Tales from Beyond!

Hello everyone! Ever wanted to see YOUR cards get played by actual MTG players? Well, I have something that you all might enjoy, but please read the details of this project I'm doing if you have the time (You can skip ahead to see what the criteria for this contest is)! I'm currently starting a project called "Tales from Beyond!" where I introduce non-custom-card-makers to the wonderful creations that you all make by playing an online game on untap.in and having it be under a "pseudo-format" of EDH!

Here's how this works, each player starts the game with one of these bad boys:

image

A magic tome that summons cards from outside the game! What interesting cards might be pulled from otherworldly places and dreamlike planes? Well, here's where you all come in...

I'll be using 100 cards from the cards you all make in this contest as the pool of possible cards that the tome can pull! So please submit as you all like! Let's see if you can strike a good first impression to the players that I will be presenting these cards to!

(NOTE: The design of the tome is constantly changing, so be sure to keep your cards pretty neutral.)

---=RULES=---
1.) Create any custom card that you might want to introduce to your other non-cardsmith friends!

2.) Make and submit cards with EDH in mind!

3.) Keep in mind that there will be a chance that Epitome of Possibility can immediately pull that card from nowhere at any time. So be sure to cost it reasonably.

4.) Keep the design/variety of cards very wide! Seeing as players from all around the table are going to be pulling them at random, it's good to submit either a multitude of cards with varying designs or a single card with a very flexible design!

5.) No complicated custom abilities, activated, static, triggered, it doesn't matter! You can get away with a simple custom mechanic that goes along the lines of Delirium or Raid where the effects of that card are always going to be displayed. I'm willing to allow for custom mechanics as long as they are short, simple, easy to understand, and don't cause a judge's headache.

6.) Keep the cards relatively short for its cost! It's good to have easy to read cards that everyone at the table can understand!

7.) There will be a maximum of 5 entries! Although only one of them will place you in this contest!

8.) New cards only for this one! But...

---=EXTRA POINTS=---

1.) Aside from the 5 generous slots that you get for making new cards, I am allowing you to showcase your all time 5 favorite OLD cards! These cards will attribute to the grading of your entries AND will be used for the 100 cards that I will be using!

2.) Be sure to feature the artist on your card! Link the direct website where you found the art and artist credit if able too! This won't effect your grade AS much, but like many other contests, this will serve as a tiebreaker! But linking your cards to the artist's page will attribute extra points for your cards! (This will be because I will be making a FULL ART card of every card submitted here!)

---=REWARDS=---
1st Place: 10 favorites of their choice!
2nd Place: 8 favorites of their choice!
3rd Place: 6 favorites of their choice!
4th Place: 5 favorites of their choice!
5th Place: 4 favorites of their choice!
Honorable Mentions: 2 favorites of their choice!
NOTE:All who placed will be getting a follow from me! Even honorable mentions!

---=WHEN=---
This contest's deadline will be on August 31, 2018 unless we get a drought of entries!

So, with that said, good luck to all the cardsmiths who decide to enter! And hopefully we get a reap of amazing designs from everybody who decides to participate! And may your first impressions to these players be fruitful!

Happy cardsmithing everyone!

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Comments

  • Oh hell yes this looks awesome! Nice use of hearthstone art on the epitome ^^
  • edited July 2018
    @Faiths_Guide
    @modnation675
    @KalamMekhar
    @Suicidal_Deity
    @Beeswax
    @TheCenterOfTheUniverse
    @AustinSmith
    @Arceus8523
    @ningyounk
    @fiskerton

    Just a little push and a widening of the lense!

    EDIT: Oh haha, heya Arceus! Looking forward to your entries!
  • edited July 2018
    @ManaChrome
    What happens to the other two cards that aren't cast?
  • @Arceus8523 Ah yeah, I originally put the clause "any cards not cast this way are shuffled back into ManaChrome's pile of cards he set aside for this game." But that's probably too long XD Oh, and because the background is kind a bright, so when I add more words, it gets harder to see the words.
  • @ManaChrome
    I have a suggestion (which I think you'd probably want to add to this contest's rules):
    No custom mechanics--No activated, triggered, or static abilities other than those from MtG Official.

