I always like to make a custom booster pack of cards to accompany a set release. (Once we start getting more UniBey sets this might change; I didn't do one for LotR cause I'm not overly familiar with it and that's gonna be happening more and more.) This is styled after a contest from GDS3 and in that vein, I try to make cards that not only would feel appropriate as part of the set, but also that are pushing in new directions.
Art Links
Caravan Leader's art by Stephan S. Gibson
Naktamun's Reconstruction's art by majrat
Thoptergraft's art by Sébastien Levieux
Reluctant Racer's art by Jose Ferrer
Spin Your Wheels's art by kwee85
Ranger's Foreunner's art by Cranash64
Vizier of Bindings's art by Sephiroth-Art
Guidelight Compassbot's art by Elliott Chatham
Ride Again's art by azazel1944
Goblin Gizmonaut's art by Scorbutman
Accumulated Swarm's art by anastasia
Cloudspire Elite's art by Javier Alcalde
All-Terrain Bike's art by Ash Pierce
Rares
Card transcription
Caravan Leader 2WW
Creature- Llama Mount
Vigilance
Other Mounts and Vehicles you control have vigilance.
Whenever this creature attacks while saddled for the first time each turn, take an additional combat step after this one.
Saddle 4
4/4
End transcription
I wanted a good reward for Mounts and Vehicles and I thought an extra combat felt like one that would play well. Normally that would be red, but a strong reward like this would definitely rather be in GW in this set, and white can get extra combats so this felt like a good opportunity to explore it. I did vigilance granting to make it feel more white, not just something red can do.
Card transcription
Naktamun's Reconstruction 3WW
Enchantment
Start your engines! (If you have no speed, it starts at 1. It increases once on each of your turns when an opponent loses life. Max speed is 4.)
You may cast artifact and creature spells from your graveyard if their mana value is less than or equal to your speed. If you cast a spell this way, that permanent enters with a finality counter on it.
End transcription
This was the last card I made for the set and it was largely a "free slot". I'd covered most things I wanted to in the booster- I had a good spread of colors, I'd hit the major mechanics, I even had a representative of each team. The only real constraint is that I didn't want the design to be a creature or make tokens, cause the pack is pretty creature-slot heavy. I considered making a Muraganda-themed card, but I was having trouble coming up with a good Muraganda-themed noncreature design, especially when none of the mechanics really fit- Start your engines didn't really make sense, and I had a good deal of cycling and exhaust cards in the pack already. So I just came up with a general design I like.
Uncommons
Card transcription
Thoptergraft 3U
Enchantment- Aura
Enchant artifact or creature
When this Aura enters, draw a card.
Enchanted permanent is an artifact creature, gets +2/+2, and has flying.
End transcription
This is a weird little modal card that I think does a good job of tying together set themes. I wanted to do an artifact animation card that worked well with Vehicles, since the whole set has a vehicles theme and blue in specific had an artifact theme. I considered more direct wording that animated, and also set a power and toughness unless the card was a vehicle, but I didn't like it as much. This version was more fitting in giving a better reward to Vehicles, and also more novel. I also settled on letting it enchant normal creatures as well to make it less of a narrow card, partially because I already had cycling on a good few cards that needed it more, but also I just thought it would play well. The ability to turn your normal creatures into artifact creatures isn't nothing in this set though; it's a bump for all your artifacts-matter cards in blue.
Card transcription
Reluctant Racer 1B
Creature- Human Survivor
Survival - At the beginning of your second main phase, if this creature is tapped, create a tapped 1/1 colorless Toy artifact creature token.
2/2
"We all do what we must to make it to tomorrow"
End transcription
I'm honestly really disappointed that we didn't get a new survival card in the set. With a duskmourn team, having a mechanic from duskmourn worm its way into the set feels flavorful and survival is the obvious choice with its crew/saddle synergy. That basic concept was in the pack from the start, I just needed to figure out what it should do. Since the duskmourn team was in UB and had an artifact theme, it made sense to tie the card into that somehow. But just making it an artifact creature didn't really make sense; there's not a good flavor for an artifact survivor. So I settled on making artifact tokens instead, and Toy or Scarecrow was the most flavorful option. Toy felt better for the 1/1 token I wanted, so I went with that.
Card transcription
Spin Your Wheels 1R
Enchantment
When this enchantment enters, draw a card.
