MadOlaf's Magic Cards

All written communication for the podcast is going to be on Discord from now on.  It's just a more robust and community-driven format fo...

Design Challenge Due Monday, Nov 25th by 7pm Pacific: Give us a card a that starts with the word "Dwarven" Based on this art...

Design Challenge due November 18th by 7pm Pacific: Create a "Soul of _____" card for a plane that doesn't have one yet.   ...

Rotten! Human don't like rotten things so they can't block rotten things.  Fun!

This is just bad, right?

Something being injured doesn't mean anything by itself, but a lot of cards that reference it will give disadvantages.

Does anyone have a cleaner reminder text?

Is this too close to Equipment?  I dunno.

Cloaked is an alternate form of Morph.  You still cast the card as a face down 2/2 for three, but the flip condition is different, and not...

Thallids were originally bred as food, right?

Yay for mind flayers!  I still want a D&D set to happen.  I think it will.

I know wizened isn't the right word here.  I wanted to have a mechanic that showed off experience of creatures and how they get more p...

Insubstantial is almost like indestructible, so it's not cheap.  On the other hand, your creatures can't do much, combat wise, so ...

Since treasure is now deciduous, I think having some mechanics that mention it specifically is fine. 

I don't think this is the exact right flavor for this mechanic, but it's high time it gets keyword.

Ammo.  It's a thing, I guess.

This one is a play off of day 16's Wild mechanic.  Should they be in a set togther?  I dunno.

I don't have much to say about this one.  I wanted to make equipment called ornaments, but that felt a bit too far.

I'm actually really proud of this one.  There is nothing in Magic so far that counts the number of subtypes a creature has.

This one put me in a pickle for a while.  Eventually I landed at "What happens when a Legendary Creature dies?" 

This one is a little weird. It is a mono-green mechanic, and I don't know what else it could go on besides a creature.  Maybe a sor...

My mind went to exile as soon as I saw this prompt.  The ability is kind of like embalm, except it happens automatically.

Dragon is one of those Magic terms that is in (nearly) every set.  It's fun to play a deck full of dragons.  But sometimes you wonder ...

Brenish Hunter is another card from Frostmere, and snowfall is the main mechanic of that set, but since this is Moxtober, I needed to m...

This mechanic is a play on Ascend from Rivals of Ixalan, but instead of controlling ten total permanents, you need to control four specifi...

The first thing I thought of was how in Magic, when you swing, you're attacking. And then I thought of the phrase "life swing...

This ability is seen elsewhere in magic (see Lichenthrope ) but I think it's enough of a drawback to put on an undercosted creature.

C'mon inktober.  Why you givin' me prompts that are actual magic terms? Anyway, I wanted to do something with auras, and this came...

This is another take on the regenerate mechanic.  This one is a bit different, in that it lets the creature die then come back right away ...

Structures are fun.  This card doesn't have the rules for structures on it, but here's my version: A Structure is a permanent th...

I've been obsessed with snow for the last 10 years.  My first custom set was Frostmere, where snow reigned supreme.  Here is a land fr...

I'm planning on doing mechanics based on the first thing i think of when I hear the word, so you're getting a fisherman today. Bai...

This one is pretty simple, but if you know my design style, I give a lot of credence to simple designs. It fits perfectly on zombies, gole...

Design Challenge Due October 7th: Costume Party! Tim had an idea of peppering draftable cards that help enhance the Halloween Cube’s draft...

So, I guess I'm doing this Moxtober thing that Bradley Rose did last year.  Basically, you take all the prompts of Inktober...

Design challenge due September 30th: A colored artifact that couldn’t be an enchantment; make sure it’s not an equipment.

Design Challenge Due September 23rd: Give us a card that would fit in Eldraine. Feel free to use any of the available mechanics. (Food, A...

Design challenge due September 16: Design an overpriced card that would fit in a 1997-ish Magic set Can put it into an existing set, or...

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Design challenge due September 9th: Design something that combines two abilities on one card.

OK, so this one's actually due September 2nd;  we're going to attempt to record at MFVegas, and we won't be going over custom de...

This week's design challenge: Design a commander card for an Energy deck.

New Commander Deck Challenge, due Monday, August 12th by 7pm PST. -- Should fit in one of the new Commander decks (Morph, Flashback, Populat...

This week's challenge is to design a card to fit the GW archetype in Contenders. The thing is that the GW archetype isn't de...

Hey there Beaconeers!  This week's challenge is to make your best Fairy Tale card.  It doesn't have to be Eldraine themed, but it do...

We liked the MH1 design space challenge a lot, and we're going to do an M20 episode next week. We're also trying out having the desi...

Next week's design challenge is to make a card in Modern Horizons design space; a card that could've shown up in the set, but didn...

Hey there Beaconeers! This week's challenge is to make a four colored card for Brad's four colored world.  If you don't know m...

Design challenge due Monday June 10th by 7pm Pacific. You can send your submissions to cards@beaconofcreation.com Create a card using the ...

Hey there beaconeers!  Sorry I haven't been posting here during the Ignite the Beacon specials, but we're back to normal now! Des...

Design challenges due Monday, April 29th by 7pm. Top-Down challenge: Castmire's Buy-a-box promo using a mechanic that's not in the s...

Design challenges due Monday, April 22nd by 7pm. Top-Down challenge: A card draw spell that feels white and is not just a cantrip. Bottom-up...

Design challenges due Monday, April 15th by 7pm. Top-Down challenge: Revise a Castmire Exemplar card. Bonus points if it fits into the set...

