2
Kindred Sorcery- Shapeshifter
Changeling (This card is every creature type.)
Choose a creature type. Look at the top four cards of your library. You may reveal a card from among them that’s a land or is the chosen type and put it into your hand. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order.
Cenn's Aspen
2W
Creature- Treefolk Citizen
This creature enters with two -1/-1 counters on it.
3W, Remove a counter from this creature: Create a 1/1 green and white Kithkin creature token.
5/6
Even kithkin accept a tree who’s grown up in the Cenn longer than they have.
Pixie Prank
1U
Instant
Choose one-
* Create a 1/1 blue and black Faerie creature token with flying.
* Vivid - Counter target spell unless its controller pays 1 for each color among permanents you control.
Perfect Reputation
2B
Enchantment- Aura
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets +3/+1 and has menace.
2B: Return this card from your graveyard to the battlefield with a finality counter on it attached to target Elf. Activate only as a sorcery. (If a permanent with a finality counter on it would be put into a graveyard, instead exile it.)
Boggart Business
2R
Sorcery
As an additional cost to cast this spell, blight 1 or remove a counter from a creature you control. (To blight 1, put a-1/-1 counter on a creature you control.)
Create three 1/1 black and red Goblin creature tokens.
Burrowing Borrower
3R
Creature- Goblin Rogue
At the beginning of combat on your turn, you may blight 1. When you do, target creature with power 2 or less can’t be blocked this turn. (To blight 1, put a -1/-1 counter on a creature you control.)
3/4
After a string of thefts, the giants found tunnels under each of their homes.
Faultless's Hunt
2G
Instant
Choose a creature type. Each creature you control of the chosen type deals damage equal to its power to target creature.
Though the Glit-Leaf empire has lost much power since the invasion, non-Elves still steer clear of their territory.
Honorgrave Glyph
1 W/B
Enchantment
When this enchantment enters, draw a card.
W, Sacrifice this enchantment: You gain 4 life.
1B, Sacrifice this enchantment: Return target creature or kindred card from your graveyard to your hand.
Uncommons
Merrow School Leader
4WW
Creature- Merfolk Wizard
Convoke (Your creatures can help cast this spell. Each creature you tap while casting this spell pays for 1 or one mana of that creature’s color.)
When this creature enters, it deals damage to target creature or planeswalker an opponent controls equal to the number of tapped creatures you control.
4/4
Reliquary Druid
G
Creature- Elf Druid
T: Add one mana of any color. Spend this mana only to pay hybrid costs.
Vivid — 5G: Until end of turn, this creature gets +1/+1 for each color among permanents you control and gains trample.
1/1
Flamekin Crossing
Land
As this land enters, you may behold an Elemental. This land enters tapped unless you do. (You may choose an Elemental you control or reveal an Elemental card from your hand.)
T: Add R.
1 U/R U/R, T, Sacrifice this land: Discard your hand, then draw that many cards.
Rares
Merrow Muckdweller
2UU
Creature- Merfolk Rogue
Creatures you control can’t be blocked by creatures with -1/-1 counters on them.
Whenever you attack, for each defending player, put a -1/-1 counter on target creature that player controls with toughness 2 or greater.
3/3
Starlight Waystone
5
Artifact
1, T: Put a color counter of the color of your choice on target creature. Activate only as a sorcery. (A permanent with a color counter on it is that color in addition to its other colors.)
White creatures you control have vigilance. The same is true for blue and flying, black and lifelink, red and menace, and green and deathtouch.
I posted this on reddit, if you’d rather check it out there, but I wanted to share it here too b̶e̶c̶a̶u̶s̶e̶ ̶i̶'̶m̶ ̶c̶o̶n̶s̶t̶a̶n̶t̶l̶y̶ ̶d̶e̶s̶p̶e̶r̶a̶t̶e̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶a̶f̶f̶i̶r̶m̶a̶t̶i̶o̶n̶.
In the third great designer search, there was a challenge to pick a set and make a booster pack full of custom cards that fit in that set. I’ve started doing this for sets since Zendikar rising, and wanted to continue that tradition here. Why am I doing this so late after the release of Kaldheim? Cause shuttup, that’s why >:(
Here’s the link to the full imgur album. There are also individual imgur links even though there are images, cause reddit doesn’t allow images directly and I’m copy/pasting from there.
Anyway, let’s get started! (Long post ahead)
Common #1:
Divine Goat 3W
Creature- Goat
W, Sacrifice ~: You gain 3 life.
Whenever you cast your second spell each turn, return ~ from your graveyard to your hand.