Each card in your hand has cycling 1. (1, Discard that card: Draw a card.)
At the beginning of the end step, sacrifice this enchantment.
End transcription
I'm really, really proud of this name. There's the most obvious level, that "spin your wheels" is associated with cars so it's a reasonable name for a card in this set. On top of that, there's the fact that "discard your hand then draw that many cards" effects are called "wheels" in mtg slang, and this card is a play on that. But then finally, this style of gameplay, where you're drawing a bunch of cards and doing a lot of things but not necessarily adding anything to the board, is often called "spinning your wheels" in mtg slang because you're doing a lot but not necessarily going anywhere. It just all game together well. As for the actual card, I think it'd be a hell of a lot of fun to play. It helps you sculpt your hand, but has a very frantic, impulsive feel to it with only being around for a single turn that feels very red. It also plays really really great with the discard payoffs in this set; cycling through several cards while you have Maurading Mako out is gonna feel good. Giving everything cycling 1 is definitely a very powerful effect, but I think the one-turn limit does a lot to keep it in check.
Card transcription
Ranger's Forerunner 2G
Creature- Elf Ranger
Whenever a creature you control attacks, if you've activated an exhaust ability of that creature, put a +1/+1 counter on it.
Exhaust- 3G: Put a +1/+1 counter on this creature. (Activate each exhaust ability only once.)
3/3
"Sometimes all that's holding you back is not knowing it was possible."
End transcription
Exhaust is a cool new tool in the toolbox and I wanted to play around with it. One neat thing is that, since exhaust is already asking you to remember whether you've exhausted it, it's not really asking any more of you to make cards that key off of whether a card's been exhausted. Putting +1/+1 counters on them feels like an appropriate reward, since many exhaust cards are using a +1/+1 counter as a memory tool to help you remember whether you activated the ability. And just like how it's not really asking anything extra of you to check if you've activated an exhaust ability of a creature, you can start putting counters on creatures willy nilly once they're already exhausted since you don't have to worry about memory issues. I also just think that this card in a vacuum plays neat; you have to pay the mana to get the exhaust going, but once you do it continues growing from there.
Commons
Card transcription
Vizier of Bindings 2W
Creature- Zombie Cat Cleric
Whenever this creature becomes tapped during your turn, you may put a stun counter on it. When you do, tap target artifact or creature an opponent controls and put a stun counter on it. (If a permanent with a stun counter on it would become untapped, remove a stun counter from it instead.)
3/1
End transcription
I wanted to make a fun stun counter card to play around with the tapping shenanigans that happens in the Vehicles and Mounts set, and it came out exactly like I hoped. It can attack, but its low toughness makes that a risky prospect, so you really want to play this with vehicles and mounts. And it's just using stun counters in I think an interesting way, as an optional cost for an effect. I made it amonkhet flavored because it feels so similar to the exert mechanic.
Card transcription
Guidelight Compassbot 3U
Artifact Creature- Robot Scout
When this creature enters, search your library for a card named Guidelight Compassbot, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle.
Cycling 2 (2, Discard this card: Draw a card.)
3/3
End transcription
While the specifics of the card changed- the cmc, the color, the power/toughness, etc- I'd had the idea for a creature that tutors up another version of itself on ETB and has cycling for a while before Aetherdrift even came out. So as soon as I found out cycling was in the set, I put a version of this card in the booster. I just think it's a very fun combination of abilities that makes cycling not just tacked on but integrated into the design. Every time you tutor up a version of the card, you're presented with the cycling choice again.
Card transcription
Ride Again 1B
Instant
Choose one or both-
* Return target creature card from your graveyard to your hand.
* Return target Mount or Vehicle card from your graveyard to your hand.
End transcription
This one's pretty simple, a disentomb that plays into the set theme. I originally just had it be "return target creature or vehicle", but I decided it would be cool to allow you to do one of each, so I threw Mount in as an option with vehicle as well. So mounts get the bonus where you can potentially get two back. I intend this card to be endrider flavored, but the art I found looks a bit more duskmourn admittedly.
Card transcription
Goblin Gizmonaut R
Creature- Goblin Artificer
Start your engines! (If you have no speed, it starts at 1. It increases once on each of your turns when an opponent loses life. Max speed is 4.)
