Hello everyone!

For those of you who don’t know, I have said for a little bit that the blogs for Monday were going to be coming and that they would be consistent.

As you may have noticed, however that hasn’t really been the case.

Let’s get a rundown as to what that blog was going to be, where the issues come in, and what to do to help figure out what to do in the meantime.

Original Plans and Issues

The original plans for what the Monday blog was going to be was sort of riffing off of the original Magic Project: Omega, where I would be making custom cards.

However, since I am one of the people who doesn’t really have an issue with Universes Beyond, the idea of the blog was that I would be making cards that were based off of other IP’s.

The name of the blog was going to be called Beyonding the Universe, and would also double as my way to sort of do media analysis where I would look at a property and try to translate that property into Magic cards, not a whole set mind you, just a few cards that work as proofs of concept.

They would take characters and moments from that piece of media, put them onto cards, roll out some new mechanics to go along with it, talk about potential issues, and add in some of my thoughts on that piece of media.

Seems like a simple enough idea, especially since I wasn’t going to be working on making whole sets of cards, just a couple that would explain how a piece of media could potentially translate into a set or even just a mini release of Universes Beyond cards for a Secret Lair.

The first issue: technical. The program I use for the custom cards us called Magic Set Editor.

It’s a very robust program that allows for custom cards and does so very well. However, there is one major issue that I have with the program.

The issue I have found is that when making cards that use certain keywords, then it will automatically add reminder text. Now this isn’t too much of an issue when including one , but if you try including two or one that has a lot of reminder text, then it can cramp up the card.

I was attempting to make a card that had proliferate, and since the rest of the card had a decent amount of text already, the reminder text just cramped the card up making it a pain to read.

The second issue: creative. I noticed this as I was working on the first set of cards to go up.

Making Magic cards is hard, even if you’re only making five or six cards, especially when it comes to making cards from other properties. You have to select what property to do, look throughout that property for not just characters, but items and actions to make cards out of, then you need to make a card that fulfills a function that works in the rules in Magic and also works for that character, item, or action.

Now I could have chosen properties that don’t work as Magic cards, that could very well be the case. But trying to distill the essence of a set into five or six cards was difficult, as well as trying to make mechanics that are flavorful and functional.

Then compound that with the intent being every week a new series of cards would need to be made, with the same process needing to be done over and over again, it would have compounded one of the issue I had with Magic Project: Omega, where one person making a set is a massive and difficult creative endeavor.

The third issue: reception. This is where I have to be a website manager and lead editor and look at the numbers to make a decisive choice.

Magic Project: Omega was not majorly read, that is a fact based off of the data I have access to. That could be related to a number of factors, one of which is that custom cards tend to be a finer niche within the Magic community.

Now combine that with the divisive reaction that Universes Beyond has had within the community. I know there is a whole spectrum of opinions on the subject, and while I do think the blog could have some fans, I don’t know if that many people would like to see my custom cards of properties that they may or may not like.

It is me imagining a scenario that is predicated on me getting a lot more viewers and readers than I currently am, but that is how my brain works and it has left me at a weird impasse.

And this is where you all come in.

Survey

I do want there to be a Monday blog, I do think that three blogs on the site helps keep me active and engaged with the website and prevents me from falling into a rabbit hole of being bored.

However, what that blog will be is something that I have several ideas on, and I can’t pick just one.

This is where you all come in, I want to do a blog where I do what you want so I know how do direct the content in the future.

There are several options to consider, and that is where a survey comes in handy!

Follow this link and participate in the survey to help me figure out what sort of blog to make on Mondays.

It will be up until November 24th, where I will close the survey and announce the results in a separate blog.

Please let me know what sort of blogs you want to see here, and I will do my best to deliver what’s been chosen.

Thank you for reading, see you all next time!

Peace,

From, J.M. Casual