Here’s a top down design, based on Thor’s goats that pulled his chariot and were sacrificed for food every night and reborn in the morning. Originally the recursion triggered based on Vehicles, but with two other vehicle cards in the booster including the other white common, one had to go and this was the best option, but I still liked the flavor so I went with another of white’s themes.
Common #2:
Dwarven Elder 2W
Creature- Dwarf Warrior
Whenever ~ crews a Vehicle, draw a card.
2/2
The fabled white card draw. Yes, I am your savior. Your messiah. Bow before my wisdom. I could technically see this design in either white or blue, but I liked white better and white cares more about vehicles anyway. I based the costing off Stealer of Secrets. This doesn’t put itself in danger, but relies much more on deck building to activate.
Common #3:
Ambusher Giant 5U
Creature- Giant Warrior
Flash
Foretell 3U (During your turn, you may pay 2 and exile this card from your hand face down. Cast it on a later turn for its foretell cost.)
4/4
Foretell works really well with instant speed, so I thought a big instant speed creature would be a good fit. Since blue has a giant tribal theme, and is one of the main colors for foretell, it was an obvious fit.
Common #4:
Heated Rebuttal 1U
Instant
Counter target spell unless its controller pays 2. They can’t spend S to pay this cost. (S is mana from a snow source.)
Here’s another snow hate card. What I really wanted to do with this was discourage running snow basics where you don’t have to, and though we have the god in the set that does this I think this is an issue that’s solved with both quality and quantity. I wasn’t sure on the power level of this for standard purposes, but I’d rather this more pushed version than be too weak and have it not do anything against snow.
Common #5:
Shapeshifter’s Trickery 1U
Enchantment- Aura
Enchant Creature
Enchanted creature gets +1/+0, is every creature type, and can’t be blocked.
Not too much to say here really. This is good for the tribal synergies in the set, and is just an innocuous little aura for limited. Not everything is gonna be pushing boundaries.
Common #6:
Draugr Fleshchewer 1B
Snow Creature- Zombie Berserker
Whenever Draugr Fleshchewer attacks, mill two cards. If a snow card was milled this way, Draugr Fleshchewer gains menace until end of turn.
2/2
This originally worked with the “exile a creature card from your graveyard” subtheme, but I had to change this to snow and I couldn’t get a good snowy design that used that mechanic. So instead, it fuels it. I also wanted to have another card that cares about the existence of snow instants/sorceries because they were introduced this set and the number of cards that only work with snow permanent cards when they don’t have to is strange.
Common #7:
Arrogant Stand 3R
Sorcery
Creatures without a boast ability can’t block this turn.
Here’s a simple little card that plays around with the flavorful space of boast. You have to be very full of yourself to stand up to the oncoming attack.
Common #8:
Winterdark Ritual 2R
Snow Instant
Add three mana of any one color.
Foretell R (During your turn, you may pay 2 and exile this card from your hand face down. Cast it on a later turn for its foretell cost.)
Is the name completely on the nose? Absolutely. And I find that hilarious. This is taking advantage of the fact that foretell is payed in multiple payments to turn that into mana storage. And it’s snow, because snow rituals are new to the set, play well, and I don’t think it makes it too powerful, though this has a lot of little factors to it that might push it over the edge. Any number of them could easily be tweaked though.
Common #9:
Blessing of Koma G
Enchantment- Aura
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature has “T: Add one mana of any color.”
2, Sacrifice ~: Draw a card.
This card is secretly also a snow card. The intention is, you can enchant snow creatures with it to get extra snow mana. However, it’s not snow itself because a) I thought that made for a cool moment of discovery and b) If it was snow, a lot of players would mistakenly think the mana is snow whether or not the creature it enchants is.
Common #10:
Boulderskin Troll 3G
Creature- Troll Warrior
When ~ dies, search your library for a Forest or Mountain card and put it onto the battlefield tapped. Shuffle your library.
3/2
I really wanted this card to be red. See, the legend goes that when a troll goes out in the sun it turns into rock and I thought tutoring for a Mountain when it died would be a good way to do that. However, I just couldn’t find a good way to do that which felt red, so I had to make this green. Luckily red/green are the troll colors so it could still find a mountain. I specifically chose nonbasic so that it could synergize with the snow duals at common.
Uncommon #1:
Immerstrum Berserker 3BB
Creature- Demon Berserker
Boast- 2B: ~ gains lifelink until end of turn. (Activate this ability only once each turn and only if this creature attacked this turn.)
Boast- 1B: Each opponent discards a card. (You may activate both boasts in a single turn.)