    In this way you will be much more likely to have a positive reaction to your "format warped" games. Unique wording and card design are great (and should be a hallmark of the customs), but custom abilities are off-putting and often times confusing.
  • edited July 2018
    @ManaChrome
    I feel like removing the casting cost element makes this a lot more difficult to design for, may I suggest for the activated ability "2, T: ManaChrome deals to you three custom cards from outside the game face down, you may look at those cards and exile one of them face down. You may look at and play that card for as long as it remains exiled, and you may spend mana as though it were mana of any type to cast that spell." ?
  • @Faiths_Guide Ah yeah, I actually had that happening multiple times before, I always felt anxious when explaining a mechanic to someone in untap XD. I'll edit this after posting this comment
  • image

    Not sure this works as a full art card, but here you go.
    https://www.deviantart.com/jenniferhom/art/forks-108883284
  • Ah yeah, I was thinking about that @Arceus8523, it's just that I have this cycle of cards with me that directly interact with the tome. (Although I guess it's me who has to build around this problem.)

    What do you think can be done with a card like this that was meant for the original design of the Epitome? I really am digging your suggestion, it's just that I'm kind of wondering how these cards (this one in particular), can interact with tome?

    image

  • edited July 2018
    @ManaChrome
    Just change the cost drop form 4 to either 1 or 2 and he still seems fine. Not sure how the rest of the cycle works. Also love the art!
  • @Arceus8523 Ah no, the thing I'm concerned with is that he might not interact well with the "2, T:" thing, what do you think this guy can do otherwise? I guess it would just be fine if he said "costs 2 less" though.

    I'll be posting the entire cycle as a bump for tomorrow, getting dark tonight XD.
  • edited July 2018
    You can build a deck with cards that start in a face-down pile on Untap.

    My suggestion for your Tome's wording is this:

    Hexproof, indestructible

    Whenever a custom card would be put into a
    graveyard, return it to the face-down pile.

    {6}, {t}: Exile the top three cards of the face-down
    pile. Until end of turn, you may cast one of those
    cards without paying its mana cost. At the beginning
    of your end step, return each card that wasn't cast
    to the face-down pile.


    For additional face-down pile clarity, you can draw the cards which start in the face-down pile to play FACE-DOWN and pile them underneath (or nearby) the Tome.

    I would also recommend that you test it in 1V1 EDH first. Having too many people will only make this far more difficult than it will be already--which is substantially.
  • edited July 2018
    @ManaChrome
    How about "Whenever you activate an ability of a permanent you control named Epitome of Possibility, you may draw a card. If you do, discard a card." Also I think Kino should probably have flying.
  • edited July 2018
    Here's a randomly named example:
    image

    The only thing is that I'm unsure they can copy face down cards. I also don't know how they look at them. There will be issues with this XD

    You may just have to do away with the face-down portion of exiling and let everyone know what the player got (it gives you a bit of an advantage when you know the face-down "deck but I don't know if it'd work otherwise).
  • edited July 2018
    My five new cards:
    Kaboom
    image
    Art by Jeremy Carver—Link: https://www.deviantart.com/steamhat/art/Weasley-of-Rillium-686147055
    Plundering Scoundrel
    image
    Art by Firat Solhan—Link: https://www.deviantart.com/firatsolhan/art/Cursed-treasure-490401306
    Tibalt, Spawn of Chaos
    image
    Art by Jeremy Carver—Link: https://www.deviantart.com/steamhat/art/Tibalt-Vanguard-of-Pain-573385109
    The Manglecreep
    image
    Art by Jeremy Carver—Link: https://www.deviantart.com/steamhat/art/a-Big-Horror-733497420
    Vessel of Mana
    image
    Art by Jeremy Carver—Link: https://www.deviantart.com/steamhat/art/Vessel-of-Mana-733107206
    -------------
    My five favorite old cards:
    Windward Beloveds (From Torments of Thought)
    image
    Art by Guangjian Huang—Link: https://www.deviantart.com/hgjart/art/Immortal-172167922
    Anabelle, Radiant Regent (From Torments of Thought)
    image
    Art by Takaki—Link:
    Radiant Sanctum (From Torments of Thought)
    image
    Art by Cyril Rolando—Link:
    GM08 & TB3, Human After All (From Kaladesh 2.0)
    image
    Art by Warren Fu (I think? This one I had some trouble tracking down the artist for)—Link:

