Daily Card Redesign #113: Ophidian Eye

Daily Card Redesign is a daily Magic: The Gathering design exercise where I randomly choose a card for the scenario of it being killed late during its own set's development. I design a replacement card that uses the same art, is the same color, is the same rarity, and has a name that, alphabetically, keeps it within the same collector number for the set.

Redesign:

So, Ophidian Eye. It referenced the original Ophidian card. So I set out to come up with a different reference using those eyes besides Ophidian. Did you know that Ophidian and Ribbon Snake are the only monoblue Snakes in Magic: The Gathering? Ribbon Snake's abilities didn't quite fit for the art, so I set out to find non-Snake references.

There are no monoblue Cats in Magic: The Gathering. So, next, I thought of Beasts. To make matters more difficult, I had to find a reference to an old Magic card that would help place the card's name between Mystical Teachings and Paradox Haze, alphabetically.

So, then I found a fantastic card: Chambered Nautilus! Here's why it is an awesome replacement:

• The "Nautilus" word fits between Mystical Teachings and Paradox Haze, alphabetically.
• Like Ophidian, it's the only card in Magic: The Gathering with "Nautilus" in its name. Well, besides this card that references Ophidian or this redesign.
• A Nautilus Beast is freaky enough to warrant those eyes in the art.
• The ability is basically an INVERSE of the Ophidian ability!

Fun fact: Chambered Nautilus has been errata'd to have the Nautilus creature type. Looks like I'll try to  squeeze in a Nautilus creature card in a future card set of mine!