5/3
It has two boasts. Ya know how most creatures only have one boast, if any? Well not this, it has two. That’s it. That’s the design.
Uncommon #2:
Master Shipcrafter 1R
Creature- Dwarf Artificer
1R: ~ gets +2/+0 until end of turn.
Whenever a creature you control crews a Vehicle for the first time each turn, that Vehicle gains that creature’s activated abilities until end of turn.
0/2
There’s this weird tension in the set where R/W both encourages you to play a lot of vehicles, and has a lot of boast creatures, which do not work well at all together. This card is an attempt to fix that. Originally it just worked with boast, #notallactivatedabilities, but that was an extremely narrow card so I widened the scope. There’s certainly some weird combos you can do with this, but nothing too bad in limited though.
Uncommon #3:
Ring of Kinship 2
Artifact- Equipment
Equipped creature gets +1/+1
Creature spells you cast that share a creature type with equipped creature cost 1 less to cast.
Equip 1
I’m a big fan of equipment and auras that have a universal effect that cares about a quality of the equipped creature. I dunno why, but it tickles me. Creature type is a good thing to care about on designs like this though, and I wanted both an equipment and a tribal reward in the booster, so it was a good fit.
Rare:
Kvasha, God of Magic 3UU
Legendary Creature- God
Flying
When ~ enters the battlefield, create a 1/1 white Spirit creature token with flying for each enchantment you control and each enchantment card in your graveyard.
Sacrifice a Spirit: You may cast spells as though they have flash this turn.
Kvasha’s Birth 2GW
Enchantment- Saga
I, II: Until your next turn, whenever ~ or another enchantment enters the battlefield under your control, draw a card.
III: Mill six cards. Exile ~ then return it to the battlefield face-up.
I’m genuinely really sad they didn’t do a god with a saga as its backside, it could have been really cool. So I made one myself!! I wanted it to at least be feasible as a commander for a Saga deck, and since Kaldheim has a lot of enchantments running around I figured it could use an enchantress like this. The tricky part was, I had to make a blue card that could also feasibly be a selesnya card, since the saga turns into it. It also works well with the tribal themes and the spirit subtype in the set, though that’s more of a bonus than anything else. If you’re wondering why this card looks different, that’s for two reasons. One, I can’t make Sagas on MSE. And two, this overlapped nicely with the Inventor’s Fair contest of the week on tumblr, which I use mtg.design for since it’s easier to get links that way. (Check them out! @inventors-fair That contest is what finally pushed me to finish this booster).
Basic:
Snow-Covered Swamp
Snow Land- Swamp
T: Add B.
Look, it's a snow-covered swamp. I needed a snasic in here. I dunno what else you want from me.
So there we go!! Finally!! The booster challenge that took weeks longer than it should have. What do you think of the designs? Do you think they would fit well within Kaldheim? If not, how could I fix them? Also I probably made a formatting mistake somewhere in here so if you notice like, a wrong link or something let me know. Also, if you want me to tackle an old set feel free to request it, though since this took me weeks for some reason I can’t make any promises lol.
I like to make a booster pack of custom cards for every in-universe set. And I may be late, but I got here. This is styled after a contest from GDS3, and as such I try to ride the line of making cards that both wouldn't feel out of place in the set as it exists while also pushing in new directions. This one ended up pretty creature-lite
Art links:
Sunstar Supplier's art by Thanh Tuan
Illvoi Intelligence's art by Blueblazeartist
Claim of Sothera's art by Jurgis Panko
Ramshackle Roving's art by Silviu Emanuel
Wildcat Ransackers's art by Benjamin Ee
Genesis Probe's art by Ross Dearsley
Seeker of Kavaron Tomorrow's art by Boulivet Alexis
Supervoid Trawler's art by Aaron Sims
Awakened Cryostation's art by GlennClovis
Harnessed Starfire's art by Tom J Davis
Datastorm's art by Beny Maulana
Pinnacle Shieldcraft's art by Yury Solntsev
Pull of the Supervoid's art by VadimSadovski
Card transcriptions below
Commons
Sunstar Supplier
2W
Creature- Human Pilot
When this creature enters, choose one-
* Put a +1/+1 counter on another target creature you control.
* Put two charge counters on target Spacecraft or Planet you control.
3/2
Illvoi Intelligence
2U
Sorcery
If you’ve cast another spell this turn, surveil 2. (Look at the top two cards of your library, then put any number of them into your graveyard and the rest on top of your library in any order.)
Draw two cards
Claim of Sothera
1B
Sorcery
Void - Choose target creature. You may sacrifice a nonland permanent. If you do, or if a nonland permanent left the battlefield this turn or a spell was warped this turn, destroy the chosen creature.
