Beacon of Creation

A show about design in Magic: the Gathering. Each week we cover both official cards and custom cards made by the community. The weekly design challenge gives you the opportunity to make it on the show! Hosted by Tim, Juliet, Kayiu and Markus, with guests! Music used with permission: https://www.youtube.com/user/daleculp

Finality Fantasy Challenge Review 07/02/2025

Finality Fantasy Challenge Review Your last chance on the battlefield! This month's design challenge is all about finality counters. Bring creatures back, but not forever. Added on top is a whole lot of Universes Beyond-style top down flavor! Tune in to hear about all the twists our designers found for this still-new mechanic. Join Beacon of Creation's Discord: Show Notes and Images: /episode/index/show/beaconofcreation/id/37253005

Live Design: Dual Lands, Novelty, and Callback 06/25/2025

Live Design: Dual Lands, Novelty, and Callback In this live-design episode, Tim and Juliet tackle a templating question based on the precedent of Party, with some help from Banding and Domain. Along the way, they examine the role that lands, dual lands, and 1/1s play in the sequencing of Magic's gameplay, and how all that's best of dark and bright (Shadowmoor and Lorwyn) meet in the aspect and eyes of novel designs. Join Beacon of Creation's Discord: Show Notes and Images: /episode/index/show/beaconofcreation/id/37143685

Cube Cube and More Cube! Washington Cube Champs Recap w/daisyama and zurishmi 06/18/2025

Cube Cube and More Cube! Washington Cube Champs Recap w/daisyama and zurishmi Washington Cube Champs is a two day event packed with cube draft! Not just a niche format anymore, cube has its own events and tournaments, including WCC pulling in over a hundred players! This week we've got a pair of interviews with players at the event, including a full breakdown of the cubes each of them played. Join Beacon of Creation's Discord: Show Notes and Images: Theme by Dee Culp /episode/index/show/beaconofcreation/id/37052100

Souped-Up Keywords! Your Upgrades On Old Mechanics 06/11/2025

Souped-Up Keywords! Your Upgrades On Old Mechanics With Tarkir Dragonstorm winding up, we're following their lead and enhancing some old mechanics! Like going from Scavenge to Renew and Flashback to Harmonize, we asked the listeners to design some new mechanics based on old ones. Designing mechanics is one of the hardest things to do a designer, so check out the fruits of everyone's labor! Join Beacon of Creation's Discord: Show Notes and Images: /episode/index/show/beaconofcreation/id/36932775

May B.C. Challenge Review 06/04/2025

May B.C. Challenge Review Elders... be they dragons, dinosaurs, or Final Fantasy villains, they've always got cool abilities and an epic feel. This week we review your submissions to the challenge of designing new Elders creatures. Thrown into the mix is Juliet's challenge to include... the whole alphabet? Another great wacky mix of card analysis, creativity, and tangents about childhood and podcast saints. Join Beacon of Creation's Discord: Show Notes and Images: /episode/index/show/beaconofcreation/id/36844850

Design Crossover - Dragon Ball Z TCG (2000) 05/28/2025

Design Crossover - Dragon Ball Z TCG (2000) Crossover eps take another card game, teach you the rules, and compare those ideas to Magic. What can we steal to use in our own designs? For this ep, our hair is turning gold, our energy is radiating from our bodies, and normal humans can't even see the speed of our punches. It's Dragonball Z! It's got commander-style face cards, a more spell-like combat system, and plenty of wild nooks and crannies to its design. Brad's bsky: Join Beacon of Creation's Discord: Show Notes and Images: /episode/index/show/beaconofcreation/id/36742795

Lore Detectives! They Made the Pack, Can We Order It?! 05/21/2025

Lore Detectives! They Made the Pack, Can We Order It?! This one is for the flavor text lovers! Tim and Juliet have to dissect the flavor in this mystery pack from Peter. The pack's story has an order, and it's up to us to figure it out! Very much a Custom Magic episode. Join Beacon of Creation's Discord: Show Notes and Images: Moonshot's big charity stream is this weekend! /episode/index/show/beaconofcreation/id/36653595

All About Quests w/Qirn 05/14/2025

All About Quests w/Qirn Starting in Zendikar, quests have been a fun way to build towards a goal. This week's guest, Qirn, has been thinking all about quests for a Legend of Zelda set and has some ideas. Along the way we break down the challenges of designing quests and the cards that are like quests. A deep dive! Join Beacon of Creation's Discord: Show Notes and Images: /episode/index/show/beaconofcreation/id/36559555

Alien Space Survival! Outpost Zero w/IgnitedxSoul 05/07/2025

Alien Space Survival! Outpost Zero w/IgnitedxSoul We've got Beacon regular IgnitedxSoul, aka Dylan, on the pod this week! The topic is Outpost Zero, a sci-fi horror set, but more specifically we're diving into some problem draft archetypes in the set. A nice mix of learning about the set and brainstorming ideas for designs! Check out Ignited's writing: Join Beacon of Creation's Discord: Show Notes and Images: /episode/index/show/beaconofcreation/id/36465340

Trick the Hosts! April Fools Design Challenge 04/30/2025

Trick the Hosts! April Fools Design Challenge Don't miss this ep! Our listeners each sent us one of two things: either a custom card (of any design) or a real card with the name and types changed. The job for us hosts is to guess which is which, and you can play along! Join Beacon of Creation's Discord: Show Notes and Images: /episode/index/show/beaconofcreation/id/36368565

Live Design - Tarkir Dragonstorm but make it Alchemy! 04/23/2025

Live Design - Tarkir Dragonstorm but make it Alchemy! With Dragonstorm out but Alchemy not yet revealed, we're taking a shot at some ideas for Arena play with these new mechanics! Long time discord member Craftedlavaistrue joins Tim and Peter for a trio of new cards. Join Beacon of Creation's Discord: Show Notes and Images: /episode/index/show/beaconofcreation/id/36274700

