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This is a pretty condescending and rude way to ask for less of this effect. Don't do this.

The next time you want to make something like Doppelgang, how about \we restrict it to that player's side of the board, okay? or restrict it to a certain mana value? Recently, it seems like you guys have decided to have spell intrude on other players' permanents more than usual and it's really getting tiring. Of course, having spells that constantly making tokens is tiring enough. How about we reel it in some more, okay?

Alpha has four cards that can copy something of your opponent's (Clone, Copy Artifact, Fork, & Vesuvan Doppelganger). Murders of Karlov Manor has three (Doppelgang, Lazav, Wearer of Faces, & Reenact the crime). It has one more card (Kaya, Spirit's Justice) that copies your own stuff. Copying your opponent's stuff is not new to Magic. I hear you that we need to be careful how it gets used.

Token making, in contrast, has gone way up since the early days. Part of that is the addition of token cards to help manage them. Part of it is the huge popularity of them. And part of it is they allow access to new design space which thirty-one years in is an important tool. But I do hear you that perhaps we're pushing boundaries with them.

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Top 10 Hottest Female Magic Character’s

Jace Beleren. One of the greatest and most attractive characters ever thought up. He can read minds, summon illusions in a flash, and best of all, he's blue aligned and knows how to handle the females. Speaking of females, the Magic multiverse might also be classified as "Hot Chick Heaven" because there's such a mess of very beautiful and tough women that it will make you love the franchise even more! And since Valentine's Day is around the corner, I've been inspired to make a top 10 list of the most beautiful female Magic characters. Grab yourself a snack and a glass of orange juice, and try not to reach through the screen because HERE WE GO!

10: Try this question on for size. Who chases and hugs Jace all the time and wields a powerful chain veil? Why it's Liliana Vess of course! Though more of a granny than a hottie, you can't deny the fact that she's still attractive. Two things that make her attractive are the fact that she wears a dress, and when have you ever seen 4 big, very menacing demonic contracts etched into someone’s skin? I haven't! So once again, Liliana Vess is lovely; that is until she goes berserk and starts reanimating stuff with her magic.

Who's at number 9? It's this alien moonfolk girl from a distant plane, Tamiyo, from Avacyn Restored. She arrived on the plane of Innistrad to deliver a message saying that the galaxy was under attack by a force called the Eldrazi. She doesn't do much except tell people to stop fighting and focus on the real matter at hand. The real reason she lands at the #9 is that she becomes Jin “Core Augur” Gitaxias’s sweetheart, something Phyrexia needed for a long while.

Numero Ocho. Chandra Nalaar's mother, Pia. She's attractive and the size of an average human mother. What really surprises me about her is that the leader of Team Gatewatch, Gideon the Of The Trials, falls in love with her. Kinda silly, don't you think? She's another character that doesn't do much, but chapter 3 of the Kaladesh story, she helps Yahenni get into space to fight Tezzeret along with Jace and friends.

What number's next? Seven, of course. Tsabo Tavoc from Phyrexia, of course. People always root for the good guys, but sometimes, the bad guys steal the show. Her mechanical IQ is equal to Daretti’s. She also happens to be the smartest member of the Phyrexian invasion. I wonder why she isn't the leader. Like Ascendant Evincar and Commander Greven, her specialty is riding the air-ships called "Predator". With eight very long and smooth legs extending from her body to below her and a shiny head, Tsabo will rock your socks. If only we could see her spin a web.

Numero Six. Alesha from Fate Reforged. Named after her grandmother of the same name, Alesha is the daughter of her mother.. She's yet another character that hardly does a thing except fight dragons. She also dies. When you're an important figure in the Mardu, you need to look your best and Alesha delivers perfectly. That's why she's #6!

#1, #2, #3, #4, #5! Ah-Ah-Ahhh! Vraska from the IDW comics. How could you go wrong with a girl that looks like this? She can kill as fast as Liliana and she went from being a pirate to being a guildmaster. Next to Nissa she looks more humanoid than the other characters.

Who could top someone who has short fiery hair?  This female standing at number 4: Chandra Nalaar. One word: Pyromancy. How would you like to have that superpower? I mean Chandra could play around in Kaldheim for hours and she would be perfectly fine! Also, those fiery eyes make her look like a Native American. I really like the fact that her love interest is the decidedly male Gideon. The combination of invincibility and fire superpowers make these two a reliable couple. But what really lands Chandra in the #4 spot is that her attitude’s apparently more different from the other females.

