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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.

HERE is a general weekly schedule, updated for 2021.

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The FAQ page felt a little outdated, and people were asking questions that were there, so it’s clear that not everyone is using it.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!

Playing the Game Entries

Haze of War by @misterstingyjack

Winota, Ambush Rallier by @bread-into-toast

Lake and Sky, The Lovers by @wildcardgamez

Kendrick, Street Magician by @curiooftheheart

Riddlemaster's Studies by @benthicinfiltrator

Rites of Regrowth by @hypexion

With Us Or Against Us by @teaxch

Toshiro's Scheme by @xenobladexscreens

Setessan Gambit by @tanknspank

Mountain-Hall Challenge by @izzet-always-r-versus-u

Run and Hide by @lanabutnotdelray

Scrambled Transmission by @derplingvonderp

Bargain Deal by @thepeppermintpig

Scales of the Scarab God by @nyxbird

Looting Expedition by @helloijustreadyourpost

Retrace Time by @cthulhusaurusrex

Dubious Research by @i-am-the-one-who-wololoes

Lord of Pain's Whim by @nine-effing-hells

The World Splitter by @maypletreeway

Many of y'all might be able to guess this contest from the picture alone, but to spell it out

Make a card that that causes one or more players to guess or to group cards or permanents into a pile

ie, one that triggers the celestial toymaker. Here's a list of eligible examples. No other real requirements here; if it triggers the toymaker, you're in the clear. Only thing I'd suggest is to watch your rarities- a lot of these kinds of effects lean rare, and would be too annoying if they showed up too often in limited, but that's not universally true.

If you have any questions, feel free to send an ask, or for quicker response ask in our discord!

-Judge @loreholdlesbian

>> Desktop Submissions

>> Mobile Submissions/Asks

Extra Credit: Cultural Exchange Runners-Up

...So I didn't realize until I just compiled this post, but pretty red-heavy runners! Oh well, it happens. I refuse to apologize. Red's not even my favourite colour so screw you I'm not biased.

Arabella, Refurbished by @thatonebjp

This feels like a lovely little feel good story waiting to happen. It also feels like Air Bud. There's nothing in the rules saying a doll *can't* go to magic school, right? Ultimately a pretty solid design- evokes Arabella's og design while remaining firmly in Lorehold space which is nice. The activated ability may not be mono red on it's own, but because you'll be paying white for her at some point, it seems fine to me!

Rakdos Emissary by @helloijustreadyourpost

We got a few Rakdos-into-Prismari submissions, but I honestly expected more. This one is simple, straightforward, and to the point- it's spectacle but gives you a double-spell instead of a cost reduction. Fun stuff, mayyyybe needs to be limited to 1/turn or made more expensive? Playtesting would determine. Altogether, just tickles my fancy.

Observant Excavator by @derplingvonderp

Another big swing- taking the as-of-yet mono blue Iquatana race and making them Boros is a big swing, but I'll be damned if you didn't hit it. Of course a "living memory" would appreciate Lorehold's archeological efforts, and Lorehold being the place where we first see RW mill means that there's a very solid mechanical throughline here. I like that you made it feel as though it could be mono blue while remaining pretty firmly in RW colour pie- it's a neat trick for sure.

Thanks as always to all our entrants! I'll see you in a while! Study hard, this will be on the test.

Straight A's: Cultural Exchange Winners

Big turnout this week! Tons of solid stuff, but alas, my role is grim, and winners must be chosen. Here they are!

Littjara Symmetrist by @bread-into-toast

Recontextualizing a Kaldheim shapeshifter into Quandrix is very cute and definitely lines up with the spirit of the prompt, but honestly this card sold me just on mechanics alone. It is precisely the kind of weirdness I *wish* they did more with Quandrix, instead of just being the more lands/big number archetype. It's an immensely cool effect, and I really love the delayed whammy of realizing it also turns itself into a copy of the chosen creature because of changeling, meaning it's never really a dead card on board. And of course, cant let this one go without mentioning the PHENOMENAL art as always. Well done!

Perfect Memorization by @bog-witch-extraordinaire

...Do I just like cute hand drawn art? Well, yes. Hope that's not affecting my biases. Obviously fantastic art, A+++ all around. But also, this just feels like such a real card in a genuinely down to earth kind of way. It's not crazy exciting, but it's evocative, exactly the kind of uncommon you'd be happy to snag in a draft, and I think pretty well balanced for the cost. Plus I just wanna give that damn robot a hug.

