#mtg tip | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

juliametzgerart · 3 months

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I have shared versions of this on other platforms before, so I might as well make a tumblr edition: here some tips for MtG portfolios I gathered and might be interesting for some people who follow me. 1. Since this is a trading card game, here comes the obvious one first: Always keep in mind that these are card illustrations, they have to be readable in super small. Which means that strong silhouettes and value structures are a must have. If you work digital, check the zoomed out version on regular basis, or even have some jpgs to check their thumbnails in your file browser. That can give you an idea about their readability. Traditionally you can of course take some steps back, or take some photographs to look at smaller previews on your devices. Also: print illustrations often come out darker than their screen versions, be careful with your darks! It's rather easy for things to go muddy, even if they look good on screen. In doubt, increase the brightness a bit. It's okay to have different versions for screen and print to meet their needs.

2. Be versatile about your topics and compositions. Zoom in, zoom out. Don't fall into the trap of your own comfort zone zoom level of showing things, or one way of doing things. It can be positive to offer purposefully unusual options.

3. Be aware of the focus. If you have a magician with a staff, ask yourself if the card is about the staff(artifact), the mage (creature) or perhaps even the spell. The composition and focus of the illustration should shift accordingly! Clear action is important for readability – since that is not just visual hierarchy here, but also storytelling. Which brings me to the next point: 4. Good narrative matters, but mechanics matter even more. So, again, be very aware of your illustration's focus. You can potentially add extra elements for the story to make it more fun, but it should not get too convoluted, and even less should it distract from what the card it actually about. If you come up with your very own ideas for a portfolio this is of course much more open than if you work from a description. But you can find a bunch of official MtG descriptions online which are super useful for training.

5. Show care. Plan the illustration, get the references in place. It's the best time to get good habits in place, and really finish the pieces. Don't make them weaker by going too fast, that is not convincing. It just lets people assume worse things for tight deadlines. This does not mean everything needs to be rendered to death - but shape design should remain thoughtful and purposeful even where soft and lost edges are used.

6. It's potentially okay to have your specific stylistic or thematic niche. It can mean less assignments at times, but can also mean more special ones. It's cool though for your voice to be visible as long as the other needs of the product are met.

7. Never stop using those references. Get them, make them, use them - take them seriously. (at least for any of the more realistic styles). It's one of the most repeated tips for any student to actually just use more references. They do a ton to get complicated things like anatomy and lighting right, but also cultural references and versatility. Many of the best Magic artists also make the best references – it's not a coincidence. Learn from the people who have already established themselves, they have great wisdom to share. 8. Your quality has to match the current roster. Yeah, sorry, no way around that one. You need at least to be as good as the currently "worst" artist in the roster to have a chance. And the ADs need to be sure that even on a bad day your art can meet their quality bar. Which is the reason why you likely need several art pieces at the required level, to prove it wasn't just some lucky fluke. Though once you're really there, that also means a bit less pressure to perform, since you're likely comfortable at your skill level and can only go up from there.

#magic the gathering #julia metzger #mtg #illustration #portfolio tips #art tips #mtg portfolio things

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howtofightwrite · 6 months

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I know DnD is not about realism but how accurate is having, say, your heavy armor wearing paladin have 10 dex or even negative dex? Where medieval knights built like The Rock or like The mountain? I’ve seen youtubers saying that you needed a lot of strength to be able to fight like a knight so women and smaller people couldn’t do it.

I think I know which YouTuber you're talking about, and you can pretty safely ignore them. Their personal misogyny takes priority over their (alleged) expertise when they're forming their arguments.

There's two logistical problems with the idea that you need someone like Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson to make up the bulk of your elite forces. The first problem is that they need to consume a frightening amount of food. This isn't as much of a problem in the modern era, when we have the capacity for truly staggering amounts of agricultural production. But, in a medieval society, with serfs responsible for most of the agriculture, the prospect of feeding each of your elite troops 10,000 calories a day would economically destroy most kingdoms. (And, yes, that is what Björnsson reports to consume on a daily basis. Other estimates place his dietary intake somewhere between 3600 and 8000.) And, to be clear, that is an absolutely absurd amount of food. But, if you want to build that kind of mass, you need a lot of energy, which means, a lot of food.

