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Recent updates to Conversation: (Generated at 2025-07-07 20:32:03)
| Conversation: Cardlist | Visual spoiler | Export | Booster | Comments | Search | Recent activity |
| Mechanics |
Recent updates to Conversation: (Generated at 2025-07-07 20:32:03)
I'm generally tired of human as the default race in high-fantasy settings as well. Finding art for every card would maybe suggest that the speaker isn't a human? Unfortunately, many people need humans specifically to identify with. Such was considered one of the faults of Lorwyn-Shadowmoor.
Mal, what's your limitations of human-like beings as races? I would see elves and dwarves as overly humanesque in terms of appearance, but I'll give vedalken a pass, their features feeling slightly alien. How about orcs?
I was rereading some of GDS 2. I was pleased to see, I think I now could handle it a lot better than I could at the time. Partly from having got better at design, but mostly from being more willing to let go of ideas I have that don't work, and embracing the things that seem most likely to impress the judges. (Or that Mark explicitly asks for.)
I was impressed at how good the GDS2 contestents were, but also, how rocky many of their entries were. Their entries had more going for them than I could manage. But there are lots of problems that I could clearly see, even if hard to avoid, like "this plane just doesn't sound like a magic plane" applied to most of them, and "this is overcomplicated and isn't going to work" came up a lot.
Sub-races that can be classified as a n existing race are usually pretty helpful, like Hobgoblins under Goblins, or Drow under Elf. Magic generally has a way to classify various classical races that aren't existing in MTG (i.e. Tieflings are imps or devils, etc.), but I'm usually not averse to adding new types if the source material calls for it, or if there's a good reason for them to exist on the plane.
Most of my inspiration is real-world mythology, so I try to use animals that are iconic to the region or setting. For example, in Xianlu, I chose Monkey and Turtle as the two key races because both are fairly prevalent in fiction. Bear (Panda) erred too close to Pandaren for me to want to use them, and the other members of the Chinese Zodiac aren't really prevalent or anthropomorphized enough in Chinese fiction for me to consider them. Aven also appear because birds in various forms are staples of Chinese myth.
I'd love to stop using Human as the default race, but too often any names that don't include clues towards a creature's race are filled in as "human" creatures. Very few planes feel "right" without humans or human-like beings as a race.
If a plane has some inspiration from something from our world I'll try to include creatures and races known or associated with the source, such as zombies (as ghouls) in my Deshub set that has some medieval Middle East inspiration. When filling planes not drawn from any iconic source I tend to grab at either what feels right based on the civilization or is just familiar to Magic players.
Are there any races or monsters you tend to avoid or always seek to include? I'm not keen on merfolk on land, so unless my plane has numerous, large bodies of water, I tend to skip them. I also forget faeries because they're associated with flying rather than any actual aversion. Though, acknowledging that, a few faeries filling in for slots usually given to birds in blue is something I could probably do. Oddly I've used Aven despite being associated with flying.
@froggychum: The Great Designer Search 3 which is the current search.
The Great Designer Search 2 which was the previous search, back in 2011.
Because if you change your mind after reading the questions, it is now too late.
what is Great designer search?
It's not like they won't make the essay questions public anyway. So why bother?
At least sign up to get a peek at the essay questions. Certainly, there's no harm in that.
Now I'm having second thoughts. I was originally just not going to do it because I wouldn't seriously take up the offer, but now I'm wondering, doing the first couple of rounds and dropping out is probably not actually a big deal.
link to contest?
Ahh, I forgot about that. I guess I'll just have to lose on purpose if I even get that far then.
Keep in mind it's a TOS violation to sign up if you're not willing to take the internship. I'll be done with classes by that point, but I will need to take a leave of absence from grad school. Too early to be able to finish up remotely, but I'll figure it out if I get there
I'll be making an attempt.
Not American
Oh, and here's one extra advantage everyone here has:
"Editor's note: If you submitted an entry for the Great Designer Search 3 prior to 11:30 a.m. PT on December 5, 2017, an internal error prevented your entry from being correctly recorded. This issue has since been corrected. Please resubmit your entry to ensure we receive it correctly."
It seems of our initial competition got eliminated by accident.
Woot, Woot! GDS3 here we come! Man, that was a long wait since I flubbed up the multiple choice section in GDS2. I somehow missed that Wizards printed 3 green creatures with vigilance. I could have just checked on Gatherer! I'm the Gatherer guy! Still bugs me.
Anyhow, if anyone on Multiverse gets selected, tell us. We have an awesome team here that are ready and eager to support you. Simply from being a part of this community, every person on this site has a leg up over the competition from word 'go'.
I signed up for it! I know that the chances of winning are very very slim but if I'm sure it'll be a fun exercise for designing Magic cards nonetheless!
I think that's a very interesting take on FFG's LCG model, and it could be a lot of fun. I'm still of the opinion that WotC should adopt something like this for the entirety of Magic, since their current business model results in: 1) tons of terrible cards / rehashes of old cards (yeah, yeah, I know there is the whole "but its decent in a limited format" but I don't think that justifies printing trash cards that no-one cards about) and 2) ridiculous card prices that are great for collectors but bar entry to the game for new players / most would-be competitive players, i.e. pay-to-win.
There is also a 3rd much darker implication: if the economy goes south and money gets tight, people are going to buying less cards (obviously) but I think FFG's LCG format has more staying power as people who do decide to splurge on buying cards are going to know exactly what they're getting and know that the relative power-level of the cards are fair, whereas WotC would be asking people to gamble, and when they are subsequently disappointed, their players will likely quit, at least for a little while.
