I'm Going to Be Attempting to Design an Entire MTG Set in 24 hours. Come watch me.

Arceus8523 · December 2020

You read the title right. I'm going to be doing my first ever Set Sprint, where I attempt to design the first draft of an entire MTG set in a 24 hour period. I've been setting up for this for a good couple of weeks, now, and it is almost time to begin.

To start, let me lay out the rules:

1. The end product should be an entire draftable MTG set with everything a "first complete draft" would have except the art (and lore articles, I guess), including worldbuilding, card effects, set mechanics, card rarities, names, flavor text, etc.

2. The challenge should be timed with a 24 hour countdown timer. There's no obligation to be working continuously during that time, but the timer must run continuously and once the countdown is over, the challenge is over.

3. Nothing should be planned a head of time in any written/digital/already-created form

4. The most a participant should come into the challenge with in regards to the set is some broad idea of what the set will be about

5. No reprint-heavy sets (e.g. masters sets, most core sets), though of course reprints in general are allowed

6. Any sort of set design process is allowed so long as it doesn't violate any of the above rules and so long as it produces the desired end product.
7. If a challenger wants to add art and written lore articles, they are more than welcome to. There two aspects were excluded from the challenge as they can take time away from mechanical design for things that don't impact a set's overall mechanics.
8. Furthermore, this is all in good fun and these rules are more or less loose. There's nobody truly enforcing them. The idea is just to have fun and my your card design skills. I will be trying to stick to them as closely as possible, I just don't want other people attempting a Set Sprint to feel pressured by rules they dislike.

Now then, all that being said, this is cramming a process that takes multiple months (for just the first draft) and years (for the finished product) officially into the span of 24 hours, so the set will likely be a wreck. The goal is to make as good a set as possible given the time. I'm personally very excited, and I hope you all will join me, as I will be streaming the entire challenge on Twitch.

The stream will run from 12:00pm EST on Wednesday, December 23 to 12:00pm EST on Thursday, December 24. I'd love to see you all hop in and watch me suffer see me attempt this. I'll likely be taking suggestions for what kind of set to design toward the beginning of the stream, and I'm happy to chat with you all and answer questions (about the set sprint or myself or whatever) at any time I'm working. Frankly I could probably use the company.

And speaking of company, I am not doing this alone. My friend @SammySammyson will also be attempting a Set Sprint at the same time, and similarly you can check out his Twitch to see how he's doing, and whether either of us can deliver anything close to an end product.

You can check out my Twitch at https://www.twitch.tv/sorcerersoftheshore
You can check out @SammySammyson 's Twitch at https://www.twitch.tv/sammysammyson

We both hope to see you stop by. Obviously, since it's a 24 hour stream, we aren't expecting to see anyone stick around for the whole thing (heck, I have IRL obligations [see also: dogs] that will put me afk for chunks of the time period), and ultimately we're each doing this for our own personally enjoyment and as a test of our skills. Regardless, if you're at all interested, please do stop by and give it a glance!