"I want to create new Magic cards I can play with friends, based on the world and characters of our shared D&D campaign."
I knew this would be a massive undertaking, but at first, I didn't know HOW massive. A blank canvas can be a terrifying thing, so I set off researching and defining scope. This brought me to several realizations, which became my guiding pillars to start making cards...
1. This will need to be an entirely self-contained set.
I do not have professional design and balance teams at my disposal. Rather than attempt to slot my cards in with 30+ years of existing Magic, I knew my best chance of creating fun, playable cards was to keep them self-contained. However! This meant I also needed to commit to a full-sized set, to ensure there's a deep enough pool for a proper sealed/draft experience.
2. I don't want any reprints of existing Magic cards.
This one's selfish, but it wouldn't feel right to simply re-skin real cards. Of course there will be staple effects in each color (burn, counterspells, ramp, etc), but a huge incentive to start this mad journey was to give my design chops a good workout... I would quickly learn that this is easier said than done. Turns out it's very easy to think you have a clever idea, only to search online and find that clever idea on a decades-old piece of cardboard!
3. I want to design new mechanics.
This goes hand-in-hand with #2, but it wouldn't feel like a proper set without a few flagship mechanics to call its own! These came surprisingly quickly, and became invaluable tools to structure the entire set. Look forward to deep-dives on each of these in the future.
4. I want to celebrate art we've already made.
Our D&D group is comprised of a bunch of artsy folks, and we've got over 5 years of stories to draw from (literally). I've made sure to get everyone's blessing to use their art and characters, and I hope it makes the set feel more personal. We even put together a zine-style artbook for it during the pandemic, so there are already some great pieces ready to get slapped onto cardboard.
5. I'm going to need a LOT more art.
Even counting all our existing work, I knew I could only count on those to cover a fraction of the cards. The good news is, I love to draw. But the honest truth is that this will be the longest part of this endeavor. At the rate I've been drawing so far, I've probably got another two-ish years to go.
(NOTE: I will absolutely NOT be pilfering art from strangers online or using any sort of AI-generated content. This project is a labor of love, and I'm in it for the long haul -- not looking for unethical shortcuts.)
6. I want to leverage my custom token template.
I've printed off several batches of custom tokens recently, and that's helped me develop a Photoshop template for stylish custom cards! It would need lots of tweaks to accommodate all the card types in a full set, but at least in this aspect, I wouldn't be starting completely from scratch.
7. I don't actually know how to build a set cube!
Cards on the table, I only started playing MtG a couple years ago. I've got a decent grip on the fundamentals, but I've certainly never tried to build a cube before. This Lucky Paper article was a perfect primer for me to get ballpark numbers, and I cross-referenced it heavily against recent set cardlists to create my own.
....And with all that in mind, it was off to the races!
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Should my son one day decide that he wants to try his hand at slinging cardboard with his old man, I would like to curate a collection that will give him a wide variety of experiences.
For reference:
Since June of 2022, I have been a dad.
I hope that someday my son will develop an interest in games, especially the greatest game ever made
Here is an update of I've been working on as well as my mtg dad goals for 2023:
The "Beginner Experience" cubes have to be a priority moving forward. I will be building a Jumpstart Cube for introducing people to the game, and a "noob cube" for introducing people to drafting. I won't be collecting these in foil, and will try to get the newest, most accurate wording for all the cards. I'm also going to try to pick "cute" art and "less creepy" themes when I can.
Begin "Alpha40" collection with Unlimited cards. I want to make this a priority. If you haven't heard of Alpha40, you should check it out. It looks way, way sweeter than Old School '93-'94.
Continue to update my personal copy of the MTGO Vintage Cube as well as a binder of the Vintage Cube alumni. A new twist on this project is to not just collect the "best" version of every card, but to have multiple versions so that people I play with can "reskin" their decks with the versions they want. This is just an idea for now.
Continue working on Modern deck boxes. Modern is currently the best constructed format, and I don't see that changing any time soon. I am currently working on Izzet Murktide, 5-Color Creativity, Hammertime, Rakdos Scam, and Yawgmoth combo. I will try to add another deck to the list every month.
Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty is my favorite set. I made Mythic in limited on Arena with this set. I will complete my Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty foil showcase set cube in 2023. I have almost 500 cards currently. I might spring for the textured foil Wanderer, but I'm not in for the neon ink Hidetsugu.
When thinking about set cubes, I overlooked Khans of Tarkir. Khans is LSV's pick for best draft set ever, and I remember being enamored with the card Defiant Strike. I will be starting a Khans of Tarkir set cube.
I totally forgot that I had already built an Innistrad (2011) set cube! It was buried in boxes of things I never unpacked after my wife and I bought our house. I am pretty sure that it is incomplete, so I need to verify the contents my non-foil Innistrad cube.
Consider foiling out my Premodern Masters set cube. I haven't decided whether or not I want to undertake this project. It will be expensive.
Other set cubes:
I was reminded of how much fun Ikoria was, so I'm thinking that might be next on my list. Mutate was such a sweet mechanic, and cycling is an all time great limited mechanic. The question is, do I make Zenith Flare rare or not?
Dominaria (2018) is on hold, maybe cancelled. There's some debate as to how good this set actually was. It was great for it's time, but we were coming off a lot of bad limited sets and we've had a lot of good ones since then. My original thought was this was a beginner-friendly set, but I think my plans for Jumpstart cube and the "noob cube" do this job better. Also, The recent Dominaria: United and Brothers' War sets are both really, really good.
Innistrad: Double Feature custom set cube is probably canceled, due to the unearthing of my Innistrad (2011) set cube.
One of either Time Spiral Remastered, Dominaria Remastered, or an Invasion Block custom set cube should probably get made.
Ravnica plane cube is still interesting to me.
Update my Type 4 cube. I have not worked on this at all in 2022, so this is something that I should start in 2023.
And finally, I will get my cards sorted and stored in their permanent home. This is such a big deal because I've never had a *permanent* home for my cards. It makes me feel emotional, to be honest. I have purchased a large Kallax with drawer inserts. As I work on the projects listed above, I'm slowly getting the rest of my collection sorted and catalogued on Cardsphere so I can trade for my projects.