Design challenges due Monday, April 8th by 7pm. Top-Down challenge: Design Garruk's Axe. Bottom-up challenge: Design an uncommon planesw...

Design challenges due Monday, April 1st by 7pm. Top-Down challenge: Design a Contender. You can find the current Contenders here. Try to ...

Since we ran short on time, the challenges are rolling over this week. Design challenges due Monday, March 25th by 7pm. Top-Down challen...

Design challenges due Monday, March 18th by 7pm. Top-Down challenge: A door using the Visit mechanic. The rules text is either of these tw...

Design challenges due Monday, March 4th by 7pm. Top-Down challenge: An artifact that is a lantern. Bottom-up challenge: A white card with “1...

Design challenges due Monday, Feb 25 by 7pm. Top-Down challenge: In honor of (https://itch.io/jam/short-rest) short rest jam, design a card ...

Design challenges due Monday, Feb 18 by 7pm. -Top-down challenge: A card based on Disney’s “The Haunted Mansion”, “Phantom Manor”, or “Mysti...

Design challenges due Monday, Feb 11 by 7pm. -Top-down challenge: A planeswalker with only one loyalty ability. -Bottom-up challenge: A spir...

Design challenges due Feb 4: Bottom up:  An evasive creature with a simple and clean design. Top down:  Marquee goblin that does somethi...

Design challenges due Jan 21at 7pm. -Top-down challenge: Design a card based on something that scares you personally. -Bottom-up challenge: ...

Submissions due January 14th at 7pm PST: Top down challenge: Think outside the greenhouse.  Show a green element of Castmire that doesn...

Design challenges due Jan 7 at 7pm. -Top-down challenge: An equipment or vehicle you would find in a mansion. -Bottom-up challenge: A build-...

Design challeges due Dec 24 at 7pm Pacific: Top down design: Big holiday meal or get-together Bottom up design: Your take on gates, onl...

Design challenges due Dec 10 at 7pm. -Top-down challenge: Design a card that evokes the sensation of being “indoors”. -Bottom-up challe...

Challenges due Monday, December 3rd by 7pm Pacific time. Worldbuilding Challenge: Rare mystery card that use clues.  Make sure it's a...

Our design challenges for next week are due Monday, Nov 26, at 8pm Pacific Time. -Design a rare for constructed. -Design a green common th...

Hey there, Beaconeers! We got a lot done this episode regarding Castmire. We talked about the color combinations, draft archetypes, and m...

Castmire Worldbuilding Challenge #1 - Create a white common combat trick that gives +2/+2 and a small bonus. Castmire Worldbuilding Chall...

Cardcrafting Challenge: Design a card that evokes a costume change Castmire Worldbuilding challenge: Black uncommon that returns a cr...

Design Challenge Due Oct. 29 Cardcrafting challenge: Make an escape room card Castmire Worldbuilding Challenge: Pumpkin pat...

Cardcrafting Challenge: Make a two-card combo with a card that doesn’t have a combo Castmire Worldbuilding Challenge: Detain at common...

Cardcrafting Challenge: Design a simple card that hasn't been designed yet.  Castmire Worldbuilding Challeng: Pick an Inktober 201...

Submissions due Monday, October 8th. Cardcrafting challenge Design a creature card that has an effect that is related to a loud sound flav...

Design Challenges due Monday. October 1st. Cardcrafting challenge ZAREPATH SUGGESTION: Make a card from a setting that WotC would never do...

Challenges due Monday, September 24th Cardcrafting Challenge Make a mythic X spell that is flavored as either Golgari, Simic, or Orzho...

Design Challenges Due for next week (Sept 17) Cardcrafting Challenge Design a card that is fairy tale themed... Castmire Worldbuildin...

Design Challenges Due for Next Week (Sept 10) Cardcrafting challenge French vanilla creature with a combination of two evergreen/decidu...

Challenges for Monday, September 3rd. Cardcrafting Challenge: Design a card with one line of rules text that references a new keyword a...

Hey there Beaconeers! Here is the challenge due on Monday the 27th: Cardcrafting challenge: Make a Dark Age card from one the mechanic...

Challenges due August 20 Host/Augment: An uncommon draft-around card exploring an "uncommon" theme/ not an enchantment or creatu...

Hey there, Beaconeers! Challenges due August 13 Host/Augment: Make a Legendary Aura/ it must be a callback to a previous card. Castmi...

Hey there Beaconeers!  Challenges due August 6 Host/Augment: Design a card that mentions the term "commander"/must be colorles...

Challenges due July 30: Host/Augment: A black draw spell that doesn't make you sacrifice a permanent or lose life. Castmire Worldbu...

He there Beaconeers! Challenges due July 23: Host/Augment (hole filling edition): Design a green enchantment that is powerful enough to...

 Hey there Beaconeers! We just bought the domain beaconofcreation.com . (I'm not sure why I linked it, since it just brings you back h...

Challenges due Monday July 9: Host/Augment: Design three cards that care about being cast in sequence / must have an ability outside the b...

Hey there Beaconeers! Challenges due Monday, July 2: Host/Augment: A planeswalker from a specific plane and race that doesn't match...

Hey there Beaconeers! Quick update to the the blog:  I added a sidebar for important link suck as the Creature Grid and a full version of ...

Hey there Beaconeers, Our creature grid is done!  You can check out the final version here. When designing creatures in the future, re...

Hey there Beaconeers! This week's challenge (due Monday June 11 at 7pm Pacific): Host/Augment: Something silver-bordered that isn...

Hey there beaconeers! First things first:  We have a new way to vote!  I made four separate surveys where you can vote for the creatures t...