hit a sweet spot. Nice card, but I do think the 4/3 statline looks a bit weird on a drop. Feel like a 3/4 or even 2/5 works better in the style of deck this promotes.

Szadek looks absolutely ridiculous at 4 mana at first glance, but it's not really something you drop on turn 4 in most games. As an evasive beater it quickly outstats conventional statlines though, so proceed with caution.

Rakdos is a heavy hitter, oof! I don't know if I like the repeatable destruction, he feels more like an "enter with a bang" kind of guy to me. Maybe a 6/6 flying trample with "Cast this spell only if a creature (you control?) died this turn."

Borborygmos seems completely pushed. 6/5 trample for 4 is already ridiculous, and this turns any land drawn into a Lightning Bolt. That seems really excessive, and excessively more powerful than the rest of the cards I've seen so far. Maybe turning it into a mandatory triggered ability feels better? "Whenever ~ attacks, discard a card at random. If you discard a land card this way, ~ deals 3 damage to any target." I don't think it needs to be a 6/5 trample either, even with this weaker ability. Maybe a 5/5 trample?

Trostani seems appropriate. Basically a Growing Ranks on legs (= more vulnerable) that brings along something to copy (= more playable). I like it.

Does Teysa really need to remain a 4/4 at four mana with such a defensive rattlesnake ability? I think this would work well retaining the "Protection from creatures" (and maybe even the Vigilance) as well, but with lower stats, e.g. 2/3 or 2/4.

Niv-Mizzet is on point.

Jarad is a sweet design.

Man, did you save your most balanced designs for the second half? Aurelia is sweet! Doesn't need the vigilance, I feel, since it already untaps itself after the first attack, but that's what I thought on the original design. Anyway, I think you succesfully took away stats and abilities here, compared to Aurelia, the Warleader, to make it an appropriate 4 cost mythic.

Yeah, Zegana works as well. On the whole, your enemy color leaders seem more balanced than your allied color leaders

 

[Brad]

Niv-Mizzet is on point.

I love that slashing 2 off the old mana cost made a perfect design lol.

Man, did you save your most balanced designs for the second half?

I made the second half first and was concerned they aren't strong enough because 4 mana is kind of a lot, depending how pushed this format gets lol.

Aurelia is sweet! Doesn't need the vigilance

I just backspaced the haste and moved on lol.

I'll definitely take your advice into consideration once I have more of the cards designed. Everything you said makes sense. It will depend where the power level ends up. Thanks!

 

[Karshtakavaar]

Another day, another idea. Buffed guild leaders. Power level is powermax-ish for a Ravnica remake. Not going Powered Cube anymore because I feel like Moxen strip a key part of green's identity.

Love this so much, especially as CCCC Hybrids (I want more of these in actual sets). Like, sure it's a little odd having the exemplar of a guild be castable with only one of that guilds colours but w/e who cares these are cool and splashy.

Rakdos is about as strong as I'd make these before being worried.
Borborygmos is pushed as fuuuuuuuck - like "Resolve Bobo, pitch two lands, GG" pushed.

Definitely agree with Zee that the enemy guilds are more in line with eachother power-wise, but I wouldn't mind seeing them all at Rakdos level if you're going unpowered powermax? Like, apart from Trostani and Zegana they all trade evenly for targeted removal, and only Bobo has the "Answer me immediately or lose, maybe lose even if you do" text. Seconding the "Protection from Creatures" line for Teysa - a lot of iconic W/B rares and mythics have "Protection from White and Black" or other ways of protecting themselves like flicker/persist/etc so it would be sweet to see the same on Teysa while also being true to one of her printings.

 

[blacksmithy]

borbor is the one i would be excited to draft. body is 1 power more than a common creature from one of the newer ravnica sets, effect is damn cool, i love some assault loam

 

[blacksmithy]

also here’s a few customs i’ve been working on this past week while sitting up overnights with my sick kid:

https://imgur.com/a/pI1m2W4

 

[Brad]

Fossil Seeker's mana symbols are gorgeous and the effect is very interesting. Not sure I love the font, though.

I think the Abundants are very logical additions that function as a very tiny build-around, which is nice.

Origami Master is a cool design, but I'm having a disconnect between folding paper and making a little metal guy.

I love the Yugi frame idea, but, as a Yu-Gi-Oh player, it took me quite a while to connect that it costs B. Maybe there's something to be done with that symbol or maybe it's just me.

Not sure Witch Charm should hit enchantments. I think you need the Unearth to specify your own battlefield. I think it would be cool if the skull/mana icons were black. Possibly add a white outline or maybe a black circle as a background on each? My brain sees a light colored witch and a bunch of white words and symbols and it isn't until I read the effects that I was certain if this was WWW or BBB, although I did lean towards BBB.

Could probably knock the 3 life off the first effect of Knight Charm. WWW is pretty steep. I'd also prefer it if the textbox were a little bit darker, as the art is so light.

IDK what a Mugen is, but the very red art makes it clear what this card is. The infinity symbol is minorly concerning if I were to nitpick, but I think this one's good.

Overall, I like the idea of finishing the Archmage's Charm cycle. Hope you're working on GGG!

 

[Brad]

Show me designs using keywords from any of the Ravnica blocks, but only in the correct colors so that I can tag them with the appropriate watermark. For example, you can't make a card named Agony War that's Agony Warp with Overload 2UB because Overload is U/R only. As badly as I may want you to.