Magic the Gathering personalized cards. Help with details?

Dulcius_ex_asperis

OK, my bf loves Magic the Gathering. Our 2nd anniversary is fast approaching, and I have tons of time to mess about with photoshop. Since I don't have a ton of money (unemployed right now, part of the reason that I have tons of time..ugh), I thought it would be cool to 'shop us onto some magic cards, but I'm a bad gf and don't really know a ton of details about the actual game. Any tips on funny little additions to make to the cards? What are some things I need to know about the game before doing this, etc?

PeregrineFalcon

That is both incredibly nerdy and incredibly thoughtful. Your boyfriend is lucky.

A good place to start, as usual, is the Wikipedia page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic:_The_Gathering

Don't bother with the rules or intricate details - just get a look at the cards, the art style, and the type of text being used. Then read the section about the colours, and what they represent (white is for purity, black for power, blue for intelligence, etc) so that you can weave little elements of that into the card.

Also, if it's not too personal (and you're positive your boyfriend isn't also a PA forum member!) you can bounce ideas off of us. Text, pictures, whatever you're comfortable with.

Good luck!

Ninja edit - If you want to be buried under an avalanche of cards to look at, try the Gatherer database at the WoTC website:
http://gatherer.wizards.com/

Just pick a set under Step 3, and hit Search - it should give you the full list of cards. As far as getting a high-res source image, you'll have to either swipe one of his cards and scan it, or look for a better shot online (eBay, or Google Image Search)

Dulcius_ex_asperis

Yeah, he's a huge nerd and so am I, so I figured rather than get him something that doesn't suit him, I'd do something more...us. Well, not so much me since I don't play Magic, but yeah.

Oh, he is a PA member. I'm pretty positive he won't see this, though. He never goes in H/A.

Thanks for the links. For some reason wikipedia never even crossed my mind!

And the Gatherer database...ooo this should be good.

Seguer

http://magicseteditor.sourceforge.net/

Help you to make your own cards and makes them look basically authentic too.

Atlus Parker

If you're looking to do something funny, take a look at the Unglued sets. They're Magic cards that aren't really Magic cards.

Casual Eddy

Here's a thought

In magic the gathering there are sometimes cards that work as a set or two halves of a more powerful card. You could get two cards, name them after yourselves, and give yourselves appropriate abilities, and maybe "if [other person] is in play, you gain +5/+5, flying, protection from all colors, and love."

Also cards tend to have 'flavor text' at the bottom, which is there to add flavor or backstory. You could use this as two halves of the same sentence, one half on each card, or complimentary sentences or stories.

Also make your creature types adorable. Like you could be Summon Snuggle Puppy and he could be Summon Cuddlesaurus or something.

JaysonFour

Make legends out of yourselves-one of each color emphasizing something about each other, with appropriate photos. Then pull out some casual decks, add them in, and have fun!

Forar

Also, if you're looking for ideas, I believe there's an archived thread or two where people made up their own cards.

JaysonFour

Actually, there's an old thread where a bunch of people made a Penny Arcade M:tG set- Fruit Fucker and all. Might have to dig for it, and I wouldn't know if the links to the card art still work, though.

Bendery It Like Beckham

Hell, I'm going to nerd this up even further. Take a look at what attitudes are prominent in each of the different color high profile characters.

Red characters are normally quick to anger and arrogant, they value strength over anything else

Blue characters are intelligent and value wisdom

Green are empathetic and value life

White are true and value justice

Black are fierce and value power.

If you read some character backgrounds, or some spark notes on the lore through 'the brothers war' and 'the colors of magic' you'll get a good idea of what colors you should place with your cards. Depending on how far you want to get in to it, post ideas here and I'll bounce ideas around considering mana costs and stuff.

JaysonFour

I'll listen, too. May have not played since Coldsnap, but I still know a lot.

gneGne

Damn I forgot how cool and nice the art was on these cards. Also the texts are pretty cool. I still remember having cards from the Arabian Nights.

Ryadic

May wanna look on this forum for some ideas / help as well. It's a popular MTG forum and this is a forum with sub forum dedicated to custom card creation. They may actually help you out a lot better than we could.