Events
Battlebrew: A Cross-Server Flash Format
Written by TVP
Battlebrew was server crossover event between the Custom Magic Discord server and the Hellbrew Discord server with the intention to help designers playtest their cards in a constructed environment. Participating designers were given six days to refine, review, and submit their projects packed with unique designs. After each project was collected and the combined design file was made, it ended up with a total of sixteen exciting submissions from many skilled designers. Using this pool of seven whole sets, a selection of eleven jumpstart packs, and six varied design anthologies, deckbuilding and games began!
Almost immediately, people began building decks with designs from across multiple projects and some powerful cards were immediately discovered! Merry-Go-Round of Life was the first of these explored haymakers as it was a potent and reusable counterspell, although it did have a relevant downside to prevent players from using it as a ubiquitous answer to the format as a whole.
There were a great number of discoveries made as the format was further explored, with the surprising success of "Win the Game" effects, such as Annika’s Liberation–designed by Legion in Nimnura–or Creativity–designed by Mattelonian in Merveaux. These cards leveraged otherwise tame designs like the enchantment lands from Istorca by Agentbla and the litany of cheap artifact creatures such as Confetti Cannons from Hyperpop by Platypeople. This helped remind players and designers alike about the importance of context: even the seemingly jankiest or tamest of designs can often combine to do great things.
Not everything was captured with just core strategy cards and win conditions. Dreams–a card type from Elerom by Patches–proved to be a powerful inclusion to the format. They were omnipresent and gave every deck additional “reach” for relevant cards while also being powerful spells on their own. Venture lands–designed by Mr. DM and submitted by Comfuzzled in a Dungeon Anthology–also had a strong presence. Even with no other relevant ways to venture into the dungeon, just entering the first room of the three original dungeons gave the opportunity to either scry, have players lose a life, or gain a life in a pinch. This brought out an interesting situation, where any of these lands could give you the effect, but only once each game.
Ultimately, Battlebrew was a huge success. The format allowed designers the ability to both build decks and play with cards that they designed, a rare opportunity in the hobby. It has helped provide a unique insight in providing context to cards, showcasing how strong (or weak) cards can be. This proverbial litmus test helped identify trends that designers could use in order to further develop projects they had submitted. And with the lessons learned from this event, hopefully we can bring Battlebrew back to the Custom Magic community better than ever!
Celebrating History with the 5th Anniversary Cube
Written by Tracker007
It may seem surprising, but this year the Custom Magic Discord server will be seven years old! The server's been through an incredible amount of change since it was created, and the amount of content created by its members has been vast. Back during the fifth anniversary of the server, we decided to celebrate all of the work done by our members from the past and present with one event: the Custom Magic Fifth Anniversary Cube! We dug up projects all the way back from the beginning of the server and shoved our favorite designs into this one cube for the ultimate mashup experience. Choosing only four cards right now to show off is difficult, but I feel like these cards highlight exactly what I adored from the event: the combined creativity of dozens upon dozens of people distilled into manic, unbridled fun.
Chikyu Champion's appeal is obvious: a massive card that can win you the game in the most fun and flavorful way. Particularly fun was the fact that we included plenty of reanimation in the cube, which made this an instant hit.
Old School Cruel is a particurlarly fun blast from the silver-bordered past (back when we actually had silver-border cards). Regardless of how it may fit into your gameplan, something just makes you want to play it. And yes, that link still works!
Shield Shredder is perfect to celebrate the off-the-wall creativity of the Quasar set. Amongst the novel use of some old mechanics was an incredible aesthetic and flavor that's present here. I mean the set has its own frame, how couldn't that be cool as hell?
Finally, I just wanted to show off how perfectly flavorful Mystery of the Crashed Craft is. Mysteries were a new and hella fun mechanic made for the set that hijacked the Saga frame for something entirely new. And Epsilon is so cute!
If you want to see the entire cube we created, you can check it out here: https://www.planesculptors.net/set/custom-magic-5th-anniversary-cube. Images can be seen by downloading using the download link on that page. Some of the sets in there are even still in progress on the server!