The second logistical problem is, there's only one of him. Okay, that's not literally true, The Mountain was portrayed by three separate actors, Conan Stevens, a professional wrestler, and Ian Whyte, a stunt actor who had previous appeared as a White Walker in the first season. But, Hafthor Bjornsson took over the role in the fourth season, and is probably who you're thinking of when you name drop the character.

Bjornsson is a member of the 2000 pound club, which include power lifters who can lift over 2000lbs combined between bench press, dead lift, and squats. Not many people ever get that far, and Bjornsson is one of the few individuals who can get into the 1000 pound club from a single lift.

Here's a fun name to know, Becca Swanson is also in the 2000 pound club. She credibly claims that she is the first woman to have achieved that, and I'm not sure if there are any other women in the 2000lb club, but it is achievable.

Now, here's the fun thing about all of this, because you're asking about D&D, and D&D players need to know exactly how much their character can lift. The calculation is (STR*30)lbs. (In the Player's handbook p174.) This also means if you have a real person, and you know how much they can lift in the real world, you can reverse engineer what their strength score would be in D&D.

It's 37.

If you wanted to convert Hafthor Bjornsson into D&D, his strength score would be 37.

Dude can fucking arm wrestle the Terrasque and easily win.

Putting that in perspective, it's a little ludicrous to say that if you want a viable martial character (fighters, paladins, barbarians, etc.), they need a Strength score of 37, when it's not normally possible for player characters to exceed 20 base strength. (If you're wondering, Becca would work out to have ~29 Strength. So, on par with most ancient dragons, and a few gods.)

So, there you have a man and woman who are both superhumanly strong according to D&D.

D&D and math have always had issues like this, and it pops up in a few different places here.

The basic concept that your ability to hit, and the amount of damage you deal is based on strength comes from a very, “schoolyard,” understanding of violence. It's okay to step back and abstract it out, where “strength,” is some amalgam of melee combat aptitude in addition to actual strength, but the idea that being stronger means you can hit harder with a sword or dagger doesn't make a lot of sense. It doesn't even make much sense with axes and maces (the force applied has more to do with the mass and velocity of the weapon, rather than the strength of its wielder.)

A paladin with negative DEX is dead. I don't mean that figuratively, and I do understand what you meant to say, but this rule is a little obscure in 5e. If any of a character's physical attributes (STR, DEX, CON) are reduced to zero, the character immediately dies. Ability draining effects used to be far more common, so the rule existed by itself, though, now it mostly shows up when you're looking at a monster with a physical ability draining attack.

What you probably meant was a negative DEX modifier, meaning your paladin is unusually clumsy. Outside the context of D&D, that would be an incredibly bad thing for a front line combatant. In the specific context of D&D, if they're in heavy armor, it doesn't really matter, if they're in medium, then it reverts to being “a bad thing. Specifically, the rules is that light and medium armor add your DEX modifier to your armor class. Medium armor caps this at +2, but it can go negative with either armor type. However, heavy armor in 5e ignores your DEX modifier entirely.

Now, here's the thing about D&D, its concept of armor is spectacularly weird. Unlike RPGs where armor reduces damage taken, either by subtracting a fixed amount from incoming damage or by reducing damage via a percentage, D&D's system is that your armor class grants you a chance to avoid being hit at all. (5% chance per point of AC, if you're wondering.) Narratively, this is often framed as taking a hit, but your armor turned the blade or something similar. This is because sometimes the enemy attack straight up misses, and that's (usually) determined by your dexterity. This is important, because the game is trying to balance two different power fantasies against each other.