Ramshackle Roving
1R
Sorcery
Create a Lander token. Until end of turn, it becomes a 3/3 Robot creature in addition to its other types with haste. (It’s an artifact with “2, T, Sacrifice this artifact: Search your library for a basic land card, put it onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle.”)
Wildcat Ransackers
R
Creature- Human Pirate
Haste
R, Sacrifice this creature: It deals damage to any target equal to the number of lands that entered the battlefield under your control this turn.
1/1
The Sothera system is opportune for both Pinnacle and its scavengers.
Genesis Probe
G
Artifact- Lander
2, T, Sacrifice this Lander: Search your library for a basic land card, put it onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle.
4, T, Sacrifice this Lander: Search your library for two basic land cards, put them onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle.
Seeker of Kavaron Tomorrow
3G
Creature- Kavu Scout
Ward 2
Landfall — Whenever a land you control enters, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature. If that land doesn’t share a name with any other land you control, put two of those counters on this creature instead.
3/3
Supervoid Trawler
4 U/B
Artifact Creature- Robot
When this creature enters, mill three cards. Then you may put an artifact or creature card milled this way into your hand. If you don’t, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature.
3/3
Sothera creates a debris field none but the Monoists dare explore.
Uncommons
Awakened Cryostation
3U
Artifact- Spacecraft
T: Untap target non-Spacecraft permanent.
Station (Tap another creature you control: Put charge counters equal to its power on this Spacecraft. Station only as a sorcery. It’s an artifact creature at 9+.)
9+ | Flying, vigilance | 3/4
Harnessed Starfire
3R
Enchantment [uncommon]
Void — At the beginning of your end step, if a nonland permanent left the battlefield this turn or a spell was warped this turn, this enchantment deals 2 damage to each opponent.
Warp 1R (You may cast this card from your hand for its warp cost. Exile this permanent at the beginning of the next end step, then you may cast it from exile on a later turn.)
Datastorm
1GU
Instant
Draw three cards, then put two cards from your hand on top of your library in any order. Create a Lander token. (It’s an artifact with “2, T, Sacrifice this artifact: Search your library for a basic land card, put it onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle.”)
Rares
Pinnacle Shieldcraft
1W
Artifact- Spacecraft
Station (Tap another creature you control: Put charge counters equal to its power on this Spacecraft. Station only as a sorcery. It’s an artifact creature at 3+.)
3+ | Flying, lifelink | If damage would be dealt to this Spacecraft, instead prevent that damage and remove that many charge counters from it. | 4/4
Pull of the Supervoid
2BB
Enchantment
Creature cards in your graveyard have warp 2B. (You may cast this card from your hand for its warp cost. Exile this permanent at the beginning of the next end step, then you may cast it from exile on a later turn.)
You may cast creature spells from your graveyard using a warp ability.
If a creature would die, exile it instead.
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.
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. I'm choosing to forgo the descriptions i've done in the past, only transcriptions
Art links
Align with Fires's art by ManoelaCosta
Jeskai Wind-Staff's art by Ben G.
Revived Kin-Tree's art by Jereme Peabody
Shriekbrood Dragonoid's art by Robert Laszlo Kiss
Whisper Mystic's art by Ivan Kholdaenko
Catapult Expert's art by faroldjo
Hidden for the Hunt's art by Blackirita
Unified Teaching's art by Jashezilla
Ensure Victory's art by Honora
Sorrows Singer's art by Igor Grechanyi
Annointer of Jade's art by Darya Abdulina
Mardu Bondkeeper's art by Shahzeb Khan Raza
Dominion of the Dragons's art by Dmitrii Morozov
Card transcriptions below
Align with the Fires
1R
Enchantment [rare]
When this enchantment enters and at the beginning of your upkeep, exile the top card of your library. You may cast that card until end of turn as long as you cast a spell before in this turn.
Jeskai Wind-Staff
W
Artifact-Equipment [uncommon]
Equipped creature gets +1/+1 and has flying.
Equip 3
Flurry - Whenever you cast your second spell each turn, attach this Equipment to up to one target creature you control.
Revived Kin-Tree
1G
Creature- Plant [uncommon]
Defender
This creature enters with five soul counters on it.
X, T, Remove X soul counters from this creature: Another target creature you control endures X. Activate only as a sorcery. (Put X +1/+1 counters on it or create an X/X white Spirit creature token.)
0/5
Shriekbrood Dragonoid
3WB
Creature- Bird Dragon [uncommon]
Flying, lifelink
Whenever this creature attacks, attacking tokens get +1/+0 until end of turn.
