Daily Card Redesign #169: Pretender's Claim

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

ORIGINAL:

REDESIGN:

Oof. I would have given this more time to develop into something that actually gave choices to be made by a player to feel more like what the art is implying about what's going on mechanically, but I've run out of time.

So, the idea for this incarnation is that the guy that is standing with the guards is the opponent, pleading to spare his troops' lives in exchange for a payment to the king/lord-like person sitting in the throne in the background (that's you).

Daily Card Redesign #168: Wild Ricochet

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

ORIGINAL:

REDESIGN:

Daily Card Redesign #167: Pyromancer's Swath

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

ORIGINAL:

REDESIGN:

Go, go Flame Javelin.

So, I needed to redesign this with an effect that feels like it's from the future. I consider this effect pretty radical enough that it does achieve this goal.

I also feel like the dedication toward burn matches the art well. The mage is engulfed in flames! ...It was important to me that this was a "Once you go burn, you don't go back." kind of thing, so an enchantment wasn't permanent enough (even though it does become harder to destroy it - you just play a creature or other permanent card that can rid of enchantments).

I feel like this "replace all text with this text" can be stretched out for a whole cycle. If we use the same names, then it'd be "Aeromastery," "Hydromastery," "Necromastery," and "Geomastery." ...Not that the names are super stellar, but it's more aid toward an illustration of my idea of this kind of effect existing on more than one card.

Daily Card Redesign #166: Quirion Elves

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

ORIGINAL:

REDESIGN:

I'm not sure how important this card was to multicolored play in Mirage (I know it was reprinted later where its multicolored-faceted ability was more valuable), so I decided to not be constricted by it - besides, Rampant Growth exists within the same set at common.

I decided to switch this up to one of those creatures that fetches lands from the library to put into your hand, like Borderland Ranger. The above redesign you see hasn't been done before. It's similar to Sylvan Ranger. Just take away the freedom to search for any basic land and replace it with an extra point of toughness, and you get a new card - and one that makes sense given that the art depicts more than one Elf (more than one toughness).

Also, the art matches the whole "looking for new lands" thing that this card does mechanically.

Daily Card Redesign #165: Fertile Ground

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

ORIGINAL:

REDESIGN:

The art has an unusual focus on these flying insects. They're obtaining the nectar / whatever-that-this. This means they're interacting with the land. So, I saw it fit to still be a land Aura card. It definitely couldn't be a flying green creature card since, well, that's not what is supposed to do. 

What green does do is hate on flying creatures. And within its repertoire of methods of dealing with creatures is having a Fog effect. So, mechanically and flavorfully, having a flying creature be distracted by the more fertile lands of this enchanted land would make sense.

One last thing to make this make sense - why does this fertile land only affect flying creatures? Sure, the art depicts flying creatures, but what IS it about the depiction that makes it so that these insects are going bananas? ...Oh, it's the flower-y type stuff. Stuff that only these creatures go bonkers for. Flowers! That's a simple, elegant, grok-able thing.

So, a flowered place means it has... well, flowers. Smooth.

Daily Card Redesign #164: Symbiotic Deployment

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

ORIGINAL:

REDESIGN:

Ow. Major headache. Here's the card.

Daily Card Redesign #163: Cyclopean Tomb

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

ORIGINAL:

REDESIGN:

Shuteye. Get it? Because it's an eye, and when it shuts, it encases the opponent for just a wink? And the planeswalker within this little bed/cradle/den looks like it's sleeping? As in, it's getting some shuteye? As in, it's getting forty winks - thus the wink counters?!

...Ah, satisfying.

I didn't feel like wording this card according to the olden ways of wording cards. Too much of a hassle!

Also, I feel like this may potentially be busted, and I'm just not seeing the loophole. Otherwise, hooray, it's safe and great. Keep in mind that this doesn't completely shut down a player - they can still activate abilities and attack with creatures.

I wanted to make the player skip their turn, but that was too weird to do for Alpha. I'll keep in mind some kind of sleeping spell for the player (like the spell Sleep for creatures) for a future card design.