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The big episode is here! Our new yearly tradition where our listeners try to fool us!
Each card we review today is either a real card with name and color changed or a completely made up card. Can we tell the difference? We use a variety of clues to try to bust the fakes and make the right guess!
Scryfall gallery of cards mentioned (spoilers!)
Submissions
Dragon of the West
Spoiler
This is a colorshifted (and anagram of) Spawn of Thraxes
MissLys
Spoiler
This is a colorshifted version of Psychic Venom from Alpha!
Pat(sune Miku)
Spoiler
This is real, if by real you mean, real CLOSE to an existing card! The white card Festival of the Guildpact from the original Ravnica set is ALMOST identical to this, except that it can only prevent damage that would be dealt to YOU.
Vtbassmatt
Spoiler
Serra Sphinx is monoblue, so the color pips on this color-shifted custom submission follow the rules. But if you were thinking Serra Angel, you got got!
Plumtreechloe
Spoiler
it’s a colorshifted Dogged Detective from NCC! bet you a quid Juliet recognised it immediately
Larcent
Spoiler
Colorshifted blue Plumecreed Escort from Bloomburrow reflavored as Selesnya. Curious to see if the lack of granting indestructible (very common on white cards of this type) gives it away.
Qirn
Spoiler
This is a rename of Juliet’s very first card submission to the discord, for Design Challenge 17 in February of 2020, named “Exit Strategy”
Inte
Spoiler
Custom Card, but inspired by Empty the Pits (KTK)
Sagebeez
Spoiler
Colorshifted (Inquisitor Exarch) to black, changed the flavor, and cleaned up the formatting to a more modern approach
Khord
Spoiler
Colorshifted to White from Colorless this card is Excalibur II from Final Fantasy also downshifted to an MH1 uncommon with an accurate set number
Xena
Spoiler
No inspiration, except for my righteous indignation ❤️ (it’s a custom card!)
Redbay
Spoiler
Regal Imperiosaur might fit the bill for card that’s new but not terribly recognizable. Also, doing a new Planar Chaos set and using {C} is fun!
Juliet
Spoiler
Totally made up… name for Servant of Nefarox! Did you expect a mono-black card?
AuxiliaryOtter
Spoiler
Custom but it is only one word from Kashi-Tribe Warriors “combat
SpiceDuchess
Spoiler
this is a custom card, but a glowup of a real one, Blood Cultist,also a mashup with assorted balduvians and bloodshots
YABO
Spoiler
This is a real card! It is Stillmoon Cavalier from Eventide, just color shifted to red.
mothyawg
Spoiler
I thought about Nix from Future Sight, and the old Power Sink. The name I had to double check wasn’t already printed
Rexxer2
Spoiler
It is a real card! It’s a color-shifted version of Expedition Champion
JamesDaltonBell
Spoiler
I suspect I’m unlikely to fool you again, but this is in fact the same submission as my april fools card from last year, King’s War-Chariot, which is my submission from the March 2023 challenge, Infantry Battle Harness. I just couldn’t resist, the bit was too good.
Topics and Tidbits (spoilers!)
- not a usual design challenge review!
- is this a made up card or a renamed real card?
- new twist for this year: must color shift the card too. Card has to work in different colors
- what sets would have “have a lot of the same basic land” designs?
- having large amounts of damage to “any target” is unusual
- Juliet: real (1); Tim: custom (0)
- not-devotion-but-sorta-devotion mountains-matter in theros block
- Clue we missed: the name was very strange and included “x” for the bonus points
- being aware of tricksters fooling us with near-matches
- Juliet: real (2); Tim: real (1)
- Juliet was one set off
- Blue’s damage theme in 93/94-era Magic
- “loses life” vs “deals damage”
- juliet riffs damage prevention cards
- tim suspicious of a old card being too good
- juliet and tim separately scouring all the good white cantrips for commander
- can damage prevention effects say “any target”?
- Juliet: custom (3); Tim: custom (2)
- going from W to WB doesn’t fit the challenge, so that’s a hint
- infamous GDS3 3BG golgari serra angel
- Juliet: real (4); Tim: real (3)
- Tim awards a bonus Judge’s prize for using a Planar Chaos card in the Planar Chaos-themed challenge
- Dog man bone art
- Tim blows the secret, Juliet retroactively guesses “wrong”
- Juliet: custom (4); Tim: real (4)
- wait there’s a second dogged detective??
- shroud vs hexproof vs ward timeline
- 2/1 flier used to be premium
- designing in an open field is hard, which makes it hard to come up with good custom fakers
- juliet worried about forgetting a shadowmoor card
- Juliet: real (5); Tim: real (5)
- the siren’s call of discord spoiler text
- half of a split card??
- an old awkward cycle from the past
- Juliet: custom (6); Tim: custom (6)
- eldrazi “color” shifting
- submitting one of Juliet’s cards from the past!
- The Exit from Castmire
- Juliet: custom (7); Tim: custom (7)
- locking in bonus points
- “lose life” outside black
- new phyrexia?
- Juliet: real (8); Tim: custom (7)
- what color are you a freak for its obscure color bends
- tim accidentally pins the correct card in 5 seconds and then moves on
- tim’s extensive excalibur knowledge and assassin’s creed lore knowledge
- xena excels at the x challenge
- translating old weird wording into new oracle text
- Juliet: custom (9); Tim: custom (8)
- cards that are good in precons that don’t have a home in constructed
- pip swap
- three color
- two to three pips
- Juliet: real (10); Tim: real (9)
- juliet does tim a favor
- cool jhessian flavor text about hidden martial artists
- Juliet: made the card (10); Tim: real (10)
- sneaky green stunning snakes
- worse than a 5 mana 4/4
- Juliet: custom (10.5); Tim: real (10.5)
- J splits the win
- very advanced submission from SpiceDuchess
- Juliet loses it over copyright text
- to strong to be real
- Juliet: custom (11.5); Tim: custom (11.5)
- protection from your own color
- reaching with brain hands
- Juliet: real (12.5); Tim: custom (11.5)
- fallen empires shout out
- coldsnap the sequel to ice age and fallen empires
- Juliet: custom (13.5); Tim: custom (12.5)
- Random Eventide Rare strikes again!!!
- minotaur suspicion
- so plausible it must be fake
- Juliet: real (14.5); Tim: custom (12.5)
- james plays double or nothing with the cast
- losing the same way twice: that’s comedy
- fishes and bricks and humor
- Juliet: real (14.5); Tim: custom (13.5)
- the most text under 3 lines of text
- almost exclusively not the movie
- ohio city pop quiz