On one side you have the players who want to roll in heavy plate armor, and soak all the hits, and on the other you have players who want to go with light armor, and dodge around enemy attacks. Realistically, that's not an option, but D&D permits it, and again, that's fine. The fantasy of lightly armored fighters makes a lot of sense. I'd even go so far as to say that the barbarian's unarmed defense bonus (where they add CON modifier to their DEX modifier while unarmored) is a really good change in 5e even if it does make no sense objectively. It contributes to the fantasy of this brutal fighter who runs around without armor slapping people silly with their weapons, and shrugging off damage because they're too stubborn to die. In (nearly all cases) the ability to deliver the player fantasy of a class is more important than a strict adherence to reality, and that's fine, that's the point, but the realism of D&D doesn't translate off the page in any meaningful way.

If you wanted a more, “realistic,” (and, yeah, that's incredibly loaded in this context), approach to armor for D&D, I'd say gate access based on your Constitution (or Constitution modifier). Sort of like how your equip load in Dark Souls is based on your Endurance attribute. Give armor and weapons a burden value, and if the combined burden on a character exceeds their CON, the character risks taking levels of Fatigue when they're fighting in heavier gear than they're conditioned to deal with. Maybe add a Conditioning feat or skill if you want to add some other attribute modifiers to the mix should you end up with your heavy armor fighters being underequipped. (Then again, I am one of those psychopaths who really liked the D20 Star Wars' vitality system.) So, ultimately, tinker with the balance until you find something you, and the people at your table, are happy with. Roleplayers who have more meaningful build choices tend to be happier, so long as they don't feel like they're being punished for having a character fantasy.

One of the more amusing descriptions I've read of medieval knights is that they were built like methheads. I can't fully vouch for that, because I'm not an expert on the physical appearance of medieval knights, but it's certainly credible. These guys were eating pretty well for the era, and engaged in a lot of physical activity. Depending on what they were doing, that could easily result in some fairly bulky guys, but it could also result in some wiry looking guys who hide their muscles. Just, knowing what I do about the human body, the answer was probably both, depending on their metabolism and diet. But the image of Sir Methhead, Knight of the Realm, and his implausibly clean teeth, still amuses me.

It's worth remembering that a lot of the times I've seen someone say, “they were built like athletes,” they'll drop an image of a bodybuilder. No. That's not what you would get. Bodybuilding is designed to create its own physique, one that doesn't occur unless you're abusing your body in some very specific (and unhealthy) ways. It's probably better to think of someone like a high-school football player. Bulky, but without the carved physiques of a Boris Vallejo painting. (If you don't know who that is, look up his art. It is a bit dated, but it's gorgeous.)

Alternately, if you do want your characters to look like those paintings, it is your fantasy, have fun.

-Starke

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#writing reference #writing advice #writing tips #starke answers #how to fight write #D&D #Game of Thrones #The Mountain #Hafthor Bjornsson #Yeah Dude's first name is Half-Thor #figure he earns it #I can't judge you for using Boris Vallejo art as your character tokens #I'm still using MTG card art for mine

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magic-the-girlbossing · 18 days

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if you get mad at the theft player for hitting gas off the top of your library you should also be thanking them when they hit dead cards off the top instead, otherwise you are a hypocrite

#mtg #magic the gathering #i believe this with every fiber of my being #when a theft player hits a land off the tip of my library when i already have 12 i thank them profusely #edh

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drmajalis · 8 months

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Mari's Lessons For a Better Commander Experience (not applicable for CEDH)

These all come from my years of playing Commander, constantly tinkering with decks, talking with others, and reading theory articles. These tips aren't all necessarily designed to make you a more powerful player, but to have more fun playing, and also to help others at your table have more fun as well.

Be honest about your deck's power to the playgroup. Instead of picking a number between 1 and 10, just say what your win cons are and whether you/how easily you assemble infinite combos.

People who deliberately only bring/only have one super overtuned, powerful deck probably won't make friends.

If you want to make friends, make your decks fun to play against, and avoid cards you feel like groaning to when they're played by others.

If you must have a drink at the table, invest in a water bottle with a locking mechanism.

If you hate being the target, don't play stax.

