EPTI like Starcraft, and I like Magic: The Gathering, so a few months ago I had the idea to make a set of MTG cards based on Starcraft. This post describes how I went about it.
The first decision I had to make was choosing which Starcraft game the cards should be based on: Starcraft, Brood War, Wings of Liberty or Heart of the Swarm. I decided that it would be best to choose the most recent Starcraft release so that updating the cards would be as easy as possible, should I ever decide to do so. I’m also more familiar with Starcraft 2 than the original, so the choice was clear.
I had seen a few cards that others made, but many of them were about players, not the units and abilities of the game. Also, I never encountered a full, playable set, and most of the cards didn't really make sense. I believed that the cards should conform to the MTG rules and conventions, but also accurately represent the concepts and functions of Starcraft 2. Here’s an example of a card that I feel doesn't meet these criteria:
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![[image loading]](http://dailyduncan.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Bad-Zealot-Example.jpg)
In Starcraft, the Zealot is the cheapest, weakest ground unit available to Protoss. This Zealot card is 4/4, which is far too strong if we’re going to implement creature cards like the Immortal and Colossus. It’s also worth noting that this Zealot has first strike, which probably represents the Charge upgrade. But by granting the Zealot first strike at no cost, it means that the Zealot will always attack before most ranged units, which doesn't usually happen in Starcraft. The Charge upgrade is probably better represented by haste or by an activated ability.
Also, there is an inclination to implement new concepts and mechanics when creating MTG cards, which usually ends up producing cards that don’t work well with existing MTG sets or that don’t even play like MTG at all. The card above introduces a new ability called Shield that prevents the creature from being destroyed. This ability could cause unforeseen complications, such as imbalance or conflicting rules and also doesn’t really represent how shields function in Starcraft. It’s tempting to make cards complex and powerful, especially the legendary cards, but most existing MTG cards are fairly basic.
Another issue with this card is the color. I know that this is rather subjective, but Protoss doesn’t feel green. With telepathic abilities and a number of flying units, Protoss seems kind of blue. Taking color into consideration is important, since Starcraft allows players to choose one of three races, which suggests that the Starcraft MTG cards should have three main colors or color combinations, which I will discuss later.
Here's another card that does a better job, but still falls short in a few important ways:
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![[image loading]](http://dailyduncan.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Bad-Phoenix-Example.jpg)
This Phoenix has more accurate power and toughness than the Zealot example, but the wording in the block restriction is not consistent with MTG, and the Graviton Beam ability of this card allows it to tap (lift) any card on the table, including lands, enchantments and other non-creature cards. This is not how Graviton Beam works in Starcraft 2.
Even small mistakes such as these can cause the unit, or even the entire game, to function improperly, so when I set out to make my MTG set, I decided to adhere as best I could to the following rules:
1. The set should follow established MTG rules and conventions.
2. The cards should accurately represent concepts in Starcraft 2.
3. The races should be divided by color and also be relatively balanced.
The first thing I did was make a spreadsheet with all of the units, structures and abilities in Starcraft 2 (view it by clicking here). I then tweaked power, toughness, cost and abilities in order to meet the criteria above. While doing so, I was forced to answer several serious questions:
1. In Starcraft 2, a player defeats an opponent by eliminating all of their buildings. How do I deal with structures?
2. What card and creature types will I use?
3. Since all abilities in Starcraft 2 are attached to units, how do I decide which, if any, are represented by instants or sorcery cards?
4. The economy of Starcraft 2 is based on minerals and vespene gas, and the abilities are based on energy. Is it possible to incorporate these concepts into MTG cards?
5. How do I translate abilities and mechanics in Starcraft 2 that have no direct equivalent in MTG, such as cloaking, shields and larva?
To answer the first issue, I came up with a few possible solutions:
The first would be to implement a new mechanic for structures, where a player loses the game when he or she no longer controls any structures. This has several problems, the most obvious being that players don’t begin the game with any structures. I felt that this route deviated too far from traditional MTG and would end up producing a completely different game.
The second option I considered was introducing a new card type called Structure that functioned like a planeswalker. Buildings could be placed on the board, but wouldn’t be a creature or an enchantment. This would allow players to target each other's structures. However, I don’t think planeswalkers fit well in MTG as it is, so constructing a set around a similar concept would probably make the game more ridiculous than planeswalkers already make it.
