"Xindlepete Customs" Weekly Drawing! Week Thirteen
Custom Cards forum
Posted on July 8, 2013, 9:55 p.m. by Xindlepete
Hey there TappedOut-ers! Xindlepete again. For those of you who dont know what Im doing here: I really enjoy coming up with new card concepts and ideas, and recently I've been making planeswalker mock-ups for friends both IRL and on the site! So if you would like to check out some of my handiwork to date, here's a link to my "TappedOut Mockups" folder on photobucket: TappedOut Mockups
Anyway, I've had such a blast coming up with custom planeswalkers for other users, I've decided to make a game of it! :D So here are the rules:
Send ONE email message to this address: [email protected] (this is a new email specifically for this. Please do not message me about anything not pertaining to this thread. It will just get deleted.)
In the RE: section give your TappedOut account name.
In the message type the name of your favorite deck posted on TappedOut, as well as what color(s) and gender you would like the PW to be.
I will repost this thread every Monday, and each Monday I will randomly draw one lucky winner out of the inbox! Back to one winner per week.
The lucky winner will receive a link on their page to their planeswalker, as well as a public link of the winning PW on the following week's Drawing.
Thank you in advance for participating, and Please Please PLEASE follow the rules! So far I appreciate everyones respect for the game as it stands. :D
P.S. for those of you who have submitted but did not win, I will leave your emails in the inbox, so there is no need to reapply! Good luck to everyone, and I look forward to hearing feedback from you winners!
And congrats to atreyujames, on being this week's winner! Here is the custom mock-up:
atreyujames says... #3
Just a question though; how did you decide what its abilities would be. I like them and I'm just wondering what your process was?
July 8, 2013 10:12 p.m.
Xindlepete says... #4
Actually atreyujames, yours is the ONLY mock-up I've done so far where I just completely ignored the deck you posted in the email submission (Sorry about that). Instead, I figured that since it would be a colorless planeswalker, without any direct ties to a particular segment of the color pie, I did my best to give it a bit of everything. And since you wanted a "colorless planeswalker (but not a robot or automaton thing) but like a real human", I figured making him a sort of "planeswalker mercenary" made the most sense.
So how to make a planeswalker that can be played in any deck, without ruining the rythm/theme of the deck, while still being useful? That made me look into what things in particular are important to ANY deck archetype in MTG. So let's break it down into each ability.
Cost: I went with 6 because I felt that 5 was close, but not quite expensive enough, so forcing Blue, Red, or White decks to wait until that sixth mana hit felt fair, while still making it difficult for Green or Black decks to mana-ramp him out by turn 3.
+1: Card advantage and being able to refill your hand is important to every player in MTG. So a simple card draw ability made sense here. However, that felt a bit too "Blue" for my tastes, so I took a page out of Browbeat 's book- offer a better effect unless an opponent took a detriment. That lead me to think that forcing a discard in exchange for an additional draw accomplishes two tasks: 1) grants card advantage over your opponent regardless of whether they choose to discard, and 2) gives non-Blue and non-Black decks a simple yet effective control element. Again, useful to any archetype without necessarily forcing you to build a deck around it. And it takes elements from Blue, Black, and Red cards that already exist in MTG.
-2: I felt that since "Atreyujames, Planar Sellsword" is, in fact, a "sellsword", at least one of his abilities should allow for the possibility of backlash. For the sake of flavor, it helps to show that he in fact holds no allegiance to be above any choice he decides to make. For the sake of actual usefulness in a game, I felt that making a powerful ability be the -2, yet balancing it by leaving it to the chance of a coin toss was a great way to give any player using this ability a "last ditch response" to a gamechanging event. For example, your opponent has a Ral Zarek ready to ultimate on their turn. You have nothing in hand or on the field to prevent that from happening, save for "Atreyujames'" -2. Yet again, it gives you the ability to respond to a threat you may not have otherwise had an answer for. And this ability is based on Red's penchant for coin flips, and Green, White, and Red's ability to blow stuff up (as seen with Bramblecrush or Naturalize for Green, Erase or Smite for White, and Smelt or Stone Rain for Red).
-6: What to do for the ultimate on a ridiculous planeswalker that tries to do a little bit of everything? Well, so far we've covered every color, and the other abilities offer a lot of utility to allow your deck to accomplish it's main task. So what we really need is a big ol' flashy finishing move! So forcing the player (or whoever "hired" the Sellsword) to exile a card from their hand (to "pay" the Sellswords "additional fees"), it allows the player to either plink the opponent for a little extra damage by exiling a card that wouldn't help at that juncture anyway, or allowing you to pitch a card you don't have the mana to cast for a power-stroke (for him to finish off the opponent in a way that is relative to his additional payment.). It fits with White's penchant for exiling cards, Blacks taste for "sacrifice" to gain power, Blue's strategy of multiple utilities out of a single card, Green's lust for high mana cost spells and powerhouse blow-out effects, and Red's insatiable lust for direct damage to the opponent. It's a good ability that is well costed, fits with his other abilities by requiring cards in hand, and fulfills duties in all five sections of the MTG colors. :D
I'm not going to lie, I'm EXTREMELY proud of how this one turned out. Probably took the longest initial planning and writing phase out of any of the custom 'walker's I've done so far. :) Sorry about the Wall of Text, but I take pride in the amount of effort I put into each and every one of these mock-ups. And I'm definitely not shy in sharing my process. :)
July 8, 2013 11:17 p.m.
atreyujames says... #5
I dont mind that you ignored the deck, since this is such a great planeswalker. i feel like there is a balance of everything a type of player could want. Spikes get their card advantage, Johnnies get some cool interactions with cards (cough... Krark's Thumb .. cough), and the timmies get some large effects. Definitely a planeswalker I would love to play in every one of my EDH decks and in quite a few standard control decks.
July 8, 2013 11:27 p.m.
megawurmple says... #6
I love these mock-ups. They are both flavourful and effective all at the same time. I really want to win just so that I can get one for myself. Quick question: if I win with one of my entries, can I submit another with a different deck and colour scheme? I have 2 decks that I want a cool planeswalker for.
July 9, 2013 3:34 p.m.
Xindlepete says... #7
@TitansFTW: For now, let's just stick with individual entries per person. My inbox is WAY too full to accommodate multiple entries for each TappedOut-er. :P
And I really appreciate the compliment man, it means a lot. That is exactly what I strive for when making each mock-up. :) Flavor and effectiveness all in one! :D
July 9, 2013 6:48 p.m.
GoldGhost012 says... #8
I'm a little confused... isn't the RE: section for replies?
atreyujames says... #2
cool =) big thumbs up to that
July 8, 2013 10:01 p.m.