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Hmm yes please I need more quality content to reblog!

Boxes, Contests, and Value

I love running contests.

…But I am going to be open for the sake of transparency. I make zero money from this blog (if you didn’t already know) and all prizes from contests and whatnot come out of my own budget. While I am financially stable, I still make minimum wage and can’t afford as much MTG as I’d like (i.e. I can get some Iconic Masters packs but I can’t drop $1,000 on a modern deck). 

The November was a splurge. After all the everything, I ended up spending about $150 for the commission - a fantastic deal for indie-professional fantasy art, of course, but it was still the most expensive contest I’ve had - also with the absolute lowest entry turnout. With that money, I could have bought a booster box and I know that would have been much more enticing ‘cause, well, cards.

Then I thought… What if I could do a custom Magic card booster box giveaway contest? 

Here are the issues:

Restrictions. With shipping costs and all, it would have to be within the U.S. only, which limits the audience.

Numbers. There would probably be far more entries than any other contest, which means that it would take longer to judge. Individual commentary would not be possible.

Size. For a contest of this scale, it might even have to be done in rounds like the GDS, which means longer even for the contest - and people who haven’t won would need to watch the finalists.

Prize control. Would there be second-place options? What would they get? How much would that cost? Planning ahead for this also means that the prizes they would get would have to either have been purchased ahead of time or they would have to choose from immediate booster box options in standard.

Varsity. The exclusivity would be necessary, meaning (a) followers only or (b) veteran Tumblr users or © an increasingly strict set of judgement guidelines.

Here are the benefits:

Popularity. Holy crap, this would be the most popular design contest on Tumblr. A free booster box? God DAMN.

New designers. I have no doubt that this contest would bring in several new designers from all over the internet.

Critical design. Because the judgement would be so much stricter, the way that people think about cards would have to be much more thoughtful as well.

Future benefits. Something of this scale would set precedents for future contests; it would have to, considering how hard these things are to run normally. Maybe there would be a breakthrough.

Standards. I think if this comes through, then I can increase the value of potential contests, keep them there, and have them as semi-regular things to bring in new faces and designs to Magic custom cards and community. 

In conclusion:

What do you all think? There are, like, 1,400 of you, most of whom aren’t spambots and most of whom would probably like a free booster box AND most of whom understand that it’s fucking hard as butts to do something like this. I’d love to hear replies, comments, or other things about this. If you’ve won a contest in the past especially I’d like to hear your input.

Thank you all for you continued support and creativity.

-Abelzumi

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Purely awesome

Can you make a fetch land that can only fetch itself?

That’s dumb. I love it.

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Hey, here’s a fun creature- 5 power and toughness split three possible ways!

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Woahhhhh

The Proxy Guy just posted this awesome Azor/Immortal Sun alter.

This would’ve been a great masterpiece frame

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Made by shieldman on reddit.

The only way red WILL EVER be able to destroy enchantments. End of story.

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Various Proxies I have made from my art. All of these are free to use, and you can track down the art and edit them however you like, JUST don’t be a douche and use cards you don’t own (unless it’s for a cube perhaps) and please keep artist accreditation (Jeremy Carver). and of course: DON’T SELL THEM! Because I own 7 commander decks and a solumn for 7 a pop is a little crazy, (though I do own an actual copy of all if these.)

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I’ve finally got my hands on good quality Invention scans! So here is a project I had been wanting to do since I saw all of these magnificent pieces of art by @thesteamhat a few months ago. Here are a set of moxen proxies in Invention frames.

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Awesome idea!

Loooooooong ago, I posted the progenitor of the tide cards, Tide of Insight, and for tonight I wanted to revisit those quirky suspend cards because nostalgia. Hope you love it as much as I do! P.S. If you are confused about how it works, feel free to ask!

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This might help for new custom card designers!!

Any tips on custom card design? i just did a couple and I'm kinda hooked.

Okay well there’s probably so much to say that i wouldn’t be able to list them all here, and it really depends on whether you’re creating a full set or not. If you’re just creating single cards, then these are propably the best quick tips I can give you:

Give your card a focus. For a card to work well, especially the more complex ones, try to have abilities that work together or seem to have some cohesion. One of the mistakes i’ve seen some people do, especially when designing a card based on an external character from non-magic universes, is that they try to cramp all of the qualities of that character into one card. That just makes the card a complicated mess with abilities which may capture flavour well but don’t fit together well mechanically.

Don’t be afraid to experiment. One of my favourite things of desiging cards is testing the limits of what cards can do and coming up with whacky solutions to different problems. Don’t let everyone’s idea of the ‘normal’ tie your ideas down. However, it is important to recognise when an idea doesn’t work as some ideas, while sounding cool, just aren’t fun to play in the end.

Ask for feedback. Tumblr’s magic community is super awesome at giving feedback and most people are really friendly while doing it. Feedback has helped me and im sure many other custom card designers a lot to improve their designs in the short and long run. I’d sugest starting up a seperate blog just for your custom designs.

Hope that helped, and I hope that soon i’ll see your designs circulating around the commmunity!!!

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Interesting and flavourful design. The flavour text is brilliant as well and ties the whole thing together.

This card is dedicated to the boiling hot water I poured on my fucking hand trying to make Cup Noodles at a quarter past midnight.

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Who will the winner be...

FINAL WEEKLY DESIGN COMPETITION VOTING ROUND

We have the winners from the two semi-finals, Biological Clock from @yourstarshipisgay and Tranquil Master from @niklas. It’s up to everyone to vote for one last time to determine the final winner!!

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FINAL WEEKLY DESIGN COMPETITION VOTING ROUND

We have the winners from the two semi-finals, Biological Clock from @yourstarshipisgay and Tranquil Master from @niklas. It’s up to everyone to vote for one last time to determine the final winner!!

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That’s awesome...

Twilight Harvest

Design by @follower-of-liliana, art by Taylor Payton

Woohoo! Oona and her children look shiny, don’t they? I’m so happy with how this piece looks and the work Taylor did. More contests will be coming in the future, but for now, let’s sit back and rest on our laurels. 

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November Contest Card Commentary

Right, anyway, here we go. Judging time. Alphabetical order under the cut. @follower-of-liliana is not included, as I’ve said what I need to say about Twilight Harvest.

Keep reading

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Awesome design.

Some politically-minded removal!

“Look, I’m always voting Liberty, I’m on your side here!”

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Strip magic...

Holy hell I’m super happy with this card

Changing Room [R] Enchantment 1R, Remove an article of clothing: Transform target permanent.