The third option would be to implement structures as enchantments, but attacking structures with units is a huge part of Starcraft 2, so I decided against it.
The fourth option is the one I ended up choosing. I decided that structures should function like walls — creatures that can’t attack. This allows them to enhance creatures while still allowing them to be attacked by units. This also permits players to use structures defensively, which is something players often do in Starcraft 2. Here are some examples of structure cards:
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![[image loading]](http://dailyduncan.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Engineering-Bay.jpg)
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![[image loading]](http://dailyduncan.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Spire.jpg)
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![[image loading]](http://dailyduncan.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Pylon.jpg)
Notice that the structures are various types in addition to being structures. This leads to the second difficulty: card types.
Every card in MTG has at least one type. Even a Forest has two types: Basic Land and Forest. The ever-useful Llanowar Elves has three types: Creature, Elf and Druid. These types are used to modify mechanics and interactions between cards. The Dauntless Dourbark and Nightmare derive their power and toughness from the number of a Forests or Swamps you control, respectively, while other cards, like the Elvish Archduid, enhance other creatures. These mechanics are an integral part of MTG, so I felt it important to choose card types carefully.
There are several interactions between units in Starcraft 2 that affect the game in a significant way. In addition to structures, which we already discussed, there’s the light, armored and massive unit type dynamic, which alters the amount of damage units deal to each other. I really wanted to include these types, but this would make combat extremely complex, and the damage that creatures deal in MTG is generally much lower than in Starcraft 2, so it would likely need to be greatly modified in order to avoid breaking the game.
Additional unit types found in Starcraft 2 are Mechanical, Biological and Psionic. The first two are already represented in MTG by similar types called artifact and nonartifact. The third is unique to Starcraft 2 and fairly easy to implement, so I incorporated it into the cards.
Yet another interaction of unit types is found in the Flying and Ground types. These are present in both MTG and Starcraft 2 and function in an almost identical way in both games. However, in Starcraft 2, many more units are only able to attack either Flying or Ground units only. I decided that incorporating these types and restricting unit attacks in the same way they are in Starcraft 2 would not make the game too dissimilar to conventional MTG.
Here are the types I ended up choosing:
Terran
Protoss
Zerg
Structure
Psionic
Artifact (Mechanical)
Non-Artifact (Biological)
Flying
Nonflying (Ground)
The issue of abilities, instants and sorcery cards was one that was more arbitrary. Here’s how I worked through it:
Since, as I mentioned, abilities in Starcraft 2 are attached to units, having no instants or sorcery cards would most accurately represent the concepts of Starcraft 2 (the second rule), but it wouldn’t follow MTG rules and conventions (the first rule). I decided that for the sake of making the game more like MTG, I would remove abilities from units and make them instants or sorcery cards. This also simplified many of the creatures, since it would be quite overwhelming to have a Ghost creature card with Cloak, Snipe, EMP and Nuke.
In order to decide which abilities would be attached to creatures, I relied on what I believed to be the defining abilities of each Starcraft 2 unit. The High Templar, for example, is best known for the Psionic Storm ability, so it would make sense to give this ability to the MTG card, rather than the alternative, Feedback.
Another general rule I followed was to give creatures the ability (or abilities) that would make them most useful and balanced and which were more combat-oriented. The Queen, for example, could have been given Spawn Larva or Spawn Creep Tumor, but Transfuse would seem to function more like a traditional MTG creature ability.
