All the Generals

I finally finished finding art for the Ante Commander generals.  They still need alot of tweaking, so please be harsh.

For your reference, Unanteable's reminder text is "If CARDNAME would be put into the ante or you would lose ownership, instead put it into your graveyard, then ante the top card of you library."

The Generals

The hardest part of designing Ante Commander has been the generals.  They have to be five color, but cheap enough to matter and distinct to their deck.  I came up with this formula:

The things to note:
1. Each general cost a hybrid of the five colors with one color being required.  They will lead the deck that favors that color.  Hermie will lead the blue favoring counter spell deck.
2. Each will have choices for enter the battlefield abilities.  This is the hardest part to balance and I forsee the most editing happening there.
3. Each will transform into a bigger creature.  Note that each will then lose its two ally colors.  It will also be set in the rules that both sides of you commander count towards commander damage.
4. Lastly, each commander will be un-ante-able.  This is important as you need you general to play commander.  I may turn the ability into a keyword.

Another thing to note, I have tried to use under utilized creature types, but finding art has been difficult.  Please post thoughts on any and all of this.  It has not been easy designing the commander, but it has be very rewarding.  I will post the rest of the commanders soon.

Update:  I think I will make the ability a keyword, though I may not keep the reminder text for print.

Update 2: Should only be able to steal nonland permanents.

The Darkpact Problem

When I started working on the idea of Ante Commander, I first looked at all the Ante cards that had been printed.  Most are too weak to include in the set, but some are the most powerful cards ever printed in Magic.  Specifically Contract from Below and Darkpact. 

Having actually cast Darkpact in a game and often reading the card, Darkpact as printed "swaps" the top card of your deck with a card from the ante, with the "swap" being permanent, i.e. exchanges ownership.  However, the oracle text for Darkpact reads: "You own target card in the ante. Exchange that card with the top card of your library."  Now at first glance this may seem to function just fine, but an issue arises from cards like Jeweled Bird (and other I have created for this set), as the oracle wording does not exchange ownership. 

Now, I tried to convince Matt Tabak (@TabakRules), the keeper of Magic's rules, that this needed an update but was told on Twitter: "Changes to ante rules or the Oracle texts of ante cards are highly unlikely. You might be on your own here. :)"  So thus, I took a crack at updating Darkpact myself. 

Please note I have tried to word it so there is no risk of players losing/gaining number of cards in their decks.  I am not sure this is the right rout, but would love to hear any comments or ideas about this problem and it's solutions.

Here are the Cantrips

These are the cantrips that will be in each of the five Ante Commander decks.  Please note I replaced Brainstorm with my own creation Perpend because there are very few shuffle effects.  I think this is a good amount to start playtesting with, but I would be interested in other ideas for additional cantrips.

Cantrips

Because Ante Commander does not have tutors, cantrips become that more important.  Ponderm Preordain and Portent will be just as powerful as they are in Vintage.  I am unsure if Brainstorm will make the cut with no shuffle effects, but I will playtest with it.  Being 99 card decks, seeing these cantrips may be an issue.  So to help, I made my own:

I had to name it like Ponder/Brainstorm where it just sounds good when you cast it.  "I'm going to Think About It for a sec..."  Note that it is an Ante card.  The Ante type replaces the "Remove CARDNAME from your deck before playing if you're not playing for ante." text as it just clutters the card.  I am still debating if Ante should be a card type (like Tribal) or a subtype (like World).  I am leaning towards card type, even though I don't like Tribal being a card type, but I would like to hear other peoples thoughts.

Introduction to Ante Commander

For today's first installment of Chimzar's Magic: The Gathering Design Blog, I will be introducing the basic concepts and laws of my MTG set, Ante Commander. I have been designing Ante cards for some time now and had been looking for a way to play with them. A 1v1 Commander environment seemed the best fit as it is a singleton format and a large, but not too large, deck size. I settled on creating five different decks, each one with a distinct archetype. Still, to make Ante function properly and the decks not to degrade, I came up with some house rules.

Ante Commander Deck Design Rules

1. Each deck is has a five color general. This is important as you need to be able to play any card you might win. Each general is five color but emphasizes one color.

2. No tutors. To keep games diverse, nothing that searches the library will be included in the decks. This is to prevent repetitive game play and because they take up slots that could be filled by more fun cards. Notably, there are no fetch lands or Path to Exile.

3. Card power level cannot exceed Contract from Below. This is a high benchmark, but the decks are designed to be more powerful than Vintage.

Ante Commander Play Rules

1. You can only take out of the Ante as many cards as you put in. As you cannot add or subtract cards you own from outside of the closed environment of this set, this rule keeps the decks at 99 cards. Example: If I have anted three cards and my opponent has anted two, if I win, I can gain ownership of any three cards in the ante and if my opponent wins, he or she can gain ownership of any two cards in the ante.

2. Land for a Land exchange “rule”. This is more of a courtesy than a rule. If you want to gain ownership of mana producing land/moxen, try to give one back to your opponent. I don't see this aways working but players should be aware of this.
   
   
3. Generals cannot change ownership. Each general has rules text that addresses this as follows: “If CARDNAME would be put into the ante or you would lose ownership, instead put it into your graveyard.” This is important as Commander decks need a general.

4. No singleton limit. If you win all five Black Lotuses, good for you! The decks are suppose to evolve and flow over time and the singleton limit is only important for deck design.

I would love any and all feedback and am happy to answer any questions. Thank you for reading and may all your winning antes be power.

Bonus: Here is an example of how I am making the cards look. I like how ABU cards look and it lets me ignore the copy right and set number line. For me, it has a nice Vintage feel.

Welcome to my new design site

I use to post cards and articles about my Magic: The Gathering card designs at bobscards.blogspot.com/ but had fallen away from it since my son was born.  I have recently been hard at work creating a new play environment with all new cards that I would like some feedback on.  Since my Google+ account got messed up, I can not access bobscards blog any more and thus have started my design blog a new.  Thank you for the few people that did look at the old site and hopefully more will see the new one.  I will post some new cards very soon!