yidarowandering

[yidarowandering]

Totality

“This is my high definition photo of last night's total lunar eclipse, created by stacking a total of 200 images captured during the totality phase.”

Astronycc

[yidarowandering]

Friendship.

[yidarowandering]

the cultural object of the black hole is kind of remarkable. It's almost an anti-God in a sense, a negative infinity. Yeah there's this kind of dead sun that's collapsed into an infinitely dense point, and if you fall past its event horizon you're fucked. Every schoolchild knows this. A black hole can be introduced in a superhero blockbuster without any explanation except for its established look and the name "black hole", and this will be understood as the ultimate natural disaster, which even superman could not hope to defeat. truly S-tier cosmic object

[yidarowandering]

[yidarowandering]

A Good Rat's Guide To Murder

Fire, smoke, death, rot, decay, and blood. If Greasefang were any less serious about what she needed to do, she’d start mocking the Devouring Chaos’s cult for being just like every other oni cult in Towashi. But she was hunting for the one who put a bounty on her head: Akane, the assumed-dead previous Okiba boss.

She had left her Okibas behind when she reached the highly-contested part of Towashi where Okiba and Hyozan turf met. She didn’t want to risk her Reckoners. Not down here, not like this. Instead, she had a swarm of roaches, a thunder pistol, and her trusty wrench. Her hoverbike was back near the entrance, hidden in case she needed it to get further away after she finished this.

If she succeeded.

If she escaped.

Her grip tightened on her wrench in her right hand. Her magic curled around the thunder pistol, ensuring that she would hit her mark. All she needed to do was get in, kill Akane, and get out. Simple to the point of alarming. But as she crept deeper into the pit of violence, she knew it wouldn’t be so easy.

Cages lined the space and formed a type of labyrinthe. Many were empty and bloodstained. Some held her own Okibas, some held Hyozans, some held Reckoners from the more minor gangs, and some held non-Reckoners. Mostly humans and nezumi. The undesirables of Kamigawa. The ones that no one would miss. Starved, beaten, and bleeding.

Greasefang bared her teeth. Every step was carefully chosen to make as little noise as possible. If she could, she’d break open the cages and tell the captives to run. But most of them weren’t in good enough condition to successfully escape if pursued.

There were more cultists here than she thought there would be. Easily fifteen, by her count, and maybe a few hidden away in another part of the cavern. But you didn’t become a Reckoner boss if you couldn’t do threat assessment. While Akane, the heavily scarred nezumi at the altar, was her target, she knew that the sole ogre among the cultists would be the biggest direct threat immediately. The rest – five humans, five nezumi, and three kitsune – were also clearly dangerous, but size didn’t matter as much against them as it did against an ogre.

She had six rounds’ worth of shots in the thunder pistol. She was going to make it count.

With the crack of thunder echoing through the cavern, the ogre fell, a hole where his face once was. Five rounds.

As the thunder pistol recharged for its next shot, Greasefang darted forward with her wrench at the ready. The other nezumi were easy for her to deal with with merely her wrench. Bones cracked and blood splattered as she made her way forwards. One of the kitsune got close as the thunder pistol finished recharging and immediately took a shot to the heart that dropped them immediately. Four rounds.

Greasefang then scurried up the body of one of the humans and choked him with her tail. Her summoned roaches crawled up the bodies of the other humans, biting and overwhelming the enemy. The thunder pistol fired again, hitting the second kitsune in the throat. Three rounds.

Greasefang snapped the neck of the human she was on and used his falling body as a launch pad to tackle the final kitsune, digging her claws into their skin. Her wrench was now held by her tail, swinging wildly as the kitsune tried to dislodge her. The thunder pistol went off, hitting the kitsune in the leg, and Greasefang held on as they hit the ground. Two rounds. The remaining humans also fell, the roaches having succeeded in their part of this fight. A second shot from the thunder pistol was far more deadly, going through the heart. One round.

Akane slowly clapped as she descended from the raised dais and altar. “Bravo, Okiba boss, bravo,” she said. “Quite the showing there, Greasefang. You’re a natural.”

Greasefang retrieved her wrench from her own tail. Its weight was steady. Comforting. Sturdy. “Akane.”

Akane began to circle Greasefang. “And you even remember me! Weren’t you just a pup when I left and found a greater calling?”

“Sixteen,” Greasefang said, circling as well to keep Akane from getting behind her. “And I became the boss a mere year later after beating out the competition.”

“Competition to become the boss of a reviled gang full of a reviled race,” Akane countered coolly. “While I have become one of the most powerful followers of the most powerful oni.”

Greasefang scoffed. “Powerful? You call this�� – she gestured at the cages, the rot, the dead and near-dead – “power?”