As for the third issue, economy, energy and mana, I decided that meddling with the economy of MTG would be too drastic a change, so I assigned each race a different primary, secondary and tertiary mana color. I chose multiple colors for each race for two reasons: because each race has a diverse set of units and spells and to increase variety and deck creativity. This also helps to keep the races divided, so that it's easy to play as only a single race with this Starcraft 2 MTG set. Here are the color assignments I chose:
1. Terran
I. White: Soldiers, healing and defense are features associated with white in MTG.
II. Red: Units like the Hellion and Reaper are quick and fairly weak, making them seem red.
III. Black: Cloaking and nukes definitely seem like black abilities.
2. Protoss
I. Blue: Telepathic abilities and flying creatures are features associated with blue in MTG.
II. Black: Dark Templar and cloaking seem to be best represented by black mana.
III. White: The Immortal’s strong defense and the Zealot and High Templar’s religious nature seem white.
3. Zerg
I. Red: The Zerg is characterized in Starcraft as swift and numerous, which are features associated with red in MTG.
II. Green: The physical strength of units like the Roach and Ultralisk are best represented by green.
III. Black: A malevolent and a mindless nature are marks of black mana.
The fourth issue I dealt with was determining how to translate abilities from Starcraft 2 that seemed to have no equivalent in MTG. Psionic Storm is an example of an ability that translates well, since it simply deals damage to a number of target creatures. Force Field, on the other hand, cannot easily perform the same roll in MTG that it does in Starcraft 2. In order to bring these abilities into the Starcraft 2 MTG set, I decided that to merely keep the spirit of the abilities the same.
In Starcraft 2, Force Field is used to temporarily trap units in a location, usually making them ineffective by doing so. In MTG, there is a mechanic that does something similar. Some spells, generally white in color, tap a target, making it basically useless for the remainder of the turn. By using this concept, we can make an ability that functions like the Force Field Starcraft 2.
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![[image loading]](http://dailyduncan.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Sentry.jpg)
By causing attacking creatures to become remain tapped, the defending player is essentially preventing them from retreating from battle, just like in Starcraft 2.
Another set of abilities that doesn’t translate from Starcraft 2 to MTG is Cloak, Burrow and Detection. In Starcraft 2, a cloaked unit cannot be attacked unless a unit with detection or a Scanner Sweep reveals it. In MTG there are two similar mechanics: unblockable and shadow. Unblockable allows units to attack without ever worrying about being blocked by another unit, and shadow allows units to do the same, except they can be blocked by other creatures with shadow. Neither of these mechanics functions exactly like cloak in Starcraft 2, so I decided that in this case I would create a new mechanic.
I was very apprehensive about proceeding down this path, but I felt like the cloak and detection dynamic was significant and unique enough to warrant its own mechanic. Here’s how I defined these abilities:
Cloak: This creature is unblockable and can’t be the target of opponent’s spells or abilities, other than detection.
Burrow: Zerg creatures you control without flying have “Tap: Gain cloak (This creature is unblockable and can’t be the target of opponent’s spells or abilities, other than detection.) until end of turn.”
Detection: As long as this permanent is on the battlefield, creatures your opponents control no longer have cloak.
While this may cause the Starcraft 2 MTG set to behave strangely with other sets, it seemed important to me that units with cloak, burrow and detection function in a way that accurately reflects their roll in Starcraft 2. If I were to choose Unblockable, then there would be far too many unblockable units, since most Zerg units can burrow. If I chose Shadow, then cloaked units could be detected, but there would be even more units with Shadow than would otherwise be unblockable, since detecting a cloaked unit would require the detecting unit to also have shadow. In addition, neither unblockable nor shadow prevent units from being the target of spells or abilities — an important feature of cloak. Here are some examples of units with cloak and detection:
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![[image loading]](http://dailyduncan.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Ghost.jpg)
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![[image loading]](http://dailyduncan.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Dark-Templar.jpg)
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![[image loading]](http://dailyduncan.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Overseer.jpg)
Here are some more examples of cards that reflect my attempt to capture the spirit of a Starcraft 2 abilities and mechanics in MTG cards:
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![[image loading]](http://dailyduncan.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Warpgate-Technology.jpg)
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![[image loading]](http://dailyduncan.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Feedback.jpg)
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![[image loading]](http://dailyduncan.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Stimpack.jpg)
There are many more issues that I dealt with while putting together this set. I’ll briefly mention a few of them in the hope that my decisions will make sense.
1. Protoss Shields: This mechanic is designed for a real-time strategy game and doesn’t adapt well to turn-based games, especially ones in which units do not retain damage, so I went with a flat +0/+1 upgrade to all Protoss creatures and structures.
2. Nuclear Strike: The best way to implement this card is probably to make it similar to Wrath of God, but I hate that card and what it does to MTG, so I made Nuclear Strike a black card that destroys multiple creatures or structures, as it does in Starcraft 2.
