Help with Custom Commander
Custom Cards forum
Posted on Sept. 8, 2015, 5:48 p.m. by steffan1990
My wife and I love commander. It is how we met, it is what we did on our honeymoon, and I want to include it in our anniversary this year.
I want to create a custom commander for her Blue Black mill deck, but I am struggling on how to do it effectively. I know she loves the dual faced legendaries that become planeswalkers, but they seem highly complex to create.
Does anyone have any ideas, resources, or guides I could use when trying to create this card?
Any input would be greatly appreciated.
scopesightzx says... #3
Magic Set Editor would be the best way to go. If there isn't an option for dual faced planeswalkers in there, here's how I would make it work:
Make each side as an individual card. Get a clear sleeve for the card, and put a card in the sleeve (any real magic card would do, it's more there to support the paper cutouts of the commander). Print out each side of the commander, and put one in the front side, one on the back. The clear sleeve allows you to just flip the card over, and not have to worry about pulling it out of the sleeve to flip it.
September 8, 2015 11:02 p.m.
MagicalHacker says... #4
As far as balancing any card you design, we the community can always help.
In the mean time... lol
Here's a quick sketch of something that would be cool for blue black mill:
~ 
Legendary Creature - ??
Whenever a permanent becomes untapped, that permanent's controller puts the top card of his or her library into his or her graveyard.
At the beginning of your upkeep, if an opponent has 50 cards or less in his or her library, exile ~, then return him/her to the battlefield transformed under his/her owner's control.
~~
Planeswalker - ??
+2: Each opponent reveals cards from the top of his or her library until he or she reveals a land card, then puts all cards revealed this way into his or her graveyard.
-2: You may cast target instant or sorcery card from an opponent's graveyard without paying its mana cost.
-12: You get an emblem with "At the beginning of each upkeep, you may put target creature or artifact card from a graveyard onto the battlefield under your control."
6
(Wording citations: Mesmeric Orb, Battle of Wits, Kytheon, Hero of Akros Flip, Mind Grind, Memory Plunder, Dack Fayden, Debtors' Knell)
September 9, 2015 1:29 a.m. Edited.
steffan1990 says... #5
Famouswatermelon and scopesightzx, thanks for the template creation advice. I was looking for an editor to use. I have been watching a lot of youtube tutorials on making high quality proxies, but will totally go with that editor.
I am however looking for design influence as well, so thank you for that example you provided, MagicalHacker. I was thinking about it and I might want to go the way of Garruk Relentless Flip, as one side blue, one side black. I am going to brainstorm today and will post later tonight with what I have.
Again thank you everyone so much!
September 9, 2015 10:18 a.m.
I see you never posted back any responses. Here's something I've been working on. Been tweaking it for a few weeks and have playtested it in 1v1 "modern legal" decks as well as Extended (which isn't really a format anymore but whatever).
Creature Side
Name: Ashiok the Schemer
CMC: 
"Whenever you cast a spell put a Nightmare counter on Ashiok, the schemer, then each opponent exiles a card from the top of their library for each Nightmare counter on Ashiok the Schemer
Whenever you cast Ashiok the Schemer it enters the battlefield with a Nightmare counter on it equal to the number of times it's been cast from the command zone.
Whenever Ashiok the Schemer exiles 5 cards at once, Transform it."
Flip Side (Walker Side)
Name: Ashiok, Nightmare Seeker
Special Text: Ashiok, Nightmare Seeker may use Nightmare Counters in addition to Loyalty counters to activate it's abilities and is not destroyed when it has 0 loyalty counters.
+1: Return a card an opponent controls from exile to their hand and then that player exile the top 6 cards of their library.
-2: Target opponent puts 3 cards from his or her hand into exile.
-7: Each opponent exiles 13 cards from the top of their library from the game for each other opponent.
Design theory
Ashiok's conditional flip is much better suited for multiplayer and really the game in general. Because Ashiok will flip with different amount of Nightmare Counters on her based on the amount of opponents it lends itself to being faster in Multiplayer to make up for the fact that it's Planeswalker +1 and -2 are single target, something that very few mill cards are able to do!
In a 1v1 match (or Constructed 1v1) this guy will take at least 5 other cards to transform. The good news is in the mean time you will exile 1+2+3+4+5 cards. That's 15 cards for simply playing the game. Very powerful if he manages to flip. In addition Ashiok will essentially have 5 loyalty each time it flips in a 1v1 game. This means that once flipped it will take 3 more turns for the Ultimate. The ultimate may not seem that deadly in 1v1 but the +1 is mucH stronger in 1v1 than in multiplayer games to make up for it and the +1 and -2 are stronger in 1v1 to boot giving it added strengths and weaknesses dependent on the number of players in a game.
