MTG Cardsmith Community Forums
Find the Perfect Reprint
Often in Magic, reprints can be reinvented and reimagined to fit the setting that they're in. But sometimes one of these reprints is so perfect it feels like it was born for that set. For example, Blazing Torch was a reprint in Innistrad, but it fits the worldbuilding and mechanical set so much that it could have been created for Innistrad and no one would have blinked an eye.
So, for this challenge, your job is to find a real Magic card and reimagine it to be in either
-a custom set you've created, or
-a different real Magic set, preferably a recent one.
It would also be helpful for you to write a sentence or two describing how this card is a fit, though I won't require that.
There is a limit of one card per user, and the soft deadline is Monday, July 22. Go!
So, for this challenge, your job is to find a real Magic card and reimagine it to be in either
-a custom set you've created, or
-a different real Magic set, preferably a recent one.
It would also be helpful for you to write a sentence or two describing how this card is a fit, though I won't require that.
There is a limit of one card per user, and the soft deadline is Monday, July 22. Go!
This discussion has been closed.
Comments
This was made for the Ixalan Block and it represents a group of humans deciding to band together and go after the City of Gold alongside the other tribes. I thought this would be a cool side story and think it fits Collected Company well.
A Discussion and The Set.
For more on Lithorians and Tony Yin's awesome art project, check out His Page for art and a sweet video.
Specifically, I think my choice in reprint is fitting because it fits one of the themes of my custom set I'm building, which is a contention between traditions and nature versus technology and adaptation.
Seems to make even more sense in Dominaria than in Theros, and it works flavorfully too, because all of the heroes of Dominaria teaming up against Belzenlok.
original
proof that Coatls exist in Ixalan
(Since you wanted to know, I am not reprinting it into a particular set, just reprinting it into cardsmith)
"So, for this challenge, your job is to find a real Magic card and reimagine it to be in either
-a custom set you've created, or
-a different real Magic set, preferably a recent one."
@sanjaya666: Invoke Prejudice into what set? I'll give you a few days to clarify; I should have brought this up earlier.
@KorandAngels Pteramander into what set?
Corwinnn: Aerial Manuever into Forgotten Dragons, a set featuring dragons
AlexWright: Collected Company into Rivals of Ixalan
Faiths_Guide: Dream Chisel into Lithorians, a set featuring morph
Red_Tower: One with Nature into a set with a conflict between nature and technology
SteampunkDragon: Heroes' Podium into Dominaria
Pepperoni: Winged Coatl into Ixalan
Fine. Gotta change the card then.
You don't need to change the expansion symbol, but it would be nice.
Honorable Mentions (in no particular order)
HM. @KorandAngels: Pteramander into M20
Pteramander is a card with a lot of spice in Standard right now. It's a great component to the blue tempo deck and one that's fun to play and play against. However, it's not a great fit for M20, due to its use of adapt and the fact that it does not particularly play into the themes of M20, so it fails on the metric of feeling like it was born for that set. For these reasons, I couldn't choose this card.
HM. @Corwinnn: Aerial Manuever into Forgotten Dragons
This is a nice combat trick for sure, and it has stronger flavor in Forgotten Dragons than Gatecrash! However, you misspelled the card name on your reprint. Therefore, while it does feel like a decent fit, that ultimately dethroned your card in a challenge with such high card quality.
HM. @sanjaya666: Invoke Prejudice into Ravnica: City of Guilds
Invoke Prejudice is an interesting card from a long time ago in Magic, and would be interesting to reprint. However, it has a few features that doesn't make it seem born for Ravnica, such as the quadruple-blue mana cost. I think this effect might be white as well. Also, in the future, I suggest you don't have quotes attributed to unknown; instead create the name of a character or just make it not a quote. Anyway, that's why it didn't win, though everything I said is minor, that's what this contest ultimately came down to.
Onto the top 5. Normally for these sorts of contests I would only do a top 3, but numbers 4 and 5 were still great submissions. I found myself constantly rearranging the top 5 during the judging process, so I decided to do a top 5 instead. Without further ado:
5. @Pepperoni: Winged Coatl into Ixalan
This would have fit well into Ixalan. I am a fan of coatls (particularly Lorescale Coatl) and snakes in general, so I was predisposed to like this card. I also think the art is an improvement. As far as why it isn't higher, there are a few technical details, such as the fact that Captain Brandis Thorn didn't canonically die, or the fact that flying and deathtouch should be lowercase, slightly decreased the card's value in my view. Those are minor things, and the former subjective. So good job.
4. @AlexWright: Collected Company into Rivals of Ixalan
Collected Company is what I consider to be the most fun card in top-tier Modern. I love playing with it and cards like it, such as Vivien's Arkbow, and CoCo would be a great addition to many Standard environments. I guess if I had to provide constructive criticism, it would be that it doesn't feel like Rivals is its home; i.e. it's not the kind of card that makes you say, "Oh, that's a reprint?" which the top three all did. That said, this fits on a mechanical and flavorful level in Rivals of Ixalan.
3. @Faiths_Guide: Dream Chisel into Lithorians
This is a fantastic submission all around. The art is beautiful. The card is simple. It fits well with a theme of your set. The flavor text provides a perspective into the setting. If it's not too powerful, I'd move it to uncommon though so more people can play with it, especially in Limited. Then again, me wanting more people can play with it probably isn't the worst problem to have. Amazing choice.
2. @Red_Tower: One with Nature into Estra
I'd never heard of One with Nature before this contest, so thanks for exposing me to a sweet card from many years ago. If this was reprinted, it would do the same to many other players. This feels like the type of card that is fun in Limited and casual formats, but doesn't cut the mustard in "real" formats, so people play it for a few years and then forget. That's a great choice to reprint. It also fits well on a base theme of your set in a flavorful manner. I really like this reprint choice.
(Sidenote: As I was adding the image for this card, I found that a shocking number of people on Cardsmith didn't realize that there was already a card named One with Nature. So PSA, don't name your cards that.)
1. @SteampunkDragon: Heroes' Podium into Dominaria
More than any other card in this challenge, I never would have guessed this was a reprint (if it wasn't in this challenge), and that was ultimately the deciding factor. This fits onto the history plane of Dominaria in a perfect way, joining the themes of legendary and artifacts (both part of historic, technically), and I totally agree that it fits on Dominaria better than Theros. (It would have been a perfect fit for Kamigawa too, by the way. So three perfect fits for one card. Can anyone beat that?) Flavor text is nice too. Great job all around on this card.
Thanks everyone for participating! I hope you enjoyed, and that my feedback was useful.
I think a lot of people on here hesitate to create reprints, especially when you have a limited number of card slots. But as someone who has been working for a month or two on a custom set, it's very easy to overlook how important reprints are for a set, especially for filling up the card pool. Functional reprints are also a thing to consider!