3. Stimpack: I originally had Stimpack as an ability of Terran nonartifact creatures, but it makes more sense as an instant. I also wrestled with the specific effects. I knew that it had to decrease toughness, but how would it modify a creature's attack? It made sense to have Stimpack increase power, but I decided on haste and double strike, since stimming a unit in Starcraft 2 increases its movement and attack speed.
4. Workers: There were a lot of options for how to do the workers. I originally gave them “Tap: add 1 colorless mana to your mana pool,” since workers harvest crystals, but I noticed a lack of card-drawing abilities in my set, so I went in that direction. I also gave the worker of each race an ability that I thought reflected the its unique function in Starcraft 2.
I. SCV: Prevent damage dealt to artifacts (repair).
II. Probe: Play structure spells with flash (warp in buildings).
III. Drone: Sacrifice Drone to search library for a structure card (morph into structure).
5. Upgrades:
I. Structures: I originally had players spend mana to use the abilities of structures like the Engineering Bay, Forge or Spire to enhance units, but capping the upgrades at +3/+3 proved annoying and complicated. In order to prevent upgrading at more than one structure, they would have to be legendary or the upgrades would have to be restricted by an additional mechanic. I went with a flat +1/+1 upgrade to all Terran, Protoss or Zerg creatures for each of the upgrade structures a player controls.
II. Enchantments: In Starcraft 2, all upgrades are researched at structures. I could have done this in the card game, but I felt as though this would make structures too complicated and the decks more difficult to customize. Also, I felt that it was important to strive for an orthodox distribution of card types, so I made some upgrades into enchantments.
6. Morphing or transforming units: In Starcraft 2, players can morph or transform units from one into another. For Protoss and Zerg, that means sacrificing units like the Zergling or High Templar in order to create a more powerful unit. To implement this mechanic, I simply named the original creature as an additional cost to play the new one. For Terran’s transforming units, like the Hellion and Siege tank, I made reversible cards. The Terran simply taps the creature card to flip it around, representing the time it takes to shift forms.
7. Land: I created special lands that benefit each races. These lands represent a world of significance to each race, such as Korhal for Terran, Aiur for Protoss and Char for Zerg.
8. Mixed-race Units: I implemented some units that have more than one race type. These include the Infested Terran, Hybrid and Kerrigan, Queen of Blades. I wanted to have more mixed-race units to allow for more interesting deck creation, but the Starcraft 2 units didn't justify it.
9. Legendary Units: There are a number of important characters in the Starcraft universe, many of which deserve their own legendary card, but I wanted to limit them to only a few per race, so I only used the most important characters. I was more liberal with translating the abilities of legendary creatures, since they are difficult to quantify.
10. Builds: I created some instant and sorcery cards that represent certain tactics in Starcraft 2. These include the infamous Proxy Barracks, Four Gate and Six Pool.
11. Vespene Gas: I incorporated the Refinery, Assimilator and Extractor as mana-generating structures. They can be tapped for one mana of any color.
12. Supply: There isn’t really a reasonable way to implement such a foreign concept to MTG, so I just had Supply Depots, Overseers and Pylons add colorless mana in order to loosely represent their roll in the player’s economy in Starcraft 2.
13. Burrow: Burrow functions a lot like cloak, but once the Burrowing Claws enchantment is in play, all Zerg ground units a player controls can burrow. I made burrow only require tapping the creature, which could make for interesting untap mechanics.
14. Larva: I dabbled with using larva to draw Zerg creature cards and cast Zerg creature spells, but it ended up making Zerg extremely different from the other two races and violating my first rule. The larva mechanic now exists only as an ability of the Hatchery structure.
15. Automatic Upgrades: I had to decide whether or not creature cards would come with their upgraded abilities. The Psionic Storm ability, for example, must be researched before High Templar can use it in Starcraft 2. Although this could easily work in MTG, I felt as though the defining abilities should be an innate part of the creature, but activated at a cost. This is the route I chose for abilities like Charge and Fungal Growth and also those that don't require an upgrade in Starcraft 2, like Boost and Prismatic Alignment.