“Didn’t you feel it?” Akane snarled, a butcher’s cleaver now in her hand. She gestured broadly to all of the bodies between and around them. “The blood pumping through you as you broke bones? That is true power!”

She had one shot left. She needed to make it truly count. She needed to keep cool and find the right opening. “Power in service to an oni isn’t your power, it’s his. My power is in what you turned your back on.”

“Then let’s see how they compare!” Akane lunged.

Greasefang met her halfway across the gap. Her wrench blocked the knife. She hit Akane in the muzzle with the butt of her pistol. Akane’s claws dug into her arm, drawing blood. Disengage, re-engage. Attack, defend, counterattack. It was a bloody dance, with each push shedding blood from both nezumi.

Greasefang’s heart pounded in her chest. She was slowing down, but Akane wasn’t. She needed to end this quickly.

An opening. She slammed her wrench against Akane’s face, knocking the other nezumi to the ground. She pointed the muzzle of the thunder pistol at the other nezumi. “Any last words?” she offered.

Akane laughed. “None. Go ahead, fellow killer.” It was a last-ditch attempt to get under Greasefang’s skin.

But Greasefang had long ago made peace with what she was.

She pulled the trigger.

Thunder crashed.

Silence fell.

[yidarowandering]

For all the MTG fans, if you know, then you know.

[yidarowandering]

HAPPY PRIDE MONTH

Happy June for all:

I finally finished it after so many days and hours. and I thought (I have to I'll upload it on the first day). One of my favorite MTG girls :3

[yidarowandering]

lol

[yidarowandering]

Aurora Custom Cards: Part 2

The gods (plus one immortal god-killer) of Aurora, reimagined as Magic cards! Obligatory reminder to go read Aurora at https://comicaurora.com, if you haven't done so already. It's amazing stuff!

The way gods are portrayed in Aurora is so similar to how they're portrayed in the lore of Theros, so I knew I had to make them enchantment creatures. But the "devotion" mechanic didn't seem like a great fit, especially since I knew I wanted to use my "aurora" mechanic to encourage color splashing. So I just tacked on a bunch of miscellaneous conditions to keep them from becoming creatures, instead. I think I like how that ended up, since it really helps show off the individuality and variety of gods in this setting!

I'm not sure how to explain why I felt like the Collector needed to be a planeswalker, instead of a creature. It just sorta felt right.

I'll probably keep making more of these at some point, because it's too fun to just stop and I definitely have more ideas for legendary cards for some villains and side characters, like Shrike and Theia. Keep an eye out for future posts!

[yidarowandering]

Aurora Custom Cards

Been a while since I made a custom card post! Tackling another of my favorite webcomics this time, this amazing Aurora by Red (of Overly Sarcastic Productions)!

So without further ado, the Aurora protagonist crew as Magic: the Gathering cards:

I really wanted to think of a fun and unique mechanic to make these feel like part of a real set, and hit upon the idea of representing the comic's eponymous Auroras with something kind of like Innistrad's Day/Night mechanic, except it cares about colors. I think it came out pretty well! I took a lot of inspiration from Mark Rosewater's articles about the last Ixalan set's original handoff document.

In my mind, the six "known" elements of Aurora would actually be only represented by URG in the color pie - Wind & Water are Blue, Fire & Lightning are Red, and Life & Stone are Green - while Void is represented by Black and the paladins' light magic by White. That did mean Erin had to be a four-color card, which was a little weird, but I think he's still pretty playable this way.

Picking out the art for some of these guys was surprisingly difficult - despite how cinematic and character-focused the comic feels as a whole, there aren't actually that many nice, big, splash panels that show off specific characters in dynamic poses. Heck, I couldn't even find one I really liked for Kendal (Mr. Protagonist himself!) until I had the idea to check out the chapter covers!

Tess is a Planeswalker partly because I just couldn't resist the "Spark" pun, but also because she seems like she'd have a really good time wandering the Multiverse and seeing all there is to see. It just fits!

I'm working on making all the God characters (Tynan, Tahraim, etc.) into cards too - I'll post that later when I'm finished.

[yidarowandering]

crimson vow or something

[yidarowandering]

I finally drew the new spirit dragons, I almost gave up in finishing this...but I'm glad I did.

Elder Dragons - Dragonlords

[yidarowandering]

I love you completely useless information provided in niche parts of a game that provide the tiniest bits of nonvital worldbuilding that only I care about

[yidarowandering]

Tarkir: Dragonstorm Play Booster Challenge

I always like to make a custom booster pack of cards to accompany a set release. (Once we start getting more UniBey sets this might change; I didn't do one for LotR cause I'm not overly familiar with it and that's gonna be happening more and more.) This is styled after a contest from GDS3 and in that vein, I try to make cards that not only would feel appropriate as part of the set, but also that are pushing in new directions. I'm choosing to forgo the descriptions i've done in the past, only transcriptions

Art links

Align with Fires's art by ManoelaCosta

Jeskai Wind-Staff's art by Ben G.