Exhaust — 4R: Put a number of +1/+1 counters on this creature equal to your speed. (Activate each exhaust ability only once.)
End transcription
This card uses exhaust in a fun way- it presents you with the option to get counters now, or to wait and get even more counters later. That potential for more makes you really feel the "only once" restriction. And of course, it's a good enabler for the speed mechanic as well. This is the card I'm most torn about rarity wise; while I don't think it's doing anything a common necessarily couldn't, it still has a pretty uncommon feel to it overall.
Card transcription
Accumulated Swarm 2G
Sorcery
Create a 1/1 green Insect creature token. Put X +1/+1 counters on it, where X is 1 plus the number of cards named Accumulated Swarm in your graveyard.
Cycling G (G, Discard this card: Draw a card.)
End transcription
I intend this card as part of a cycle of spells that all have an effect scaling based on the number of them in your graveyard and that have cycling. This cycle, like compassbot, had versions that existed well before Aetherdrift, though the individual card effects got tailored a bit more to the set. I just think the interplay between cycling and wanting these cards in your graveyard uses cycling in a really interesting way. It's costed to be rather weak without any in your graveyard, so that you're more likely to cycle the first one or two.
Card transcription
Cloudspire Elite 2R/W
Creature- Human Pilot
When this creature enters, choose one—
* Create a 1/1 colorless Pilot creature token with “This creature saddles Mounts and crews Vehicles as though its power were 2 greater.”
* Create a 3/2 colorless Vehicle artifact token with crew 1. (Tap any number of creatures you control with total power 1 or greater: That Vehicle becomes an artifact creature until end of turn.)
1/2
End transcription
Just in general, I think a lot of sets could benefit from a hybrid cycle at common. It's a useful tool for increasing the as-fan of a given color, and on top of that plays a similar role to the signpost uncommon in telling you what you can expect from that color pair in this set but in a way appropriate for common. Like this one tells you pretty clearly that RW is into vehicles without actually needing to be in a vehicles deck. You could happily play this in just about any red or white deck in the format, though some want this more than others. As for the specific card rather than the cycle, I just think a card that lets you choose between a pilot and a vehicle makes for a great card in a vehicle focused set. It lets you get a Vehicle if you're only drawing your payoffs but not any Vehicles, but if you're drawing too many Vehicles and not enough creatures to crew them, it can give you two. I also think the Vehicle token in the set was underutilized so this is an attempt to rectify that.
Card transcription
All-Terrain Bike 2
Artifact- Vehicle
Crew 2 (Tap any number of creatures you control with total power 2 or greater: This Vehicle becomes an artifact creature until end of turn.)
Cycling 2 (2, Discard this card: Draw a card.)
When you cycle this card, you may search your library for a basic land card. If you do, reveal it, shuffle, and put that card on top. (Do this before you draw.)
3/4
End transcription
I thought a cycler that let you choose between normal cycling and basic land cycling would be interesting, and from there the card kind of built itself. I knew I wanted it to be colorless, and probably a noncreature cause I had a lot of creatures in the set, but despite them being a major theme I didn't have a ton in the way of vehicles, so making it one felt like an obvious choice. Especially since vehicles do well with having cycling, so if you draw a vehicle without a good pilot for it, you can cycle it away.
Glistener's Guide to New Phyrexia: Preview Edition is now LIVE!
Get an early look at Littjara’s upcoming full-length D&D 5e homebrew sourcebook, in all of its Phyrexian glory.
The 43-page Preview includes:
New playable species including the 5 Mirran humans, Viridian elves, myr, and core-born Phyrexians
A modular Phyrexian modification system
Core rules for phyresis, compleation, and ichor magic (also known as "Phyrexian mana")
New feats, spells, and magic items inspired by the iconic mechanics and cards of Mirrodin/New Phyrexia
30+ monster and NPC stat blocks, largely concentrated at lower tiers of play, plus some named legendary hard-hitters
The goal of this preview is to allow for simple games to be run in the world of Mirrodin/New Phyrexia, introducing tables to core mechanics and gaining playtest data as I work toward releasing the full-length supplement. (Consider this its "Unearthed Arcana" stage of development.) I look forward to hearing your feedback and gameplay stories, and hope you enjoy bringing this setting to life as much as I have!
