Design Advice Frequently Asked Questions ·

Here you can find advice on how to design a card that's most likely to get into the game. These are just suggestions -- as long as your card doesn't break any rules, its up to the community.

How do I get my first card in?

We wrote an article giving general advice you can find here, highlighting some early innovators in creating cards. The short version is, there are many ways to get a card in, and being a good artist is only one of them.

We also recommend providing Commentary for your card to explain why you made it.

How can I develop an archetype?

This is something we see a lot of people try to do. Very few people come into card games wanting to make individual cards; usually, they have an idea for a whole deck, or a set of cards which work together, either thematically or mechanically.

We recommend spending a bit of time thinking about your archetype before trying to submit cards for it. One of the best examples of this we've seen was this reddit post. Benefits include:

Communicates your ideas to people who primarily read Reddit (Note: the Discord server will undoubtedly see your post and talk about it even if you don't post there; on the other hand, discussions on Discord are often overlooked, and rarely make it to Reddit)
May explain lore, Realm, deck archetype, or meta plans for your planned archetype
Prepares people to upvote on future cards you make
Displays a level of planning and dedication which will make people believe you when you say you plan to support this
Makes your cards feel "inevitable," instead of like an experiment you're trying out which can be stopped if early attempts don't make it into the game
Positive commenters will feel invested in your archetype's progress; negative commenters will provide constructive criticism, and if addressed, may also become invested
Non-card submission posts get posted in the #player-articles channel in Discord
An infographic like the one in the Vox post can communicate things more clearly than just text. Large blocks of text are an easy trap to fall into, but there’s a reason not everyone reads books and news articles are getting shorter.

We also recommend discussing your plans with people in the Discord. Getting at least some interest in your archetype there is a very good sign. The channel #archetype-building is a good spot for this.