Revived Kin-Tree's art by Jereme Peabody

Shriekbrood Dragonoid's art by Robert Laszlo Kiss

Whisper Mystic's art by Ivan Kholdaenko

Catapult Expert's art by faroldjo

Hidden for the Hunt's art by Blackirita

Unified Teaching's art by Jashezilla

Ensure Victory's art by Honora

Sorrows Singer's art by Igor Grechanyi

Annointer of Jade's art by Darya Abdulina

Mardu Bondkeeper's art by Shahzeb Khan Raza

Dominion of the Dragons's art by Dmitrii Morozov

Card transcriptions below

Align with the Fires

1R Enchantment [rare] When this enchantment enters and at the beginning of your upkeep, exile the top card of your library. You may cast that card until end of turn as long as you cast a spell before in this turn.

Jeskai Wind-Staff

W Artifact-Equipment [uncommon] Equipped creature gets +1/+1 and has flying. Equip 3 Flurry - Whenever you cast your second spell each turn, attach this Equipment to up to one target creature you control.

Revived Kin-Tree

1G Creature- Plant [uncommon] Defender This creature enters with five soul counters on it. X, T, Remove X soul counters from this creature: Another target creature you control endures X. Activate only as a sorcery. (Put X +1/+1 counters on it or create an X/X white Spirit creature token.) 0/5

Shriekbrood Dragonoid

3WB Creature- Bird Dragon [uncommon] Flying, lifelink Whenever this creature attacks, attacking tokens get +1/+0 until end of turn. 3/4 > Talon and Wing 2W/B > Sorcery- Omen > Create two 1/1 white Bird creature tokens with flying. (Then shuffle this card into its owner’s library.)

Whisper Mystic

2GUR Creature- Human Wizard [uncommon] Vigilance As an additional cost to cast an instant or sorcery spell, you may tap an untapped creature you control. If you do, that spell costs X less to cast, where X is that creature's power. 2/5

Catapult Expert

2W Creature- Goblin Warrior [common] Mobilize 1. The token you create this way gains flying until end of turn. (Whenever this creature attacks, create a tapped and attacking 1/1 red Warrior creature token. Sacrifice it at the beginning of the next end step.) 2/3

Hidden for the Hunt

U Sorcery [common] Target creature can't be blocked this turn. Put a +1/+1 counter on it if a card left your graveyard this turn. Harmonize 4U (You may cast this card from your graveyard for its harmonize cost. You may tap a creature you control to reduce that cost by X, where X is its power. Then exile this spell.)

Unified Teachings

3U Instant [common] Draw two cards. If three or more colors were spent to cast this spell, draw three cards instead. Dragonlord Ojutai’s teachings were ripe with hypocrisy. The new Jeskai, instead, encourage challenge.

Ensure Victory

1B Instant [common] Destroy target creature that was dealt damage this turn. Draw a card. Renew — B, Exile this card from your graveyard: Put a deathtouch counter on target creature. Activate only as a sorcery. The new Sultai differ greatly from the ancients, but their expertise with deadly poisons remains.

Sorrows Singer

1R Creature- Goblin Bard [common] When this creature enters, mill a card. You may play that card from your graveyard until the end of your next turn. 2/2 “I offered her meat and I offered a plea, Hoping the great dragon wouldn’t eat me, But under the Temur I now can live free!” — A Goblin’s Lament, verse 3

Annointer of Jade

2G Creature- Snake Warrior [common] Renew - 1G, Exile this card from your graveyard: Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature. Activate only as a sorcery. Renew - 6G, Exile this card from your graveyard: Put three +1/+1 counters on target creature. Activate only as a sorcery. 3/3

Mardu Bondkeeper

5 Artifact Creature- Golem [common] When this creature enters, create two 1/1 red Goblin creature tokens. 2/R2/W2/B: This creature gains double strike until end of turn. 2/3

Dominion of the Dragons

Land [common] This land enters tapped. When this land enters, sacrifice it unless you pay 1 or behold a Dragon. (To behold a Dragon, choose a Dragon you control or reveal a Dragon card from your hand.) T: Add one mana of any color.

End transcription

[yidarowandering]

Magic the Gathering tip: uhhhhh

[yidarowandering]

[yidarowandering]

Learning Magic the Gathering from my partner has been kinda hilarious cuz I find a lot of the cards will be either:

Treznor, the Eternal Flame: *3 paragraphs of text* -> Widely maligned, considered basically useless

Grey Rock: adds 2 mana -> $14,000 per copy, outlawed in 12 countries