Card of the Day - Eight of Hearts

I was trying to find something to fit between the 7 and 9 of hearts, and this guy just felt right. 

Card of the Day - Eggsplosion

Happy Easter! 

Card of the Day - Serrated Crab

They can't all be zingers!  Vanilla creatures fill an important role in every set.  This guy is awesome in the right deck.

Card of the Day - Ersatz Emerald

One of the things I've always wanted to do was to fix the Moxen.  Here's another shot.

Here's the edit:

 Thanks for all the feedback guys. :)

Card of the Day - Shimmer Fae

Card of the Day - Burning Dreams

This is an update to the Legends card Underworld Dreams. I made it more on-color and less restrictively costed.

Card of the Day - Castle Camelot

Here's a more feasible variant of my Dark Tower card.  I submitted this for this weekend's art challenge on Goblin Artisans.  The thing that Jay mentions in his article and that I agree with is that this is a better design than the "T: Add one of any color" because it has less of a chance of getting killed by another copy since there are four more to choose from.

Card of the Day - Undead Colossus

Zombie smash. 

Card of the Day - Aggressive Intent

A simple Gruul sorcery to finish a game.  Would this be better as Boros?  Let me know what you think.

Lands and what we know about them.

There is no card type in Magic more important than Land.  Every deck you've ever made (barring the one or two exceptions) has had Land in it. I'm not here to argue about how the Land card type should be voted for in YMTC4, as this post will be posted after the voting is over. I'm just posting facts.

1) If a land only taps for a single color of mana and has no other abilities, it is Basic.  In fact, just having a basic land type lets that land tap for a specific color of mana.  These are (as the name says) the most basic cards you need to play Magic.  These are given away to anyone playing a draft or sealed deck so you can actually finish your deck.  Some people even say that Island is the most powerful card ever printed. (And, yes, I linked it.)

2) If a land taps for a single color of mana and also has a secondary ability, it needs a drawback.  The most common drawback is entering the battlefield tapped, although there are a few cards that have different drawbacks.  The uncommon threshold lands from Odyssey deal you damage, and the rare Kamigawa lands are Legendary.  Some of the most powerful non-basic single colored lands are the artifact lands from Mirrodin.  Their only drawback is the same as their advantage: they are Artifacts as well as Land.

3) If a land taps for a single colorless mana, it can have a secondary ability or benefit without having a drawback.  There are many examples of this, from Mishra's Factory to Rogue's Passage. These are your utility lands.  You use these as a hard to deal with source of advantage.  They add mana to your mana pool if necessary, but offer so much more.

4) If a land taps for two or more colors of mana, it needs a drawback. Some of the most expensive cards to obtain in the game are the original dual lands.  The reason they are so expensive is that they give you access to more than one color of mana from the same source with no drawback.  Every other land printed that taps for more than one color of mana has a drawback.  When Arabian Nights was released, there was a card called City of Brass that could tap for any color mana, but dealt you 1 damage for the trouble. In Ice Age, where lands were printed that could give you two colors of mana, their drawback, again, was pain.  These lands were lovingly called Painlands and every player took their harsh punishment and smiled as they cast a spell they wouldn't be able to otherwise. And so it goes...  the drawbacks shift, but the two main competitors are entering the battlefield tapped and taking damage.

5) If a land taps for more than one mana at a time, it needs a serious drawback.  Urza's Saga was broken.  We all know this.  One of the big reasons it was too powerful was its land.  The rare land cycle has Tolarian Academy and Gaea's Cradle, two easily abusable mana engines.  While they were Legendary, they were both way too powerful to be printed (especially the Academy) and produced too much mana for the drawback. Another powerful card is Mishra's Workshop, which gives 3 colorless mana that can only be used to cast artifacts.  It may seem like a harsh drawback, but 3 mana is 3 mana, and you can use it as soon as the Workshop enters the battlefield.  Mistakes like these help us understand what can be done with a land before it's too much.

These are the rules of lands.  I know that Maro has said countless times that restrictions breed creativity and I'm excited to see what we can do with Land if it wins.  I guess we'll find out on Monday. 

After all that, my card for today falls within the confines of the rules and I will post it for your viewing pleasure.

boom.

Card of the Day - Viromancer Adept/Dwarven Stoic

Here's a follow up to yesterday's card.  I'm rethinking using infection counters as they seem too close to Infect and can be easily confused.  Any ideas for a new counter name?

Bonus!  Here's a common guy to help you fight off the hordes of Zombies on this plane.

Card of the Day - Patient Zero

I made this affect all Zombies because it feels better for the flavor.  In current Magic, most effects like this are relegated to only you, so there's no feel bad moments when your opponent utilizes it better than you can. My problem with this version is that getting bit by a Zombie usually causes you to die eventually. Maybe there could be a few of these types of creatures that work together with infection counters to create the whole scene.  I'll make a few more in the next few days to show what I mean. Here's a second version that's a bit simpler:

A bit more text-y, but it conveys a different feel.  This one is uncommon because it's a bit less complex. The thing I'd like to fix about this one is the fact that if the creature dies during combat, it doesn't become a Zombie.