In a 1v1v1 match of any sort he flips much faster. Specifically you can use just 3 cards because (1+1) + (2+2) + (3+3). (Each bracket represents a cast there) In a 1v1v1 match, in other words a 3 player game, Ashiok will essentially have 3 Loyalty. This seems horrible, but you have to remember the ultimate would exile 26 cards for each opponent. Altogether it will take 5 activations in a 3 player game.
In a 1v1v1v1 match he flips even faster. 2 spells cast means you exile 4 and then 8. Because it only took two spells Ashiok will Essentially have two loyalty. This means you will need to activate it 6 times, but will mill an astonishing 39 cards!
In a 1v1v1v1v1 match, or 5 player match, Ashiok will flip after the first Ponder. Ashiok will also only have 1 Nightmare Counter/Loyalty. This means it will take 7 activations, but if Ashiok lives through that an astounding 52 cards will be milled. Bassically, game over for the table in a 60 card game. Looks like 5 player Turbo Fog has a new challenger!
Ramifications of Planeswalker "Special Text"
I'm not going to lie, this is where things get weird and aren't finished yet.
Ashiok cannot be killed while it's in Planeswalker mode via damage. This may seem like a pretty jarring oversight but there is some additional lines of text that give the card incredibly unique characteristics:
Layer 1 (what I had above): Ashiok, Nightmare Seeker may use Nightmare Counters instead of Loyalty counters to activate it's abilities and is not destroyed when it has 0 loyalty counters.
Layer 2: Whenever Ashiok is dealt damage remove that many Nightmare Counters from Ashiok
Layer 3: Whenever Ashiok has no Nightmare counters transform it.
Layer one means Ashiok can function with 0 loyalty and is pseudo indestructible. Layer two means that Ashiok loses Loyalty/Nightmare counters almost normally, without it she would always ult unless bounced, sacrificed, board wiped or exiled. Layer 3 counteracts the pseudo-indestrucibility granted by Layer 1 by forcing it to turn back into the creature side with 0 Nightmare counters. Layer 1 further ensures that Ashiok will not die as a result of a state based action brought on by "lethal" damage in Planeswalker form, and will become a creature. The only weird thing now is that you will have a creature with Loyalty counters.
Format ramifications:
Vintage/Legacy: Ashiok is stopped by Mental Misstep, Force of Will and any burn. In these formats she's most likely to stop a combo if left unchecked by pure chance due to the plethora of valuable 1 drops you will cast. You will basically play her and protect her like crazy with counter magic and use cantrips to draw into counter magic while increasing spell count.
Modern: More likely to face non-combo decks so she will get a lot of hate. Additionally it's harder to protect her since you lose Force of Will and Mental Misstep.
Standard: While all 3 lines of special text are to much for this to be printed under new world order in standard Ashiok would be very slow since there aren't a lot of 1 drop spells. Being able to both protect her and cantrip/loot is nearly impossible. She will typically end up only exiling 1-6 cards before death. Pretty suitable for a legendary 1 drop, assuming you are able to cast 1-3 spells before she dies.
September 22, 2015 5:59 a.m.
Waaaayyyy simpler version of that Ashiok:
Name: Ashiok the Schemer -
Legendary Creature - Human Horror
Whenever you cast a spell, put a Nightmare counter on Ashiok, the Schemer, then each opponent exiles the top X cards of their library, where X is the number of Nightmare counters on Ashiok the Schemer
Whenever Ashiok the Schemer exiles 4 cards from a single library at once, exile Ashiok and return it to the battlefield transformed with X loyalty counters on it, where X is the number of Nightmare counters on Ashiok the Schemer.
Flip Side (Walker Side)
Name: Ashiok, Nightmare Seeker
Planeswalker - Ashiok
+1: Return target card an opponent owns in exile to it's owner's hand, then that player exiles the top 6 cards of their library.
-2: Target opponent exiles 3 cards from his or her hand.
-7: Each opponent exiles 13 cards from the top of their library, then exiles 13 additional cards for each other player who exiled cards this way.
1
September 23, 2015 10:35 p.m.
Nice sonnet666! That is much cleaner than what I had. I'm going to try it like you have, except keeping the trigger the same for the exile so that it needs 5 cards at once vs 4 from a library. Also I would tweak not the design, but the wording on the flip trigger by adding "that were" between "counters" and "on".
Sonnet666's text: "exile Ashiok and return it to the battlefield transformed with X loyalty counters on it, where X is the number of Nightmare counters on Ashiok the Schemer."
Sonnet666's text with revision: "exile Ashiok and return it to the battlefield transformed with X loyalty counters on it, where X is the number of Nightmare counters that were on Ashiok the Schemer."
September 24, 2015 1:47 a.m.
You don't really need the "that were." When an object refers to itself by name it means "this object, right here, in the last instance it existed on the battlefield," but if you think it makes it clearer, go for it.
FAMOUSWATERMELON says... #2
Are you talking about the visual part of the card? Magic Set Editor is by far the best MTG card maker. Or are you talking about "guidelines" to follow when making your card?
September 8, 2015 7:09 p.m.