As a format TopConstructed/PreConstructed has potential, but I really just think WotC should change their business practices. However, about this idea of yours, I think it could be really great if WotC gave it the support like they've given the multiplayer formats (which could be included, I don't think they're necessarily against the spirit of the idea, since everyone gets the same cards and knows what they're getting and the power-level is fairly balanced across products.)
I'm a big proponent of out-of-the-box (board game) MTG and I like the model of all LCGs, but I think restricting a cardpool to only cards that are found within precons opens up to a power level that I'm not too sure would be fun in gameplay. So of all of the preconstructed decks Wizards has printed since Origins, you have:
>Intro Decks/Planeswalker Decks
>Duel Decks
>Commander Sets
>Archenemy
>Explorers
You have a couple of good cards here and there, but many of the cards in your format are geared specifically for multiplayer, fall into the "junk common/uncommon" bin, or are geared specifically for a certain type of deck that doesn't have much payoff behind it (i.e. Warren Instigator). I don't see much of a draw to it other than WOTC promoting it because it means that precon sales go up. In fact, due to the power level alone, I could see
being one of the dominant decks simply because Bolas's deck has Baleful Strix, Lightning Bolt, and Flametongue Kavu in it. You also lack a lot of sideboard cards, which doesn't bode well for a potential metagame.
It's probably better to design sets that would be part of a Magic LCG. I toyed with the idea a while back, where you design every card to be played in a certain type of deck of relatively equal power level, but ultimately I think the biggest draw to Magic is its large card pool, even in standard. If you're not going pure precon-constructed (where you choose a precon and play it forever, similar to the Theme Deck format on Pokemon TCGO), I don't see a reason why people would want to play it.
For reference DrugsForRobots likes LCGs.
So thinking about this made me realize that while I was starting to move away from randomized booster products in my own designs favoring preconstructed duel decks and planar boxes based on officially released supplemental products WotC has not been sleeping either. The quality and casual appeal of supplemental products has been incrased with new products that are designed to be playable out-of-the-box while still providing you with cards that can be used to construct your own decks if you desire so. This actually is an interesting modell and adresses certain scarcity problems in formats whether rotating or eternal.
Hence I propose a new format: Topical Constructed which is a regular (currently nonrotating i. e. eternal) format that restricts the card pool to cards (or copies of those cards) that were available in a preconstructed product (excluding highly exclusive promotional products). All cards that have been available only in randomized booster pacts or through means that cannot be bought "off the rack" (Judge-promos, pre-release promos, all-black planeswalkers etc.) would be not legal in the format.
To avoid issues with too old precons that clash with the restricted list etc. (looking at you, Phyrexian Negator) I want a cut-off that excludes older precons. As a cut-off date I suggest 2015-06 (right after Modern Masters 2015 which is illegal as a booster-only product anyway; and right before Magic Origins which thematically makes for a great jumping-off point).
So the first legal cards would be those contained in the Magic Origins precons. The latest cards would be from Explorers of Ixalan/From the Vault: Transform.
I'm currently debating wit myself whether products like the From the Vault and Planechase Anthology/Commander Anthology are in the spirit of this format or should be excluded, but maybe you have input on this.
Yeah, it'd be cool if there's an open set for GDS3 where you just discuss essay questions, multiple choice questions, and design challenges.
I'm quite happy about where Very Cryptic Command is going. And alternate illustrations are neat, too.
I'll use my non-US status as excuse once again to sit by the sidelines. But I'll nevertheless be participating on the challenges from the outside as usual. I'll probably make a [GDS3] set here and put up my answers there, so you can all laugh at me getting an easy multiple choice question wrong (which IIRC would have kicked me out during GDS 1 or 2 already - but mostly because I didn't really make use of the whole time window).
A fun exercise is a fun exercise. :)
I recall during ( once again IIRC) GDS 2 one contestant late in the rounds was not technically eligible to work in the US yet, but they decided to go on with the contest on the basis that they would likely be able to arrange things if they made it to the finals (though they didn't and that was that).
I wonder whether a familiar name will turn up again. I recall being quite excited about Greg Krajenta making it in there and submitting some designs I recognized from their earlier posts at MtGS.
I was also thinking of them merging, but maybe just to make a third faction so perhaps not entirely.
Mechanically, I'm thinking "devotion to phyrexia (mana)" would definitely be a thing - especially since that religion element in phyrexia is something the cosmic, (ele)mental forces of eldrazi don't really touch upon.
Still, I haven't figured anything beyond "that's interesting" that would be enough of an angle to really frame this thing around.
I have very similar reasons not to participate. However, it's a good point that the chances of winning are slim so that it might be a fun exercise nonetheless.
EDIT: Nevermind, it requires you to be residing in US.
I figure if I win somehow, I'll just turn down the offer and tell them to pick another finalist because my actual interest in real MTG has waned dramatically over the last year.
Granted that's only if I win, so the chances of that are effectively zero, especially with that hefty salary being attached to an internship position.
On the plus side, it will probably increase the amount of people doing custom card design dramatically.
I'm really interested to see how it goes, and I'd like to see how much my design skills have actually grown :)
But last time, I reflected realistically, I'm probably more satisfied to be a career programmer than a career designer, so I don't want to actually compete.
I was thinking that if the Eldrazi vs Phyrexians did ever clash, the entire arc / outcome of the story would be them fusing / merging together. The Eldrazi would severely damage the Phyrexians (because that's just what they do, annihilate stuff) but the Phyrexians would end up corrupting/ tainting them and you'd eventually end up with the Phyrexdrazi.
I was also under the impression that Nicol Bolas was manuevering the Phyrexians & Eldrazi to eventually encounter each other, with the intention that they destroy each other leaving him as the sole big bad in the Multiverse, but his plan would backfire. TBH, I thought that was what WotC was headed towards, it seemed really obvious to me, but IDK.