In addition to rules for phyresis and compleation, there will be new player options, spells, magic items, and over 30 unique stat blocks for both monsters and NPCs (including some familiar faces) in the Glistener's Guide to New Phyrexia preview edition coming out THIS WEEK! Stay tuned!
You may call me Kasvi. I hail from Littjara, the misty realm between realms, and I seek only to explore this fascinating Multiverse.
Did you ever realize how striking a parallel can be drawn between the Multiverse as a whole and my home plane of Kaldheim? Now, even your Omenpaths bear the name that we of Kaldheim first gave them. It's fascinating, and I'm assembling a body of research on it. Planar cosmology and ecological development are my particular interests, as is the influence of mana on biology. I'm currently working on a paper about how World Trees drive planar renewal.
Now, the Multiverse has opened. Great bridges unfurl across the Eternities. What a wonder. (How accurate to my predictions too, if I may add.) I look forward to sharing my research with all of you!
There's much to fear in Nephalia, but on the bright side, I hear the fossil record there is wonderfully informative if one has the time to excavate them.
Sometimes, they even get up and walk! Isn't nature fascinating?
I was the cause. Pelt was helping Braras Stromkirk. Horrible guy. His family cut down all the trees in nephalia. I had to sink pelts ship before he could sink an even bigger one filled with more people. Dropped off some lifeboats to save the crew and passengers, of course.
Also, did you know there were still eldrazi around? The Braras guy ate a larvae during the final confrontation. Went full eldrazi bat monster. Shame he had to be taken out and had his body fully disposed of. Would have been wondrous to study a live eldrazi. Sadly, he was filled with hate and violence.
That the aristocrats of Innistrad care as little for the land as they do for the people is unsurprising to me. Disappointing, but unsurprising.
A shame, as well. I would have liked to see what that vampire became. I was never able to study the Eldrazi incursions of Innistrad or Zendikar on-site, and there's only so much one can do with their remnants.
Been thinking about my two-color identity. I'm definitely base-green 🌳 and I've gone with green-white 🌳☀️ for a few years now. But the allure of green-black 🌳💀 has thrown me all out wack. So I'm enlisting Tumblr. Here's my argument for my personal green two-color identity.
🌳☀️ - My classic. I really identify with the community focused white is. I literally volunteer for a community garden which feels very green-white. And fits my communist ideals. Also I really like parks! And pets (white-coded type of animal).
🌳💀 - Been tempting me! My temptress? Bugs. I keep isopod and springtail cultures. But I love all decomposers (like worms and fungus). The cycle of life and death is so beautiful to me especially how dead matter gets broken down to be reused for new life!
🌳💧 - Tbh, my favorite two-color combo to play. Also I've made a pretty green-blue decision, I altered my body to fit my true nature. I feel most at peace when next a body of water and you can sometimes catch me collecting a jar of water from my local creek.
🌳🔥 - Last but not least. While white appeals to my communist sensibilities, red appeals more to my anarchist beliefs. Also my favorite type of art is graffiti and my favorite type of building is one being reclaimed by nature.
(Feel free to interpret your results as you'd like within the breadth of that creature type; for example, if you get Cat, you can be a housecat or tiger or leonin, etc.)
MagicCon Chicago is less than two weeks away and it's time to get excited about all that's in store! Ready to watch a session of New Phyrexia D&D, showcasing content from Glistener's Guide to New Phyrexia? Jam out some games of EDH together? Watch panels, have great Vorthos conversations, and generally have an amazing time?
I saw you reblogged a post about how man-o-war are separate organisms that serve different bodily functions and develop and born together but are still distinct organisms and not like organs.
This feels like the type of biological function that some phyrexians would adapt to do as well, but I can't think of any examples of them doing something similar. Thoughts?
Off the top of my head I can't remember any from New Phyrexia that do this but it'd definitely be plausible! Idk if you'd count Sheoldred and her mounts, as they're clearly very much their own creatures and not acting as if they're organs of a larger one, but it is a bit like Sheoldred becomes the "brain" of whatever she mounts, which serves as her "legs". They also of course aren't designed to work together like the parts of man-o-wars are.
This would be a sick alternate idea for the white-aligned Dominus—a gestalt entity of thousands of smaller parts, maybe vaguely humanoid or mite-like, to encapsulate "All Will Be One".
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