Player-designed cards (such as Bob)

[atropos]

I'm curious about cards like Dark Confidant, designed by Bob Maher, and how exactly he was able to create a card. I understand there are many cards that are player-designed and I was hoping if someone could help me compile a list of these cards and who created them. Also, how exactly did this get started and what did these players need to win in order to create their own cards? Does this reward system still exist?

So alright I'll start with the one card that I know:

Dark Confidant - Bob Maher

Anyone else care to add to the list? Thanks.

[Shawn]

If you won an Invitational, you got to create a card. The invitational cards were:

1996-97 Olle Rade - Sylvan Safekeeper
1997-98 Darwin Kastle - Avalanche Riders
1998-99 Mike Long - Rootwater Thief
1999-2000 Chris Pikula - Meddling Mage
2000-01 Jon Finke l - Shadowmage Infiltrator
2001-02 Kai Budde - Voidmage Prodigy
2002-03 Jens Thoren - Solemn Simulacrum
2003-04 Bob Maher - Dark Confidant
2005 Terry Soh - Rakdos Augermage
2006 Antoine Ruel - Ranger of Eos
2007 Tiago Chan - Card to be released

More information:

http://wiki.mtgsalvation.com/article/Magic_Invitational

[atropos]

If you won an Invitational, you got to create a card. The invitational cards were:

1996-97 Olle Rade - Sylvan Safekeeper
1997-98 Darwin Kastle - Avalanche Riders
1998-99 Mike Long - Rootwater Thief
1999-2000 Chris Pikula - Meddling Mage
2000-01 Jon Finke l - Shadowmage Infiltrator
2001-02 Kai Budde - Voidmage Prodigy
2002-03 Jens Thoren - Solemn Simulacrum
2003-04 Bob Maher - Dark Confidant
2005 Terry Soh - Rakdos Augermage
2006 Antoine Ruel - Ranger of Eos
2007 Tiago Chan - Card to be released

More information:

http://wiki.mtgsalvation.com/article/Magic_Invitational

Thanks, Shawn, that's a cool article. It says that the Invitational stopped being held after 2007, does anybody happen to know why?

[Artowis]

Thanks, Shawn, that's a cool article. It says that the Invitational stopped being held after 2007, does anybody happen to know why?

Budget cuts. It was a very cool award to give to a select group of players, but it was really expensive to hold without a ton of upside. The community cup for Magic Online is seen as the spiritual successor (people picked out from the community and costs cut way down by being held at Renton), but if we ever got the Invitational prize back it'd be pretty sweet.

[dahcmai]

When were they going to have Tiago Chan's card come out? I knew it didn't fit a couple of blocks because of what it did, but this is getting pushed pretty far back anymore. I'm curious on what the final result was.

It's still too bad they didn't make Bob's first pick for that card. G Instant, Target player gets 9 poison counters. lol that would have rocked, though infect would have messed it up and made it overpowered even more than it already was. It would just be hilarious to try and hit someone with a Crypt Cobra or some junk from there on out.

[(nameless one)]

I believe that on top of invitational cards, there were a couple of cards taken the invitational finalists. I know Gemstone Cavern is one of them.

[atropos]

Budget cuts. It was a very cool award to give to a select group of players, but it was really expensive to hold without a ton of upside. The community cup for Magic Online is seen as the spiritual successor (people picked out from the community and costs cut way down by being held at Renton), but if we ever got the Invitational prize back it'd be pretty sweet.

Ah, of course. I figured that was the ultimate reason. That's a shame they've stopped, the idea of designing your own card is so cool and plus the cards were all very good at the time they were printed (Bob's still awesome).


When were they going to have Tiago Chan's card come out? I knew it didn't fit a couple of blocks because of what it did, but this is getting pushed pretty far back anymore. I'm curious on what the final result was.

It's still too bad they didn't make Bob's first pick for that card. G Instant, Target player gets 9 poison counters. lol that would have rocked, though infect would have messed it up and made it overpowered even more than it already was. It would just be hilarious to try and hit someone with a Crypt Cobra or some junk from there on out.

Is that really what Bob initially chose? How do you know that? Also, from the way you wrote it, it seems like you know what Tiago Chan's card is supposed to be. How do you know that too?

[Shawn]

It's still too bad they didn't make Bob's first pick for that card. G Instant, Target player gets 9 poison counters.

Wasn't Finkel's first submission something like WWU1 destroy all creatures, then untap up to four lands? I heard an interesting piece of info when was listening to either a podcast or PT coverage; they said that Ranger of Eos was originally a 2/2 from Antoine but they added the extra power to prevent from Reveilark shenanigans.

[Ziveeman]

If I recall correctly (and Googling confirms it), it was:

Denying Channel
Land
T: Add 1 to your mana pool.
2UU, Discard Denying Channel: Counter target spell.

[Nihil Credo]

Olle Rade's card was released in 2002, over five years later, so it's not unprecedented for Tiago Chan's card to be so late. Not to mention that with modern sets being smaller, there's a little less room for rares without a strong connection to the theme.

[Justin]

I could be wrong, but I thought that Crucible of Worlds was also a player-designed card.

[Sims]

I could be wrong, but I thought that Crucible of Worlds was also a player-designed card.

Yes but I believe it was a community design. I seem to remember something about the card being designed in steps through votes on the mothership website. It was not designed by a pro player at an invitational.

