#mtg playtest

[femcelbassmentdweller]

more Playtest cards

[googlyeyesonmagiccards]

I have a new video out and it's got this little guy! Just look how shiny and unreadable his text is. It'd be super cool if you went and watched it.

https:/youtu.be/n2wngP8yBCo

[magicjudge]

Magic: The Gathering debuted 30 years ago today at GenCon, so I figured I would offer you all a glimpse back to before then, when Magic was merely an idea in the mind of Richard Garfield and was early in its development.

Obviously, they didn't have the same systems and technology they had today to put playtest cards together, so the cards were photocopies of cut and pasted papers and bits of art from all sorts of sources.

What I find particularly interesting is how early mana costs were rendered: Rather than the system we know today, where a card's cost is rendered in separated out generic and specific costs, instead these playtest cards listed the total cost followed by any specific costs required. Also, activation costs were listed next to the mana cost after a slash (usually). So for example, Dragon's cost is 6RR, but that just means 6 mana, at least two of which must be red mana, and Plague has its B activation listed after its 4BB cost.

I'm by no means an expert on this stuff, but I wanted to share an early bit of magic trivia/nostalgia with you all today.

These Playtest card images are courtesy of The Magic Librarities. Check out the full gallery... there's more information and some weird stuff there, like Counterspell being able to destroy an enchantment!

[haaaaaaaaaaaave-you-met-ted]

Bolas's Surprise Party by Maru Ferreira

[howtocastspells]

Part 1 - Mystery Booster 2 Convention Edition play-test cards

Also why the picture limit Tumblr??????

[sombramainexe]

Woe, custom magic cards be upon ye. Im not sure how much I'll do this, or how much I'll show of the custom frames I've developed (I actually made stuff like MDFC Frames and Adventure frames for when I use those.)

As for the card, it basically says symmetrically no instant speed interaction, unless you have basics. Probably too strong at one mana, but for a playtest card I thought the idea was interesting enough to write out.

Let me know your thoughts, I'm a massive nerd about this stuff so I'd love to hear about how this accidentally goes infinite in commander with 7 other cards.

[neurodivergantizzetwitch]

made a sultai explore commander as per the request of a friend. ty to everyone who helped me balance it and make it compliant w the rules. (note to anyone interested: this hasn't been playtested, so i might post an updated more balanced version)

[theunwellkingdom]

IRL #1: Packs, Proxies, and Playtesting

Designing a bunch of cards is all good in theory, but it means nothing until people actually shuffle up and play some games with them! Iteration is the most vital step in game design, so the sooner you can get from concept to playable, the better!

For the Unwell Kingdom, this meant I needed to create quick mockups of each card, rather than waiting until they all have art and formatting. I made simple proxies in Microsoft Word that would be easy to edit and cheaply print.

A prototype proxy (left) vs. a card with full art treatment (right)

Since I printed the proxies in black & white, I had to go back with markers to color in mana pips. There's a fine line between rapid prototyping and player readability, but the less time players need to spend decoding their cards, the better your test results will be. Then, I simply slid the flimsy paper into sleeves in front of real bulk cards I had lying around, so they feel right in players' hands.

With cards made, the next step to a playable limited set was some way to simulate real packs...

After some research, I decided to commit to buying a set of Cubeamajigs and have been impressed so far! They're a little fiddly and intimidating for folks the first time they try to open one, but they hold cards (and tiny dice!) perfectly and feel very sturdy for lots of reuse. And while it takes awhile to sort the set by rarities, shuffle, and put them into the packs, there's really no better substitution when it comes time to play. (Side Note: the stickers weren't necessary for the fronts of each pack, but they do look real nice and help everything feel more official!)

And with that, this set was ready to begin playtesting! I'll go more into detail on the lessons learned in each test. So far I've held 6 or 7 playtest nights, trying a few different formats, and every time we find SOMETHING that needs tweaking. Stay tuned!

[zoydraft]

Thank you card for roto drafters. Field of the Dead, in honour of it being the first card picked.