Maven of the Duel by @rosencrypt

This one is a pretty crazy recontextualization. A Bant angel into Silverquill is not a leap I would have expected anyone to make, but... it really works? Silverquill does have an established thing about dueling, and bringing Bant's honor system into that, and contextualizing them with exalted and anti-exalted to entice players into one-on-one duels... the mechanics here are just so elegantly intertwined with the story you're telling, and I think it's the *exact* thing I was hoping to see this week.

Runners-up coming soon!

Cultural Exchange Entries #16-30 of 30

Cultural Exchange Entries: #1-15 of 30

Judge Examples

That's right! Betcha don't remember these, huh? Well, they're coming back! At least this week, anyways. Here's some stuff I like about em! Let this inform your designs, or don't!

Ruby, Daring Soloist by @fluffycattens

Our best girl from Eldraine is going to college! This play-from-exile spin is super fun, especially when you take a second to consider the implications. Not only does her mana ability work on the cards exiled with her prepared spell, but it also helps you *cast* that prepared spell, AND has a secret little easter egg callback, because it works with cards that are on adventures, too! All wrapped up in a nice little package- and lets be honest, Bard is just a perfect creature type for a fairy tale character.

Basri, Seeker of Buried Pasts by @loreholdlesbian

This takes a more character- and flavour-focused approach, looking at what Basri wants. He's been introduced to us as a character that holds tight to the traditions of Amonkhet, and so coming to Lorehold and becoming a history major is a satisfying step in his story. Of course, using a mechanic from his home plane is an easy shout, but the highlights here are the excellent epithet and the way it straddles the line between a strixhaven school archetype and an Amonkheti vibe.

Sanguine Performer by @etharia1

*gasp*, a non legendary! I really like the slice of life this card shows with its flavour text- it's EXACTLY the kind of exploration I'm looking for, because yeah, what happens when someone's way of life is fundamentally incompatible with life at Strixhaven? How would an Innistradi vampire feed? This card raises a fun question, answers it in one fell swoop, and has a fun mechanical throughline to bring it all together.

That's all for that! See you folks on the other side!

So this one is a bit topically delayed, but I FINALLY finished reading Omens of Chaos, and... wow. Good book. The way it explored the opening of the Omenpaths and how that affected multiple planes was really cool! The five main characters are the "pilot program" for Strixhaven's planar exchange students, so I'm honestly excited to keep the ball rolling.

Design a card representing a Cross-planar Strixhaven student.

All that means? The card should be representing a student who does not hail from Arcavios. They could have arrived via Omenpath, or through some other method, but I want to see how their plane of origin affects them as a student.

I imagine most people will be submitting creatures this week, but don't feel like you have to limit yourself to that! As long as your chosen character is represented, that's what matters- it could be an instant, sorcery, or enchantment showing off their magic, an artifact that's important to them, or even a land representing their dorm room! The key points to hit are A) what plane are they from, and B) how does that shape them as a character, and affect their relationship to Strixhaven.

Cool? Cool. Let's see some cards.

~@naban-dean-of-irritation

And now for the best of the rest! There were a lot of great entries this week so these decisions were tough, but here are the three I settled on in the end:

@hypexion — Spectrum Picker

This is a really interesting design from a colour pie perspective. The regular cost falls into Eldrazi-style "a 7 mana colourless spell gets a lot of leeway in effects" territory, and the evoke cost's colourless mana requirement also pushes it into weird colourless mana territory, but both of these feel somewhat like a stretch for an effect that individual colours don't really have access to. That said the design is very neat - restricting it to cards matching the colours spent means it doesn't feel wildly implausible, and the evoke cost's single generic pip meaning it will (usually) only get back a single card is a really fun mesh of converge with colourless mana!

@thepeppermintpig — Rushed Augury

Yes, this feels like it's playing somewhat in the split card/Phyrexian mana space rather than strictly the alternative cost space, but they're all just kicker anyway so I'll allow it. The black mana requirement for the cheaper cost sets it apart from Phyrexian mana and justifies the life loss nicely, and the design provides some fun risk/reward where the alternative cost is still appealing later in the game - do you spend two life to give yourself the ability to cast a more expensive card you draw? Will you have enough black mana left if you do that? My one minor gripe is that I don't think we need to power creep Quick Study quite yet, even if the power level here is likely still fine!