Next up is #3. What's better than having a female with dark magic? How about a female with dark magic and attitude? Gisa the Ghoulcaller, another Innistra character has that feature. She's smart, knows exactly what to do as a necromancer, and even worked with Nahiri once. She's also the girl of Sorin’s' dreams. Heh, lucky him. Her older self in the series Midnight Hunt just downright hot! Just look at that long dress! Now we're talkin'!

1, 2, button my shoe! Princess Michiko Konda. There's a lot to say about this character. She's the heir to the throne, Toshiro’s first official romance, the only character that used to not wear clothes, brave and athletic, the most humanoid character, and is like a mother to the kami. In the set, Saviors of Kamigawa, one Kami, the cowardly Kami of the Crescent Moon constantly tries to woo Michiko, but doesn't succeed because... he's a coward! The Princess is also a semi-perfect example of an excellent love interest, although there were a couple of times when she really snapped and acted like a lunatic; in the story, that is. But overall, Michiko really stands out amongst the slew of females not just because she's Toshiro’s first official love interest, or because she's the only one who didn't wear clothes, but because in the saga rendtiion, she grew very long hair, and married The Taken One in the future, becoming the Queen.

So, you've seen a pyrokinetic redhead, a phyrexian, two gorgeous necromancers, and even a princess! Who could possibly top those kinds of females?

Well, get ready folks; this is the #1 hottest Magic the Gathering female character. Jaya Ballard. If anybody denies it, how dare you? This woman can crack a whip, she's as fiery as Chandra, and is a femme fatale, burninating other characters into getting what she wants. Instead of having one love interest, she has two! Teferi, and Karn. Being a taskmage, she's only interested in one object set; magic, especially fire magic, the magic she uses. There actually have been situations where Jaya’s cleavage has been exposed, but it eventually got censored. What a price to pay. I think the best part about this beauty is that she wears three different outfits unlike the other female characters. And who wouldn't want to burn the landscape while saying witty one liners, and flirt with any female, anytime, anywhere. These three traits make Jaya Ballard triumph over all of the Magic the Gathering females. My hat goes off to you, Wizards of the Coast. You oughta be proud.

There ya have it folks. Those were the hottest female chicks in the Magic Multivere. I hope you enjoyed it, happy Valentine's Day, and I'll see you later. HERE WE GO!

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Once More with Purpose

Names and flavor text are an important and tricky part of custom Magic design. Countless times, I’ve seen someone post a card, ask for FT for it, and get no response. It’s something that most everything needs, and a lot of creators struggle with.

So how do you write these, then?

It’s simple. Names and FT, above everything else, need a purpose. Does it tell me something about the creature depicted? Good! What about a character? That’s also good! The world itself? Sign me up! As long as your writing is about something, and that thing is interesting, you’re going to have a strong start.

“But what if I don’t have anything interesting to talk about on my cards?” Then you should go brainstorm some cool things. If you don’t have anything you want to share, then you should rectify that before you write.

Make it Cool

I trust that you have cool ideas. But most people aren’t so trusting! In order to get them to care about your ideas, you have to convince them that they’re cool. Or interesting. Or, at the very least, not boring, and definitely not lame.

The good news is, by having a card with art, typeline, and abilities, you’ve already set up the fishing rod- all you need to do is cast your hook.

Do you have a creature? What’s it doing? Why is it doing it? Why is what it’s doing important? If you can capture the sense that this card is a part of your world, and its part matters, you’re going to do well.

A common pitfall is to make the card seem unimportant or ineffectual through flavor text. Now, there’s nothing wrong with making jokes on your cards, and there’s nothing wrong with the joke being at the expense of those depicted on it. But if the joke is “This sucks”, that’s going to influence how people view your cards.

Goblins have had so many lame FTs that it’s become part of their identity.

Answer Your Own Questions

You’re in charge of your worldbuilding (usually). If you’re struggling to name something... why not create something in your world where that thing fits? Ideas are only as good as their execution, and your vision should be malleable- both for your worldbuilding, and the card itself. If the art isn’t giving you inspiration, if the typeline seems bland, don’t be afraid to change them.