Get used to being targetted if you take early/commanding leads, maybe wait a bit before playing that Sol Ring in your opening hand.

Spite plays rarely help you in the long run.

Never play less than 38 lands in a multi-colour deck, or 34 lands in a mono-colour deck.

No more than 1/4 of your lands should enter tapped. If you do not have enough enters untapped dual lands, just run more basics.

Lands like Tectonic Edge and Ghost Quarter are essentially free includes; always be prepared for Cabal Coffers and other problem lands.

Keep your instant speed interaction cheap in mana cost, you are not going to consistently hold up five mana for Desertion.

You can never run too much card draw.

Do not let your opponents draw tons of free cards off Rhystic Study/Esper Sentinel etc. your spells can wait a turn. It is easy to forget how quickly massive card advantage can unbalance a game.

You probably don't need Chromatic Lantern unless your deck is 4 or 5 colour.

Two-mana ramp spells/permanents are almost always the most optimal. Cultivate and Kodama's Reach are not as good as they feel to play.

Never neglect artifact/enchantment removal.

You should always run at least 3 wrath-type spells/effects.

Modal cards are your best friends.

If the choice is between running a tutor, or a powerful card advantage piece like Phyrexian Arena, choose the Phyrexian Arena every time.

#magic the gathering #commander #edh #mtg #tips

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dimestoretajic · 4 months

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when you rework a years-old deck

#magic the gathering #mtg #memetg #trash remastered #i don't see mtgvault lasting long #so i've been looking over my old decks and porting them to deckstats #i looked at a kangee aerie keeper deck #to start with #it had 36 lands #24 of them were basics (and no rocks or ramp)#and that was just the tip of the iceberg #i'm gonna TRY to rework it without starting from scratch #but we'll see

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mothenbythighs · 9 months

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I just had a dream where konami and wotc made cards that were playable in both ygo and mtg and even tho there was a segment in there where like a mtg commander podcast was reviewing the main play maker the only thing I remember about the deck is that in ygo it turned your monsters into continues spells/in magic it turned things into enchantments, and then could turn them back into the original thing. And that the main guy had art similar to 5 color omnath

#yugioh #ygo #magic the gathering #mtg #like i vividly remember the card having a yugioh esque effect #but i don't remember what it was #it's on the tip of my tongue im so mad

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biohazard-inevitable · 2 years

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Well i’ve been talking about wanting it for a while, so heres my Craig of The Creek self insert!

The Wandering Sage of the creek

Legends say of a wandering sage older than any kid on the creek. A youthful spirit with the appearance of a kid but with the wisdom of an elder and the magics of a witch. He is most often seen wandering through the woods, a basket of bones jingling softly by his side, providing aid and wisdom to various kids who seek him out. For those who ask, he mysteriously provides candy of winter’s grace, blessing the children’s breath with its chilly, peppermint glory. An ever mysterious gifter, he has also been spotted communing with the elders at elder rock, playing bring out your beast at the splintery butt, and even trading pristine manga for the quiet sanctuary of reading time in the ninja gardens of the waterfall. Many call him the sage for his wisdom and gifts that stretch beyond the knowledge of the elders, but nobody knows his true intentions beyond that of his mysterious aid.

#craig of the creek #craig of the creek self insert #cotc self insert #cotc #i would be an enigma to these kids #i do actually still have candy canes in the middle of summer #i actually ate one while drawing this #very tasty #i also collect bones and creeks happen to be a really good bone spot!#that and meadows #which is why i’d be a wanderer of the entire creek #bring out your beast is mtg and i love mtg so i’d play there #and i also dabble in dnd and anime/manga #the ninja kids would love me cause i have a collection of manga i keep in pristine condition #the antlers are based off an irl pair i actually own #though they have red tips #still they’re pretty cool #the entire outfit is stuff i own #i also do tarot so im like a daytime witch to the kids #plus knowung they’re in the north their summers are probably about 80 tops #meanwhile as a southerner my summers are 120 tops so jeans in the summer would blow their minds maybe #i am an old wize wizard and i’d be like a legend

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