3/4
> Talon and Wing 2W/B
> Sorcery- Omen
> Create two 1/1 white Bird creature tokens with flying. (Then shuffle this card into its owner’s library.)
Whisper Mystic
2GUR
Creature- Human Wizard [uncommon]
Vigilance
As an additional cost to cast an instant or sorcery spell, you may tap an untapped creature you control. If you do, that spell costs X less to cast, where X is that creature's power.
2/5
Catapult Expert
2W
Creature- Goblin Warrior [common]
Mobilize 1. The token you create this way gains flying until end of turn. (Whenever this creature attacks, create a tapped and attacking 1/1 red Warrior creature token. Sacrifice it at the beginning of the next end step.)
2/3
Hidden for the Hunt
U
Sorcery [common]
Target creature can't be blocked this turn. Put a +1/+1 counter on it if a card left your graveyard this turn.
Harmonize 4U (You may cast this card from your graveyard for its harmonize cost. You may tap a creature you control to reduce that cost by X, where X is its power. Then exile this spell.)
Unified Teachings
3U
Instant [common]
Draw two cards. If three or more colors were spent to cast this spell, draw three cards instead.
Dragonlord Ojutai’s teachings were ripe with hypocrisy. The new Jeskai, instead, encourage challenge.
Ensure Victory
1B
Instant [common]
Destroy target creature that was dealt damage this turn.
Draw a card.
Renew — B, Exile this card from your graveyard: Put a deathtouch counter on target creature. Activate only as a sorcery.
The new Sultai differ greatly from the ancients, but their expertise with deadly poisons remains.
Sorrows Singer
1R
Creature- Goblin Bard [common]
When this creature enters, mill a card. You may play that card from your graveyard until the end of your next turn.
2/2
“I offered her meat and I offered a plea,
Hoping the great dragon wouldn’t eat me,
But under the Temur I now can live free!”
— A Goblin’s Lament, verse 3
Annointer of Jade
2G
Creature- Snake Warrior [common]
Renew - 1G, Exile this card from your graveyard: Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature. Activate only as a sorcery.
Renew - 6G, Exile this card from your graveyard: Put three +1/+1 counters on target creature. Activate only as a sorcery.
3/3
Mardu Bondkeeper
5
Artifact Creature- Golem [common]
When this creature enters, create two 1/1 red Goblin creature tokens.
2/R2/W2/B: This creature gains double strike until end of turn.
2/3
Dominion of the Dragons
Land [common]
This land enters tapped.
When this land enters, sacrifice it unless you pay 1 or behold a Dragon. (To behold a Dragon, choose a Dragon you control or reveal a Dragon card from your hand.)
T: Add one mana of any color.
I always like to make a booster pack of custom cards to accompany each set, giving me a chance to play around with the mechanics and a bite-sized attempt at designing for a larger set rather than in a vacuum. (You may notice that I didn't do one for bloomburrow. Uh, moving on,). This is done in the style of a contest from GDS3, and in that vein I try to make cards that not only are reasonable additions to the set but also, whenever possible, are doing something novel with the themes and mechanics, not just rehashing the same old things. I also try to cover wide amounts of ground, in terms of color and themes, not focusing too hard on any one thing.
Art links
Wicker Dancer
Not Done Yet
Lost Prison // Crack in the Walls
Final Ghoul
Zealot of Terrors
Ominous Calm
Regal Simulacrum
Haunting Knowledge
Fear of Loss
Grasping Ghost
Torturous Blaze
Rotrue Remnant
Sinister Passage
Rare
Card transcription
Wicker Dancer 1GG
Artifact Creature- Scarecrow
At the beginning of your upkeep, choose artifact, enchantment, creature, or land at random. Until end of turn, you may play cards of the chosen type from your graveyard. Each card you play this way enters with a finality counter on it.
3/3
End transcription
This was the last card I made for the pack, and was basically made to fill constraints. I knew I wanted an artifact in the pack, to have a diverse spread of types for delirium, and I knew I wanted it to be green since there was only one other green card in the pack. A green artifact, in this set, definitely wanted to tie into the delirium theme, but I didn't want to just do delirium straight up cause it was already on a few cards in the pack. After a few iterations, I settled on this design which encourages the same kinds of things as delirium does but comes at it from another angle. It's a very Johnny-y card; it can have a lot of power to it, but you need to be able to build around it to consistently use it. Normally I don't like to use randomness as a power limitation, but I think it works well here; being able to choose the type would encourage you to just put it in a deck that wants that one type. Doing it like this means you want to work around the randomness in a way I think will be fun.