16. Number of Cards: Another challenge was deciding how many Starcraft 2 units, structures and abilities should be incorporated into the set. After all, most structures in Starcraft 2 that don't perform any function other than generating units or advancing the tech path. I decided to include all of the units and unit abilities, all of the upgrade and defensive buildings, but only a few of the unit-producing or tech buildings. This is definitely an area that could use improvement, as I'm sure there are many interesting uses for the Starport, Robotics Bay and Hive.
Here are some more examples of cards that I made:
Reaper
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![[image loading]](http://dailyduncan.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Reaper.jpg)
Widow Mine
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![[image loading]](http://dailyduncan.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Widow-Mine.jpg)
Viking
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![[image loading]](http://dailyduncan.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Viking-Fighter-Mode1.jpg)
Thor
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![[image loading]](http://dailyduncan.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Thor.jpg)
Battlecruiser
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![[image loading]](http://dailyduncan.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Battlecruiser.jpg)
Jim Raynor
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![[image loading]](http://dailyduncan.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Jim-Raynor.jpg)
Tech Lab
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![[image loading]](http://dailyduncan.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Tech-Lab.jpg)
EMP
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![[image loading]](http://dailyduncan.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/EMP.jpg)
Korhal
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![[image loading]](http://dailyduncan.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Korhal.jpg)
Stalker
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![[image loading]](http://dailyduncan.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Stalker.jpg)
Oracle
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![[image loading]](http://dailyduncan.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Oracle.jpg)
Immortal
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![[image loading]](http://dailyduncan.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Immortal.jpg)
Carrier
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![[image loading]](http://dailyduncan.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Carrier.jpg)
Mothership
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![[image loading]](http://dailyduncan.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Mothership.jpg)
Zeratul
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![[image loading]](http://dailyduncan.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Zeratul.jpg)
Templar Archives
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![[image loading]](http://dailyduncan.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Templar-Archives.jpg)
Hallucination
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![[image loading]](http://dailyduncan.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Hallucination.jpg)
Shakuras
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![[image loading]](http://dailyduncan.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Shakuras.jpg)
Zergling
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![[image loading]](http://dailyduncan.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Zergling.jpg)
Mutalisk
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![[image loading]](http://dailyduncan.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Mutalisk.jpg)
Swarm Host
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![[image loading]](http://dailyduncan.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Swarm-Host.jpg)
Ultralisk
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![[image loading]](http://dailyduncan.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Ultralisk.jpg)
Brood Lord
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![[image loading]](http://dailyduncan.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Brood-Lord.jpg)
Kerrigan, Queen of Blades
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![[image loading]](http://dailyduncan.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Kerrigan-Queen-of-Blades.jpg)
Creep
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![[image loading]](http://dailyduncan.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Creep.jpg)
Neural Parasite
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![[image loading]](http://dailyduncan.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Neural-Parasite.jpg)
Zerus
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![[image loading]](http://dailyduncan.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Zerus.jpg)
Xel'naga Tower
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![[image loading]](http://dailyduncan.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Xelnaga-Tower.jpg)
Xel'naga Artifact
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![[image loading]](http://dailyduncan.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Xelnaga-Artifact.jpg)
You can download the entire set of card images by clicking here.
Edit: The link above includes the latest version of my cards, which may differ from those in this post.
If you have any comments or questions about my cards, please feel free to share them. But before you do, please ensure that your post doesn't do one of the following two things:
1. Criticize the Zealot or Phoenix cards displayed in the post. These are examples of cards that I feel need improvement.
2. Raise an issue that I already addressed in this post.
If you found this post an overly-complicated waste of time, please visit http://www.dailyduncan.com for more.
I made all of these cards using MSE Development’s Magic Set Editor version 2.0.0. I’d like to thank them for making such an awesome program.
I'd also like to thank my brother, Shebuha, for helping me make some crucial decisions in the making of these cards.
The card art was taken without permission by searching Google images. Many of them are simply screen captures, but I appreciate that there are people out there who devote themselves to making amazing fan art. I apologize to anyone who I offended by borrowing their art. It was not my intent to offend or to profit from this endeavor.
![[image loading]](http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft/images/b/b5/Draco.png)
