Salutations! Here’s a quick guide and FAQs to help you along the way. Scroll down for the most recent posts and contest!
What is the Inventor’s Fair?
This Tumblr is a collaborative custom card competition blog for Magic: the Gathering. Each week, one of our rotating judges creates a contest prompt, and then people submit their entries. At the end of the week, the cards are judged and winners are chosen.
Why is the Inventor’s Fair?
Since perhaps the inception of the game, players have been making their own cards. The creation of the internet, fandom, and online communities have led to many people sharing those cards online. Part of the love of the game is through creating new mechanics, ideas, stories and interactions. This blog exists as a challenge space for people who enjoy sharing their ideas in a low-stakes competitive sphere.
Wait, you already have an FAQ page. What’s this, then?
The FAQ page felt a little outdated, and people were asking questions that were there, so it’s clear that not everyone is using it. This is a pinned post with all the available information, starting points, etc.
Click the readmore for everything you need to know!
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like we only really play commander but having even 10% awareness of every other aspect of mtg makes other commander-only players freaking out really funny in an annoying way. "if hybrid cards can be used in more decks wotc will start printing super pushed hybrid cards!!!!!" can you do us both a favor and look up how color identity works in standard and then tell me the pushed or pie-breaking hybrid cards that have been printed in the last five years
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Guess who was a FUCKING IDIOT and went to pay a portion of their phone bill and accidentally paid Verizon almost $500 FUCKING DOLLARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It's my birthday today! I've been part of some custom card design communities for a while now, so in lieu of birthday trivia, I'd like to ask: if you could give any one piece of advice to amateur MTG designers who are making cards for the fun of it, what do you feel would be the most helpful?
Thank you so much! As a piece of semi-local trivia, EOE has been the most popular we've seen draft as a format at my LGS, and we're completely sold out. Players are loving this set immensely.
I think it helps to start making sets because the most relevant design skill, if you ever hope to get hired, is the ability to design to constraints. It’s a lot of what we do in design.
Happy Birthday!
I’m happy to hear you’re enjoying Edge of Eternities.
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The first half of the year has passed, and that means a full 6 months of card designs submitted to the Inventor's Fair, a Magic: the Gathering card design contest blog here on Tumblr. Like all the past years, each week there have been awesome submissions, stunning designs, and marvelous interpretations.
For the uninitiated, each week, a design challenge is announced on the blog and members of the community create cards meeting the design specifications. At the end of the week, a few winners and runner-ups are selected from the submission.
So let’s take a look at the data – what was 2024 like for the Inventor’s Fair?
Art. Unite the Coalition. Illustrated by Néstor Ossandón Leal
The Contests
So far this year, there has been 25 contests spread over the 6 months. A special thanks to the judges @abelzumi and @spooky-bard, who have shared their expertise in 24 of the 25 contests, and @loreholdlesbian, who returned once as a guest judge.
Of the contests, most challenges fell into the Standard (In-Universe) bucket [23/25], with 2 challenges being "Anything Goes" (no format restrictions) - Asp-irations (Feb 2nd) and Breaking Point (June 15th).
Across the 25 contests, there were a total of 665 entries, which comes out to be an average of 26.60 entries per contest. This was spread out pretty evenly over the 6 months: January (28.00), February (26.50), March (25.20), April (27.75), May (26.75), June (25.75). The contests with the lowest participation (21 entries) were "Gotcha" Games (Feb 16th), Lap 2 (March 2nd), and Solid Ground (March 9th). The week with the highest participation (31 entries) was Brand Re-Ignition (Jan 19th).
Image. Number of Entries by Date. The blue dots represent the number of entries for the contest. The green line represents the 3-week Rolling Average.
The Entrants
Across the 25 contests, there have been 74 unique entrants. A special shout-out to the 7 who have submitted to each contest so far this year: @curiooftheheart, @nine-effing-hells, @izzet-always-r-versus-u, @deg99, @bread-into-toast, @xenobladexfan, and @hypexion. Y'all rock! There have been 15 total entrants who have submitted in 20+ contests, while 25 total who have submitted in at least 50%.
Also, a warm welcome to those who made their first submissions for the year during the month of June: @archivists-doll, @insane-bad-idea-person, and @taran-wanderer. It's good to have you here!
With this being a weekly contest, Winners and Runner-ups are picked for each challenge. It's interesting to look at these entrants by their "Batting Average", or number of times they were selected by the total number of submissions they've designed. As has been asked in the Discord, this does not include the times they were awarded "Judge's Pick" in Judge Commentary: this is primarily a notation given by @abelzumi, so I have omitted it as a data point for consistency's sake.
Top 5, by "Batting Average" (and selected at least 5 times)
@curiooftheheart: 0.52, with 25 entries
@grornt: .50, with 20 entries
@nine-effing-hells: 0.44, with 25 entries
@misterstingyjack: 0.43, with 23 entries
@corporalotherbear: 0 .42, with 12 entries
Art. Team Pennant. Illustrated by Anna Fehr
The Submissions
Here are some of the specifics of what has been submitted so far this year!
Types
These categories are if the Card Type was part of the Type Line, so an entry that had multiple card types (front and back) would be in placed in multiple buckets.