Uncommons
Card transcription
Not Done Yet 3WW
Sorcery
Return target permanent card from your graveyard to the battlefield. If you return a Room this way, unlock one of its locked doors.
Survivors never celebrate a victory for long.
End transcription
This is a pretty simple card for the white-black reanimator theme. I wanted it to be able to hit both creatures and enchantments to tie into the enchantment theme, and I thought it was best to just let it hit any permanent. Reanimating rooms doesn't really, work all that well though, and since they're a key part of the set I wanted to make sure this card did work with them, so i gave it an unlock clause. It's not really meant to be Room reward, so much as reanimation card that also happens to work with Rooms, and I think i struck that balance well.
Card transcription
Lost Prison 2U
Enchantment- Room
At the beginning of your upkeep, you may lock an unlocked door of a Room you control.
//
Crack in the Walls 3U
Enchantment- Room
When you unlock this door, target creature you control gets +2/+2 and can't be blocked until end of turn.
End transcription
Now this one *is* meant to be a heavy Room reward. Putting it on a room itself let's me get away with a much more niche effect than I might otherwise, cause at minimum you can just use it as a way to use the second half over and over, but if you have other rooms you can use it with those instead and don't have to spend 4 mana every turn to make use of it.
Card transcription
Final Ghoul 1B
Creature- Zombie
Final Ghoul can't block.
1B: Return Final Ghoul from your graveyard to the battlefield with a finality counter on it. Activate only as a sorcery, and only if you control no creatures. (If a creature with a finality counter on it would die, exile it instead.)
3/3
End transcription
From before the set even came out, I wanted a card named "final ghoul" and since we didn't get one I had to make it myself. Ties into the graveyard themes of the set.
Card transcription
Zealot of Terrors 1B
Creature- Human Cleric
Artifact creatures and enchantment creatures you control get +1/+1.
Delirium — 3BB, T: Create a 2/2 black Horror enchantment creature. Activate only if there are four or more card types among cards in your graveyard
2/2
End transcription
I came up with the first line of text as an off-beat way to encourage similar deckbuilding to delirium, but this card felt like it worked better if it just also had a straight up delirium ability to make it more obvious. I had the delirium ability make you enchantment creatures, in order to synergize with first ability. This also works well in an Eerie deck, and I like that flexibility.
Commons
Card transcription
Ominous Calm 2W
Instant
Manifest dread. That creature enters with a lifelink counter on it. (Look at the top two cards of your library. Put one onto the battlefield face down as a 2/2 creature and the other into your graveyard. Turn it face up any time for its mana cost if it’s a creature card.)
End transcription
This is part of a cycle of cards that are all instants/sorceries that manifest dread and put a keyword counter on the card. I just think it's a fun mechanic to combine with manifesting, cause it makes it more than just a vanilla 2/2 when face down and it sticks around when it turns face up and that can be interesting in useful ways. Like if you manage to manifest a big creature, getting lifelink on it is certainly fun.
Card transcription
Regal Simulacrum 3W
Enchantment Creature- Horror
When this permanent enters, draw a card.
Impending 3—1W (If you cast this spell for its impending cost, it enters with three time counters and isn’t a creature until the last is removed. At the beginning of your end step, remove a time counter from it.)
3/3
It spoke only in gibbers, but its manner evoked the forgotten royalty it mocked.
End transcription
Impending was only on a cycle of mythics but it's my favorite mechanic from the set and I was really hoping to see it more than that, and this is my booster so I can. You can't stop me.
Card transcription
Haunting Knowledge 2U
Sorcery
Draw two cards.
Eerie — Whenever an enchantment you control enters or you fully unlock a Room, Haunting Knowledge gains flashback 2U until end of turn. (You may cast this card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then exile it.)
End transcription
Here's a simple Eerie reward that uses it in a fun way I feel like we don't see this kind of mechanic get used a lot. Conditional flashback is just a fun way to do things.
Card transcription
Fear of Loss 2B
Enchantment Creature- Nightmare
When this creature enters, choose enchantment or creature. Each player sacrifices a permanent of the chosen type.
3/1
It bears the faces of everyone you grieve most dearly.
End transcription
This is a design I've had sitting around for a while, and Duskmourn felt like a great place to deploy it. It's a twist on the typical Fleshbag Marauder effect we've seen a lot of utilizing black's ability to remove enchantments.
Card transcription
Grasping Ghost R
Creature- Spirit
When this creature enters, exile the top card of your library face down. You may look at that card for as long as it remains exiled this way.