[cdr]

Yes but I believe it was a community design. I seem to remember something about the card being designed in steps through votes on the mothership website. It was not designed by a pro player at an invitational.

This is correct. And it's not the only community designed card - Spiritmonger, Vanish Into Memory, etc - there's probably half a dozen.

Olle Rade's card was so late because at the time he won, they hadn't yet come up with letting champs make a card - so they had him design one many years after the fact.

Tiago Chan's is so late because he's incapable of turning in a card that WotC will print - the first time was good lulz and all, but he kept turning ridiculous stuff after WotC asked him for something serious. They finally settled on something and put it in Zendikar, but it got cut. Then it went in Scars, but it got cut. Innistrad? Who knows.

[Sims]

Tiago Chan's is so late because he's incapable of turning in a card that WotC will print - the first time was good lulz and all, but he kept turning ridiculous stuff after WotC asked him for something serious. They finally settled on something and put it in Zendikar, but it got cut. Then it went in Scars, but it got cut. Innistrad? Who knows.

Do you, off the top of your head, know what Tiago Chan's other cards were?

[cdr]

Do you, off the top of your head, know what Tiago Chan's other cards were?

I'm not sure if WotC ever publically said, and I didn't see anything in a quick google.

[Sims]

Okay, thanks :)

I only ask cause my companies web filter is actually pretty strict (I seriously don't know how I'm able to even view the source here with the amount of things blocked) so I was unable to search myself.

[Malchar]

If I remember correctly, at some point in the tournament they ask each player to submit a card design. After someone actually wins, then they make a "real" submission, and then Wizards usually tinkers with it a bit. So, if you can find it, they have lists of all the player submitted cards from entrants that didn't end up winning. As someone stated, Gemstone Caverns was one of those that they happened to choose anyway. Forgotten Ancient was the only other community design that I know of. It and the others were done in a series of polls on Wizard's website. If I remember correctly that card actually started out as something like a 0/1 for 1G and lacking the second ability after voting, but Maro had to nerf it.

[cdr]

Gemstone Caverns was a community choice from the invitational - they let the community pick the card they liked best in addition to the winner's.

[(nameless one)]

I believe Crucible of Worlds and that Coldsnap card were also community picked.

[Nihil Credo]

I believe Crucible of Worlds and that Coldsnap card were also community picked.http://wiki.mtgsalvation.com/article/You_Make_the_Card

[kiblast]

Correct me if I am wrong, but the original Finkel's design was something like:

Leknif's Wrath-1UWW

Sorcery

Destroy all creatures. They can't be regenerated. Untap up to 4 lands.

[HokusSchmokus]

The most funny thing about all of the invitational cards though( and I know that joke has a beard as long as the Chinese Wall)was Mike Long's Rootwater Thief. I crack a smile every time I read that.

[swoop]

Do tell us please!

[SilverGreen]

Just for the record, Oracle of Mul Daya was originally a card posted by Paulo Vitor Rosa during the 2007 Invitational. It was a card named Sylvan Mage, with the Oracle's abilities, but costing 1G and with a 2/1 body. Not something we could call exactly fair, as these Pro's cards use to be.

[jandax]

I've enjoyed reading some of those wikis on the Invitational cards, but it stirred up another question:

What ever happened to the guys dominating the game back then? Olle Rade, Finkel, Maher...

I mean, when you beat the game, is there anything left in it for you?

[cdr]

I've enjoyed reading some of those wikis on the Invitational cards, but it stirred up another question:

What ever happened to the guys dominating the game back then? Olle Rade, Finkel, Maher...

I mean, when you beat the game, is there anything left in it for you?

Most people move on to have real careers (that pay way better than Magic) and real lives. Magic is pretty much something you do while you're in college. You can look up some of them on Wikipedia.

Finkel played poker for awhile (and made way more than he ever did at Magic) and is now a hedge fund manager, Maher got a job and got married, etc.

There's some people like Paul Rietzl that play magic while having careers, but having a job definitely hurts your Magic playing. Rietzl can pretty much only attend PTs - not going to GPs hurts his Player of the Year chances. The reason Japan's dominance of the PT faded is that most of the dominant pros got jobs.

[Forbiddian]

It's still too bad they didn't make Bob's first pick for that card. G Instant, Target player gets 9 poison counters. lol that would have rocked, though infect would have messed it up and made it overpowered even more than it already was. It would just be hilarious to try and hit someone with a Crypt Cobra or some junk from there on out.

That card is way broken even as a two-card combo with itself.

Not dissimilar to: Exile the top 30 cards of target player's deck.

[KingJohnny]

http://i1113.photobucket.com/albums/k509/kingjohnny84/dark.jpg

[dschalter]

Wasn't Finkel's first submission something like WWU1 destroy all creatures, then untap up to four lands? I heard an interesting piece of info when was listening to either a podcast or PT coverage; they said that Ranger of Eos was originally a 2/2 from Antoine but they added the extra power to prevent from Reveilark shenanigans.

Ruel's original submission was:

Bibi
GU
Legendary Creature - Human Baby
0/1
Whenever you draw a card, put a year counter on Bibi.
At end of turn, if Bibi has two or more year counters on it, flip it.
///
Sleur
Legendary Creature — Human
3/3
If an opponent would shuffle his or her library, instead you may search that library for a card, that player shuffles the rest, you put the card on top of that library, then you draw a card.

(though he did later work on Ranger)