Let me know which one you like better, or feel free to post a different version that does something similar with better wording.

Card of the Day - Olaf the Mad

I'm pretty sure every designer has made a card of themselves at some point.  I made this one about a decade ago and now I present it to you, my fellow designers. Feel free to post your own cards of yourselves in the comments.

Card of the Day - Fire Burst

Back to the basics today.  A simple, powerful, red common that hasn't been done before.  There have been many similar cards, but this version boils it down to the simplest part.

Card of the Day - Priestess of the Waning Moon

Here's my submission for Goblin Artisans weekend art challenge.   The theme was an egyption stlye world where ambition is how you rule.  I thought that Offering was an interesting way to cast creatures at instant speed, and this card could be one in a cycle of uncommon Offering guys.  I made it sacrifice Humans because that's just cooler than sacrificing Cats.

Card of the Day - Malevolent Leprechaun

Warwick Davis is awesome.  Happy St. Patty's Day!

Card of the Day - Trash Pile

Ok, ok.  This is the last scrap/parts card for a while.  It's a cool common enabler that can be in a lot of limited decks/sideboards.  I really like that you can chain these guys if you really need to.

Card of the Day - Blackwood Slinker

Back to non-artifacts today!  Here's a cool guy.  He's sneaky and useful in many different types of decks.  Dimir, Simic, and Golgari all like him, as well as your standard green mage.

Card of the Day - Neurosonic Jammer

Here's a utility rare that could find a spot as a singleton in a lot of sideboards.

Card of the Day - Alloy Exoskeleton/ Data Core

I've seen variations on this design a few times, but mine is specifically made to be Parts.  As I'm really excited about all these parts, here's another equipment:

This is designed so every parts card doesn't work in every deck.  You need to be playing a little bit of blue to make this work.

Card of the Day - Biosteel Serpent/Discharging Core

I want to preface this post by saying that I did not come up with Scrap myself, but I love the mechanic.  James Bartolotti debuted it in the comments section of a Goblin Artisans article.  That said,

The thing about this is it needs another type of card to make it awesomer. (Is awesomer a word?) Parts should be at all rarites, and there should be at least one that has no mana cost so you can grab it from your sideboard, but can't actually cast it.  That one should not be common, but uncommon is probably fine.  Here's an example of one that you might play in your deck if you don't have many scrappable creatures (or other artifacts?).

The sky's the limit with the types of parts you can have.  I feel like they should all be artifacts, though.   Equipment would be nice.  The one that James suggested was this:

While I feel it could be a bit more splashy, I like the idea here.  This is one you might draft if you've already grabbed one or two guys with Scrap, but it's not playable otherwise (literally).  Let me know what you think about this, and if you have any better ways to implement it, I'll be glad to hear you out.

Card of the Day - Verdant Grove

I don't know if you guys have seen the news, but You Make The Card 4 is happening now!  Check it out at www.wizards.com if you haven't already!  (Vote for land!)

Card of the Day - Giraffe

I like giraffes.

Card of the Day - Fire Eater

This guy could be from a world where there is a traveling carnival.

Card of the Day - Plague Vial

This could be the beginning of a cycle! Any ideas for other colors?

Edit: New version as suggested:

Also, Barren Vial!

Card of the Day - Imbue Courage

G/W hybrid.  Not necessarily a Selesnya card, but would fit in any token based strategy well.

Card of the Day - Cyberman Assimilator

This is an homage to the great Doctor Who villains.  Is anyone else excited for the new season? Cause I frickin' am!  If you're a constant reader of my blog, you'll notice I've been doing a theme of stealing creatures lately.  I don't know why that is, but I do know that Cyberman Assimilator will make all your opponents creatures belong to you. Eventually.

Card of the Day - Sentient Steam

I like that I used the Izzet and Boros hybrid mana in the cost of this card, but the only way to make it work the right way is to use the Azorius hybrid mana in the text box.  If you use this card in a mono-red deck, you can use him agressively.  If you use him in an Azorius deck, he's good at being defensive.  In an Izzet or Boros deck, you have a lot of options.

Card of the Day - Hargan Opportunist

If you don't remember (or never knew), Boost was a mechanic I created while working on speculating the Gatecrash mechanics.  Here is another tricolor card that utilizes what I think is a nice clean mechanic.  If you notice the mana cost, you'll see a three color hybrid.  I could've made it cost 1(r/w)(w/b), but the 1 looks tiny on MSE, and I thought the tricolor hybrid symbol looked cool.

Card of the Day - Cloud Walker

French Vanilla!

Card of the Day - Undead Enslavement

A flavorful approach to black removal.