T, Sacrifice this creature: You may play the exiled card until end of turn.
1/2
It clings to what it knew in life, no longer remembering why.
End transcription
Here's a twist on red's impulse draw effects, that ties it into the graveyard theme by making you sacrifice a creature to get it.
Card transcription
Torturous Blaze 1R
Instant
Torturous Blaze deals 3 damage to target creature or planeswalker.
Delirium — If there are four or more card types among cards in your graveyard, instead Torturous Blaze deals damage to that permanent equal to the number of those card types.
Razorkin delight in tormenting the uninitiated.
End transcription
I think it's fun to make delirium scale up, so that if you go all-in on diversity of card types in your graveyard you can get extra rewards for it, but that's difficult to do at common. I think this card makes it work though, since it has the baseline mode of dealing 3 damage; it has a very safe floor, it's only the ceiling that's raised, so it's not too demanding of your deckbuilding which feels safe at common.
Card transcription
Rotrue Remnant G
Creature- Elf Druid Survivor
Survival — At the beginning of your second main phase, if this creature is tapped, add G.
1/1
Some elves live in the Hauntwoods despite the dangers, in memory of the forests of their ancestors.
End transcription
I'm kinda surprised we didn't get a survival mana dork, since it triggers at the perfect time during main phase so you don't need to add any clunky "you don't lose this mana" clause. I went with the powerful llanowar elves version, but to be safer you definitely could make this like, a 2 mana 1/3 or something. But I like to live dangerously.
Card transcription
Sinister Passage
Land
T: Add C.
T: Add one mana of any color. Spend this mana only to turn a permanent face up.
4, T, Sacrifice Sinister Passage: Manifest dread. Activate only as a sorcery. (Look at the top two cards of your library. Put one onto the battlefield face down as a 2/2 creature and the other into your graveyard. Turn it face up any time for its mana cost if it’s a creature card.)
End transcription
A land that can sac itself is great for delirium, and one that can turn itself into a creature later in the game makes for a good use-case for that. So this card kinda built itself. I added the "add any mana" clause just cause it felt right, and made it a bit better in a manifest deck.
With every* set since zendikar rising, I've done a booster of custom cards meant to be a part of the set. This is based on a challenge from GDS3, so my goals are to not just to make cards that feel like a part of the set but also ones that Innovate which is a rather difficult balance to strike. I try to cover a wide variety of themes, colors, and mechanics. This is the first set using the new play boosters which I thought would make things more different than it did; it's basically just one fewer card and one slot that's flexible in rarity- I decided to make it uncommon, and I grouped it in with the other uncommons because it really doesn't matter which takes the flex slot.
Rare
Worldsoul's Justice 3WW
Sorcery
Choose one or more-
* Destroy all colorless creatures.
* Destroy all monocolored creatures.
* Destroy all multicolored creatures.
“You all profited while Ravnica screamed! You are all guilty!” -Oba
Art link
This is a flexible board wipe that takes advantage of the variety of colors you might have on board in this set between the light multicolor theme and the disguise mechanic to let you sculpt it to your needs.
Uncommons
Increased Surveillance 1U
Instant
Surveil 1, then surveil 2, then surveil 3. (To surveil, look at that many cards from the top of your library. Put any number into your graveyard and the rest back on top in any order.)
Rumors of the Dimirs’ fall only aid their all-seeing eyes.
Art link
We've seen something kinda like this before in Cryptic Annelid, but i think scry vs surveil makes a big difference here. This is a great card for filling up your yard to collect evidence, while sculpting your future draws.
Midnight Investigator 1BB
Creature- Vampire Detective
When Midnight Investigator enters the battlefield, each player may collect evidence 5. If a player doesn’t, they lose life equal to the total mana value of cards in their graveyard. (To collect evidence 5, exile cards with total mana value 5 or greater from your graveyard.)
3/2
Art link
One thing that's cool about collect evidence that only one card played with is that it's something anyone *can* do. I made this symmetrical rather than just opponents to reward building around the mechanic, but i like the way that the life loss effect essentially has a cap.
Chaos Seal 3B
Enchantment
Sacrifice Chaos Seal: Exile the top three cards of your library. You may play those cards this turn.
Disguise 1R (You may cast this card face down for 3 as a 2/2 creature with ward 2. Turn it face up any time for its disguise cost.)
The Rakdos excel at finding novel uses for Azorius containment spells.
Art link
In theory this card could be part of a cycle but I wasn't finding a lot of other effects that fit the bill. I needed something that wasn't problematic as an on board trick but also that you don't always want to use immediately after playing, and that benefited from being able to come out "cheaply" with a disguise cost. Impulse draw was a good fit because the amount of mana you have available really matters.