    Urza, Planar Prodigy (From Commander 20XX)
    image
    Art by Bryan Fogaça Rosado—Link: https://www.deviantart.com/bryanfr/art/Urza-Planeswalker-532059771
  • Isn't the mana cost of the cards irrelevant? These cards literally can't be paid for; the only way to get them into the game is by casting them for free with the book. Maybe recursion strategies could care?
  • @Beeswax
    See, that was the same problem I have with the tome. That's why I suggested having it merely let them cast the card from exile.
  • @Arceus8523
    I'ts probably a better solution.
  • edited July 2018
    image
    This is what I suggest for the card. Assuming each player starts the game with it, this can be a way to see the custom cards early and still makes both the CMC and colored mana cost of each card important (note the "this turn" at the end for the mana of any type clause).
  • edited July 2018
    Ok I'm confused. Couple questions:

    1)How many entries per cardsmith @ManaChrome because I see @Arceus8523 dropped more than 10...?

    Additionally, 100 is a LOT to shoot for. Did you mean 100 entries will get used out of the submissions, or that's the 100 cards of an edh/commander deck you speak of? Because if your using only 1 card from each of our allotted entries of 5 or even 10 that means you'd need over or about 500 cards entered for this contest for it to work as it sits worded. That seems... hard to get, especially in the summertime. Maybe use more cards from each winners submissions? Just a suggestion!

    @Arceus8523's submissions are incredible, so that brings me to my next question:

    2) Could you please increase the amount allowed per cardsmith? I'll gladly drop you 10 for your project! And that keeps Arceus's entries all legit.

    3) are old cards allowed?

    4) last question @ManaChrome: why not custom keyworded abilities? A lot of cardsmith are recognized by their custom mechanics on cards. You may lose possible contestants just by turning down custom abilities from the entries.
  • Ah yeah, this was the original thought that I had when making the tome. I don't really have excuse on why I chose the "6, T:" rather than the "2,T:" idea your proposed aside from the fact that I didn't want my opponents getting flustered on reading a singular card, I guess. I think I'd like the tome to be like this so that you wouldn't just have an "extra hand" by means of the tome. What do you guys think of this, @Faiths_Guide and @Arceus8523:

    image

    At least here, you're only limited to one custom card per turn!

    Meanwhile... what do you guys think of the cycle I made of legends that can interact with the Epitome? Knowing that the card above will most likely replace the old design, what do you guys think I should do to rework these cards? I think it's an easy fix since all I can do is replace "whenever you activate an ability of an artifact you control named Epitome of possibility," with "whenever you cast a custom spell," since it's only limited to one custom card per turn.

    I'm also working out on the costs because these were meant for the original design where the cost didn't matter :P

    imageimageimageimageimage




  • edited July 2018
    @sorinjace
    I only dropped 10, five new (Kaboom, Plundering Scoundrel, Tibalt, The Manglecreep, and Vessel of Mana) and five old (Windward Beloveds, Anabelle, Radiant Sanctum, GM08 & TB3, and Urza). The last card was my attempt to help fix the epitome to be more balanced and help make the competition more workable. The split between them wasn't very obvious, I have edited my entry to make the split between old and new cards more clear.
  • @ManaChrome
    I'll get to my thoughts on your cards in a moment.
  • edited July 2018
    @Sorinjace Welcome aboard! To answer your questions.

    1.) You are allowed to enter 5 new cards and 5 old cards. Arceus here probably forgot to divide his comment into Old and New cards made for this project.

    2.) 10 total is the amount you can submit. Or are you talking about submitting more than 10? See answer #1.

    3.) Yes, but only 5! See answer #1.

    4.) This is mostly done so that it wouldn't be as confusing for new players to adjust to the cards you make. I'm willing to allow for custom mechanics and keyworded abilities as long as they have reminder text and are short, simple, and wouldn't cause much of a rules fuss.

    Looking forward to your entries Sorinjace! Happy cardsmithing!
  • @Arceus8523
    How many cards are the entry limit?
  • @modnation675 Heya modnation! See above!
  • As @ManaChrome just stated, five brand new cards plus five old cards that count towards extra credit.
  • I'l post a list of cards tomorrow when I wake up! :)
  • edited July 2018
    Oh sweet @ManaChrome I'm wishing I was in your playgroup now lol I want to know how they turn out, whichever cards you go with that win of course! I'll make sure mine are legit entries. I may sneak a custom one in, but it's self explanitory. I'll post 5 older ones here in a minute I have to give it some thought as to what would be fun to play if it was real.
  • @sorinjace I'll probably posting a comment regarding my playgroup's thoughts on all of your cards when the project is over :)
This discussion has been closed.