Drawing a Blank

Okay yeah, sometimes you just can’t make an interesting name or flavor text to save your life. Happens to the best of us. If you really want to get feedback you can work with, the number one piece of advice I can give is to make the job of helping you as easy as possible.

When you post a card, I strongly suggest having a placeholder name or flavor text that tries to capture the theme or idea you’re going for to the best of your abilities. Doesn’t have to be good, but it has to be clear what it’s meant to be. Something like “Snarky Pyromancer” works.

Next, in the post with your image, provide as much relevant information as you can. Who is this pyromancer mouthing off to? Why are they snarking off? Where might they be from? What are some other terms for pyromancer or snarky?

This works better for flavor text as opposed to names, admittedly, but giving people anything to go off will not only help inspire them to write, but make it more likely that they’ll provide something that works for you.

TL;DR

You have cool ideas. Make your ideas seem cool. If you don’t have cool ideas, make some. If you don’t know how to make them seem cool, remember that people are better at helping you when they know what you want.

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Credit in the Custom Magic Space(s that I personally frequent)

Hey remember when I said I was going to write things on this blog? Haha, yeah.

Custom Magic operates in a weird limbo between legality and approval. Mark Rosewater has written dozens of articles on how to design sets, and WotC has recruited designers for the game through the Great Designer Search three times. The designers at WotC support this hobby as much as their lawyers say they’re legally allowed to. That’s not what this ramblepost is about.

I think that we as a (subsection of a larger) community could stand to be a little more consistent with regards to permission and credit. At the same time, I recognize that a lot of the immediate ways to do this are... wildly impractical?

Why does this matter, though?

I think that, fundamentally, custom Magic is a hobby that draws heavily from other people’s resources. Not just the art you use and Mark Rosewater’s articles on MTG design, but from the various free resources used to render cards and the brilliant community that works with and refines your ideas.

In an environment like this, where so many things come from the ideas and creations of individuals, it’s important to give proper credit whenever it’s reasonable to do so. Drawing a defined line between your creation and a creation by someone else is an effective way to ensure that the proper individuals get the recognition they deserve.

(and this hobby plays weirdly when it comes to legality already but shh) In the two Discord servers I frequent (Custom Magic and Magic Set Editor), there are strict rules in place about artist credit. If you post a card and it has art, you have to credit it. If you don’t, your render will be deleted. If you argue about it, an admin uses their powers on you and everybody watching has a great time. At the same time though, I’ve seen GameIcons be suggested as a source for watermarks and set symbols (and have done so myself- both suggesting and using it). I haven’t seen people ask what the sources of them are, or suggest they put credit for them anywhere. A quick glance at some of the Planesculptors pages in the Custom Magic project channels sees credit for these listed nowhere. (Even on my own channels. I’m guilty of this, too. Will fix!) Okay, but what’s to be done?

When I see this conversation pop up, one of the big ideas I see is having people contact artists directly and ask them for permission to use their images. I bring this up because it’s a common idea and one that I think doesn’t work because of how people are- It’s very time-consuming to contact potentially 200+ artists, get their permission (assuming they’re still active and share a language with you), then replace and repeat for any pieces where the artist said ‘no’.

Game design is an exercise in killing your darlings, sure, but people get attached to the ones that survive. Forcing people to risk having to reart, reflavor, and possibly remake a card because an artist said no will be unpopular, and people will not do it unless they are forced to. (And then they won’t do it, because there’s no practical way to check.)

If you want to increase how much work gets credited in this space, what I would suggest is leading by example- and I think the best way to start with this would be with project channels (in Custom Magic) and the Planesculptors page.

When someone new is tasked with setting up their channel or their Planesculptors, they’ll look to existing examples for inspiration. If prominent designers had credits for their symbols, watermarks, and even mechanics or modifications to MSE listed clearly in these pages, it would do a lot to popularize the idea of crediting for these small things. Over time, I believe this could lead to a more positive attitude towards giving as much credit as possible.

For things such as name, mechanic, or flavor suggestions, common practice is to list the contributor in the promo box (the bottom left part of the card next to the collector number and rarity). This is good practice, and I think it should be adopted as widely as possible. Even if crediting another user doesn’t directly benefit them, it does a lot to support the idea of proper crediting as an expected thing to do in this community.

TL;DR Credit what you didn’t make in public places so that the idea of “Credit all you did not make” becomes normalized.