Custom MTG Rarity: Commons, Uncommons, Rares, and Mythics
Choose a custom card’s rarity by considering how often it should appear, what it asks players to understand, and how it affects the surrounding environment.
Author: Tom Johnson
PrintMTG vs MakePlayingCards for Custom MTG Card Projects
PrintMTG offers the more direct workflow for MTG-focused cards, while MakePlayingCards provides broader control over materials, formats, packaging, and production options.
How to Design Alternate-Art MTG Proxies That Print Cleanly
A design-to-print workflow for creating clearly unofficial alternate-art MTG playtest cards with sharp artwork, readable text, safe crops, and reliable sizing.
Best Workflows for Custom and Alternate-Art MTG Proxy Projects
A design-first workflow for turning custom or alternate artwork into clear, readable unofficial Magic-style cards that survive card-size review and printing.
Why Custom MTG Sets Should Start With Commons
Commons establish the repeated gameplay of a custom Limited set. Build and test them first to expose problems with pacing, interaction, themes, and complexity before higher rarities hide those weaknesses.
Reality Fracture Shows Why Color-Shifted Callbacks Need a Color-Pie Limit
Reality Fracture’s abandoned color-shifted concepts reveal a valuable custom-card rule: preserve the recognizable role, but rebuild the effect using the new color’s own tools and weaknesses.
MTG Saga Card Maker Guide: Chapters, Timing, and Template Layout
Design a custom Magic-style Saga with a coherent story arc, rules-aware chapter timing, readable layout, and a practical playtest plan.
Hexhaven’s Best Draft Lesson Is Bigger Than Its Cadet Tokens
Reality Fracture offers custom-set designers a two-layer model for Limited overlap: broad per-color themes do the structural work, while shared Cadet tokens create visible bridges between otherwise distinct archetypes.
A Revision System for Custom MTG Cards: Versions, Notes, and Playtest Feedback
A practical revision system for tracking custom card versions, collecting contextual playtest evidence, and deciding what to keep, revise, retest, or cut.
Custom Copy Tokens: How to Show What Is Being Copied
Design a reusable MTG copy token that clearly separates the copied permanent’s identity from counters, status, attachments, and other changing battlefield information.
MTG Card Size and Dimensions for Custom Card Files
Set up custom Magic-style card files correctly with practical dimensions for trim size, raster resolution, bleed, safe areas, and print handoff.
Empower Jace Shows Why Complexity Needs a Focal Point
Empower Jace shows how a demanding mechanic can justify its complexity by carrying a set’s story, recurring play pattern, and visual identity.
Custom MTG Draft Simulator Guide: How to Test a Fan-Made Set
A repeatable method for testing a fan-made Limited set, from pack setup and digital simulations to human drafts, gameplay notes, and focused revisions.
Bleed, Safe Areas, and Crop Zones for Custom MTG Card Files
Learn how bleed, trim lines, safe areas, and crop zones work when preparing a custom Magic-style card file for export or printing.
How to Make Custom MTG Cards: From Idea to Finished Card
Turn a card idea into a clear, playable custom Magic-style design with this practical workflow for mechanics, wording, layout, review, and playtesting.