@misterstingyjack — Inner Beast

My first thoughts were "two words total is not very much rules text" and "there are already a bunch of straightforward bestow cards just like this" - and then I realised what was missing! While bestowed, this card does nothing at all - using bestow strictly for the "becomes a creature if it falls off" rider is pretty novel, and a French vanilla creature is a good way to show the concept off. There's a bunch of flexibility around whether to bestow your own creature that you're going to sacrifice or force your opponent to remove, or even bestow an opponent's creature that you're planning on disposing of imminently! I could see this in a Modern Horizons style set but it might be a bit too unintuitive for a regular Standard set...

And with that, my first contest as a judge is over! I hope everyone had fun with the theme, and thank you all for your creative submissions this week. I'll be back to challenge your designer sensibilities again in a few weeks!

Some very solid - and versatile - submissions this week! After much deliberation, our winners this week are:

@grornt — Macabre Reveler

At first glance my thought was "this is a fairly typical mayhem card," but on a second reading the design really opened up. I really like the reanimate condition here - you get to cheat specifically a mayhem cost, but it's still useful even without another mayhem card. Anyway, I feel the versatility here doesn't come primarily from the mana cost - it comes from how it interacts with different discard outlets, and the other cards you have in your hand. If you have the ability to discard one card, there's some fun versatility with whether to mayhem this and rebuy a card, or discard another mayhem card and hardcast this to get two bodies on the board. And if you have the ability to discard multiple cards, you get to live the dream (maybe even discarding multiple copies of Macabre Reveler and chain-reanimating them!)

@izzet-always-r-versus-u — Send a Message

This may not be the most flashy design this week, but the gameplay and flavour make it very satisfying! It's a card where both the regular and alternative costs are always worth considering - a mana discount and instant speed are very tempting but going down an attacker is often rough for the typical outlaw-heavy deck. On the other hand, the ability to tap a summoning sick outlaw for a mana discount makes the card a lot more palatable to weave in to an aggressive curve! It also has that fantastic flavour of an outlaw executing an underhanded attack, which makes the design a lot more compelling. I would be a little concerned about the power of the inverted Bitter Triumph rider, and the types in the outlaw flavour text should be capitalised, but those are fairly minor issues!

@nine-effing-hells — Community

This is a fun spin on the Lorwyn Eclipsed Incarnation cycle, with a colour pair that the set didn't cover and a mechanic reminiscent of Clay Champion from The Brothers' War. The mix of the two works really well here - less flexibility than Clay Champion's X mana cost lets the effect be pushed a bit more, while still letting you pick and choose a lot of different modes. Two mana gets you two 1/1s, a 2/2, a 1/1 plus a +1/+1 counter somewhere else, or two +1/+1 counters - but you have to work with the mana you have! The six mana mode, while "just" being a bunch of vanilla stats on the board, has a lot of flexibility with how those stats are distributed and that's a lot of fun!

Runners up coming shortly!

@bread-into-toast — Rapture @cthulhusaurusrex — Scatterspark @curiooftheheart — Animal Stuntwork @derplingvonderp — Awaited Savior @flaetsbnort — Justified Kill @futuristicrunawaygardener — Lumbering Snarecrow @grornt — Macabre Reveler @helloijustreadyourpost — Undying Conviction @hypexion — Spectrum Picker @izzet-always-r-versus-u — Send a Message @lanabutnotdelray — Fear of Erosion @local-goth-tgirl — Sickening Crawler @maypletreeway — Blazing Pyre @melancholia-ennui — Fungal Insight @misterstingyjack — Inner Beast @nine-effing-hells — Community @nyxbird — Steadfast Warcrier @real-aspen-hours — Spellcatcher skaab @reaperfromtheabyss — Molten Rallier @rosencrypt — Crooked Wings @sparkyyoungupstart — Darksteel Kawarimi @superoffbatter — Liliana's Technique @tanknspank — Hell On Wheels @teaxch — Speartip Paramount @thatonebjp — Restore Light @thepeppermintpig — Rushed Augury @wildcardgamez — Pyreball @xenobladexfan — Koda, Dokuchi's Finest @yd12k — Stalking Cheetah

Thank you all for entering my first contest, and please look forward to the results!