In Hiding G
Enchantment
Ward costs of permanents you control cost an additional 1 to pay.
When In Hiding enters the battlefield, you may cloak a card from your hand. (To cloak a card, put it onto the battlefield face down as a 2/2 creature with ward 2. Turn it face up any time for its mana cost if it’s a creature card.)
Art link
I went back and forth between white and green for this card. White is a little better at this kind of weenie and I feel like the re-ward fits it a little more, but neither is a bad fit for green and green is more of the disguise color so in this particular set it might make sense there. In the end I went green to differentiate this card a little more from the white common that is a noncreature permanent that has a minor effect and makes a 2/2 on ETB.
Commons
Compiled Case Notes 1W
Artifact
When Compiled Case Notes enters the battlefield, create a 2/2 white and blue Detective creature token.
1, T: Surveil 1. Activate only if a Detective entered the battlefield under your control this turn or was turned face up under your control this turn.
Art link
I like the detective typal stuff and wanted to make a card for it; here's one that works fine in a vacuum as essentially a bear with kicker 1: Surveil 1, but gets a lot more interesting if you have other detectives which is a place I like my common typal rewards.
Detain the Suspect 1U
Sorcery
Tap target creature then choose two. You may choose the same mode more than once.
* Put a stun counter on that creature. (If a creature with a stun counter on it would become untapped, instead remove a stun counter from it.)
* Investigate.
Art link
One cool thing you can do with stun counters that you couldn't with old "doesn't untap" effects is make a variable amount of turns. Investigate is clearly the better option synergy wise in this set, but being sorcery means tapping doesn't stop an attacker, and stopping an attacker for a turn or two can be *very* valuable. I think this card's in a good spot of how often you choose each of the three modes (two stun counters, two clues, counter and clue)
Kidnap 4U
Instant
This spell costs 1 less to cast for each card you drew this turn.
Target creature’s owner puts it on top or bottom of their library.
In a city as big as Ravnica, it’s all to easy to fall through thr cracks.
Art link
The set already has some of this with the split cards and morphs, but I just wanted to add another spell that's expensive but can be cast cheaply to fill up your yard with expensive stuff for the sake of evidence collection. This was the cost reduction effect I found I liked best for this set.
Golgari Scapegoat 3B
Creature- Elf Assassin
3B: Suspect Golgari Scapegoat. (A suspected creature has menace and can’t block.)
Whenever Golgari Scapegoat deals combat damage to a player, if it’s suspected, surveil 2.
3/4
After the Invasion, the other Guilds are quick to blame the Swarm.
Art link
This is a kind of design I always love doing with a set mechanic- give it a way to turn itself on so it works fine on its own, but cost it such that you'd much rather find another way to turn that effect on if you can.
Mysterious Bloodstain B
Artifact- Clue
When Mysterious Bloodstain enters or leaves the battlefield, suspect up to one target creature. (It has menace and can’t block.)
2, Sacrifice Mysterious Bloodstain: Draw a card.
Art link
This is a cycle of clues that all do an effect when they enter or leave the battlefield. This is the one I like best because I think a card like this would do a lot of work in getting the BR suspect deck online; more than any of the others this one feels the most like a card you can only make here.
Covert Operations Head 1R
Creature- Goblin Soldier
Face-down creatures you control have haste.
2/1
Though once goblins filled only the lowest Boros ranks, after the Invasion devastated Boros numbers those who survived quickly rose.
Art link
Fairly straightforward disguise reward here. I wanted to cost it to be 2 mana, since coming down before turn 3 is hugely important for this particular card, so it basically built itself from the initial idea.
Anzrag's Escape 2G
Sorcery
Choose one-
* Return target card in your graveyard to your hand
* Return target card you own in exile that you collected as evidence this turn to your hand.
Art link
Simple enough idea here, it's a regrowth that doesn't compete with the set's graveyard mechanic. I don't think this breaks the spirit of the rule that cards shouldn't be able to get cards back from exile because of how specific it is; it doesn't at all prevent using exile as a safety.
Elephant in the Room 4G
Creature- Elephant Detective
Disguise 4G. This cost is reduced by 2 if Elephant in the Room is attacking and isn’t blocked. (You may cast this card face down for 3 as a 2/2 creature with ward 2. Turn it face up any time for its disguise cost.)
5/5
Art link
I wanted a card that lets you use disguise to sneak a big creature out early without breaking the rule of five, and I came up with a design I quite like to get around it.