Creature - 352 entries
Artifact - 108 entries
Enchantment - 105 entries
Sorcery - 83 entries
Instant - 60 entries
Land - 39 entries
Planeswalker - 6 entries
Battle - 4 entries
Kindred - 2 entries
As always, Creatures takes up a lion's share of the designs. What is interesting is that the designers already have made more Artifacts, Lands, and Planeswalkers than the entirety of 2024: Artifacts (107), Lands (12), and Planeswalkers (3).
And while it isn't a type, let's give the Legendary supertype a shout-out: so far there have been 99 designs submitted that show just what it means to be a one-of on the battlefield. And it just so happens that 78 of those could even find their way into the command zone.
Mana Value
I love a good bell-curve, and it continually surprises me to see one form in the mana value of these contests. There is a slight anomaly with there being a nice chunk of 0-mana costs, but that is easily explained by the number of lands designed thus far, thanks to the Solid Ground contest (Mar 9th).
MV 0: 41
MV 1: 38
MV 2: 172
MV 3: 184
MV 4: 121
MV 5: 57
MV 6: 34
MV 7: 13
MV 8+: 5
It's always interesting to see that a majority of designs hits at MV 3, with either MV 2 or MV 4 taking 2nd (and then 3rd) place. I wonder what that says about the designers enjoyed play-styles...
Rarity
Once again, most designs sit at either uncommon or rare. Together, they make up 81.4% of the total designs.
Image. Number of Entries by Rarity.
Color
And finally, the section in which I talk about how Green is the least designed color... EXCEPT FOR THIS TIME!!! Green has actually seen a huge surge, with it now placing in 3rd in both the Color Identity and Mono Color brackets. Blue continues to be dominant, because who doesn't like designing for that sneaky boy? So who's behind this time around? Green's neighbors, Red and White.
Color Identity
Blue - 224 entries
Black - 216 entries
Green - 203 entries
White - 188 entries
Red - 179 entries
Colorless - 39 entries
Mono-Color
Blue - 86 entries
Black - 76 entries
Green - 71 entries
Red - 70 entries
White - 62 entries
We also get decent showings for Guild (Two-Color) cards. For these, I'll share the top 3 and bottom 2 combinations for entries.
It's good to see all 5 colors represented in the top 3.
Art. Heroes Podium. Illustrated by Willian Murai
Finale
Well, I think that sums up the first half of the year. As always, it's always fun participating in the @inventors-fair. If you've wanted to try your hand at designing cards for Magic, come join us! And if it's been a while, come on back :).
Oh, and if you want to see the hard data, here you go!
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A stupid thought wormed its way back into my brain... A thought i had since Thunder junction set... Hear me out here. Cowboy Ajani Goldmane.
The gay furries would have exploded on sight. Ajani in chaps and a cowboy hat is lethal material. Many deaths were avoided by not letting [Tumblr Tag Redacted] onto the "cowboy plane".
So I may have been turned on to Cryptic Crosswords by an old friend of mine. And I may or may not have gotten a bit obsessed with making them. It takes a certain angle of brainerating, but for those who are curious (or already initiated), here's a general rundown of how these things work.
I also love puzzle engagement which is why I've foisted this upon everyone I can at my LGS to little to no avail. Hopefully the internet fares better. Reminder that (X, Y) means two words, the first of which is X letters long and the second of which is Y letters long.
This puzzle requires both constructing and deconstructing MTG lingo, jargon, and card history, as well as a general knowledge of Cryptic clues, acronyms, abbreviations, etc. Enjoy!
ACROSS
1. Promo for Kamigawa set: heretical sorcerer controls direction of plane. (3-4)
5. Change your mana after topping Wickerfolk's surveil. (7)
9. When mechanics first arrive, they appear to raise ethical question left unknown? (15)
10. Lands untapping cinches two points for Elves? (7)
11. Bottom-up sets anger rock singer. (5)
13. Belligerent takes arose? (6, 3)
16. Wildfire land sweep allows +2 from Chandra. (4)
17. Number after declaring Ascend could be zero? (2, 2)
18. Check legality of pitch sequence because fourth Force of Will could partner with Twin. (6, 4)
21. Landcycle Mardu finisher before Final Revels (5)
23. Toothed hunters sound doubly fishy? (7)
26. Only designer quality silver & diamonds top gown and royal handle. (7, 8)
27. Target changes east after red energy sweeper. (7)
28. Grounded still on a flyer? Victor wouldn't have... (4, 3)
DOWN
1. By the way, I'm piloting Rakdos Tokens. (4)
2. Auras make draw power sound mid; brew with one who shuffles. (3, 12)
3. Odd Commander goal after long set-up, say. (7)
4. Glimmerwasp heresy within the bounds of New Phyrexia. (7)
5. Shreds of Sanity doesn't use any P1P1 Wandering Mind effects. (4)
6. Large birds supposedly equip tokens. (5)
7. Where there's time to study erotica, many a lad exploded. (8, 7)
8. How to (historically) empower a deer/pony hybrid? (3, 3, 3)
12. Some of these indicators take a second—left stranded? (4)
13. Big rogue belly-up wearing some hat and risque clothing backwards. (9)
14. Powerless power for brewing black? (4)
15. Cut when head replaces knight. (3)
19. Valakut makes this Eldraine legend from OTJ take the resolution. (7)
20. Elenda fears dance moves while firing. (7)
23. Salty beginner affirms combo with a second-turn Plains after initial misplay. (5)