[dravidious]

You're really awesome

PROBLEM: I want to make magic decks with my cards irl, but I have no one to play them against.

SOLUTION: Make an entire custom deck that can play itself to more or less replicate an opponent.

I decided to put the rules in card form as conspiracy cards, but it turns out that rules should be written as rules, not cards, so I had to make extensive notes about each of them (except Industrial Expansion, that one is actually effects instead of rules). I also just enjoy talking about my design choices.

Notes: Creating waste tokens instead of playing lands is basically free card advantage, as well as preventing mana screw/flood. The bot is supposed to have more raw strength than the player, so this isn’t a huge problem, but the starting hand size reduction and 5 land limit are still needed balance it.

Also, I know wastes isn’t actually a basic land type, but it makes the card so much cleaner so "Wastes token" is a predefined token here just like Treasure and Food.

Notes: There’s probably some awkward edge cases here too. I fixed the only one I could find (involving Recycle Bin), but there might be more. The main guiding rule in playing the bot is "don’t make it do obviously dumb stuff." The cards are balanced around the rigid rules, so bad decisions are okay, but sometimes there are plays that are so worthless or actively counterproductive that you really ought to step in. Edge cases should be resolved in whatever way makes the bot play best. Ideally, you shouldn’t have to think too hard about what the bot does; it’s supposed to be automatic, after all. The other guiding rule is "make this similar to a normal game of Magic."

Notes: Much, much simpler than Defense Protocol. Still some vagueness, but good enough to prevent swinging into the opponent’s 4/4 with a 3/3. It applies on a creature-by-creature basis; if you have a 3/3 with flying and a 2/1, and your opponent has a 4/4, the 2/1 won’t attack, but the 3/3 will. If you have a 2/1 and a 5/4, only the 5/4 will attack since the 2/1 can be fully blocked by the 4/4.Non-lethal battles are tricky; if you have a 2/1 and the opponent has a 0/3, you shouldn’t attack because then you’re just tapping down your 2/1. But if you have a pair of 2/1s, you should attack for the free damage. You could reinterpret the "such that they lose no life" bit, but that would result in the rules telling you to swing your creatures into into a 4/4. Basically, use your best judgement; this stuff is too complicated to write out. You’re smart enough.

Notes:

This card would be a fucking nightmare to properly template. Good thing it’s a rule and not actually a card. The vague wording can probably result in lots of edge cases, but this card is basically meant to say "The bot makes the best blocks possible" so use your best judgement in those cases. Activated abilities that boost a creature should be taken into account if mana is open for them. A version of the blocking rules not in card form is given below.

Priority 1: If you can block in such a way that your life total remains above 0, you must do so.

Priority 2: If a blocker can deal lethal damage to an attacker and survive, it must block that creature.

Priority 3: If a blocker can deal lethal damage to an attacker, or if it can survive, it must block that creature.

Priority 4: Don’t block.

Misc 1: If multiple attackers are tied for the highest block priority, the blocker must block the creature with the highest power. If tied, highest toughness, then highest mana value, then choose randomly.

Misc 2: Multi-block an attacker only if it has menace or a similar ability, only with the minimum number of blockers, and only if it falls under a blocking priority (ex. it’s threatening to win the game, or it can be destroyed, or both your blockers survive). Anything else could be a nightmare to calculate.

And that's all the rules/conspiracies, which should allow for playing against the bot while making as few decisions as possible. Here's the cards. The bot's deck consists of 4 copies of each card for a clean 60 deck, compatible for testing against mill.

[junewild]

accidentally wrote 9 pages of notes & replotted my entire twilight rewrite. and also wrote several hundred words of prose. time off is treating me well

[femcelbassmentdweller]

[googlyeyesonmagiccards]

This episode came out real good, we have some very strong opinions on lands.

[mlp-mtg]

Ran my first online draft of the set. Files are available to playtest on Tabletop Simulator and Cockatrice, and drafting on Cubecobra. Some stuff in bio or hmu if ur interested.

[jaebird88]

This could be fun to play.