Enter the Micro-Set Voc-Gal Techniques w/Khord 04/16/2025

Enter the Micro-Set Voc-Gal Techniques w/Khord Arms and the magic we sing of fate And Voc-Gal's micro-set Battle rate. Meanwhile the well-built set speedily came to the isle of the two Sirens, for a fair and gentle wind bore her on. Then presently the wind ceased and there was a windless calm, and a god lulled the waves to sleep. /episode/index/show/beaconofcreation/id/36184220

Enter the Micro-Set: Veyrathal w/Redbay 04/09/2025

Enter the Micro-Set: Veyrathal w/Redbay Juliet and Redbay break down the hip new limited format and custom design project: 45-card Micro-sets for duplicate sealed! Can this new format bring the best of traditional set design limited and the brevity and expediency of jumpstart play? Check out a preview of five different Micro-sets made by different designers, with a deep dive into Redbay's own traditional-fantasy inspired Veyrathal! Check out the current state of each of the micro-sets here: Join Beacon of Creation's Discord: Reverse-Engineering a Definition Video Essay: /episode/index/show/beaconofcreation/id/36060540

You Are What You Eat Challenge Review 04/02/2025

You Are What You Eat Challenge Review Winter hibernation is over and we're hungry! Our challenge this month was to design cards with cards with devour, emerge, or exploit, so keep those snacks coming! We've got dreadmaws, eldrazi books, corrupt sherifs, lots of red arrows, and more! Join Beacon of Creation's Discord: Show Notes and Images: /episode/index/show/beaconofcreation/id/35971170

Retro Formats - Rise of the Eldrazi 03/26/2025

Retro Formats - Rise of the Eldrazi They don't make formats like they used to... but should they?! Join guest Tom on a tour through the famous Rise of the Eldrazi format. Along the way we'll also talk about the parallels between ROE and a certain current draft format. Finally we try to see beyond just the cards in the original set and brainstorm some additions to the format. Join Beacon of Creation's Discord: Show Notes: Theme by Dee Culp /episode/index/show/beaconofcreation/id/35865585

Episode 400! Remembering and Reconsidering Castmire 03/19/2025

Episode 400! Remembering and Reconsidering Castmire Celebrating 400 episodes! This is an intro to the original Beacon of Creation project, Castmire, a spooky Magic set in a world before Duskmourn and Murders at Karlov Manor. The coolest part of the ep is the second half, where we give into sweet ideas from all of you to do with Castmire. We've got the two original creators of Beacon here, Brad and Adam, and lots of their stories and perspectives! Join Beacon of Creation's Discord: Show Notes: Theme by Dee Culp Frog Legs Rag by Kevin Macleod /episode/index/show/beaconofcreation/id/35773045

Favorite Flavor - Food Cards w/Aaron Lim 03/12/2025

Favorite Flavor - Food Cards w/Aaron Lim Juliet and game designer Aaron Lim dig into Magic's most interesting cards with the Food subtype! From Gingerbrutes to Krovod Haunches, they resist the urge to create tokens and design some tasty (though potentially broken) cards that'll make you say "Bon Appétit". Check out Aaron's Kickstarter live now: You can hear "Ithaca in the Cards" played on Party of One here: Join Beacon of Creation's Discord: Show Notes: /episode/index/show/beaconofcreation/id/35649610

Four Weeks Challenge Review 03/05/2025

Four Weeks Challenge Review Big spells with a backup plan! We've got all of your entries in our Four Weeks challenge, where designers had to make a spell you can cast for either 8 mana or 2 mana! We've got lots of Cleave and Prototype, some Spree, and plenty of other innovations. Yet another fun design deep-dive! Juliet's Bath & Butler Works pod on Moonshot: Join Beacon of Creation's Discord: Show Notes: /episode/index/show/beaconofcreation/id/35541225

Final Fantasy Hype! w/Ash Parrish 02/26/2025

Final Fantasy Hype! w/Ash Parrish Final Fantasy previews are here and we've assembled a heroic party to talk all about it! Tim and Juliet are joined by the wonderful Ash Parrish of the Verge to break down all the cards. We talk our favorite previews, then talk through some possibilities for the set. What color is Bahamut? Should Materia be a token? What are the famous dragons in Final Fantasy anyhow? Ash's work: Ash is on Insert Credit: Join Beacon of Creation's Discord: Show Notes: /episode/index/show/beaconofcreation/id/35434255

You Make the Pack! But What One Should We Make?? 02/19/2025

You Make the Pack! But What One Should We Make?? You Make the Pack is our community project where we build a pack of Magic cards, one card at a time! What starts as a blank slate quickly narrows into a specific vision. Past packs were Food Hell World, Declining Clockwork Empire, and The Beach That Makes You Old. For this episode we're looking at everyone's cards for this new YMTP. We've got snorf, story, spores and more. Come along with us as we explore all the possibilities. Khord's stuff: Peter's new bsky: Join Beacon of Creation's Discord: Show Notes: Theme by Dee Culp, but listen to the end of the episode too... /episode/index/show/beaconofcreation/id/35345005

Following Signposts - Aetherdrift 02/12/2025

Following Signposts - Aetherdrift This week is all about drift archetypes! We break down all ten from the new set along with their gold cards. Are they exciting? Believeable? Synergistic? This is a great way to get familiar with the components of the set's limited design. Join Beacon of Creation's Discord: Show Notes: Watch "Cars" for Pete's sake! /episode/index/show/beaconofcreation/id/35250945

First of Its Kind Challenge Review 02/05/2025

First of Its Kind Challenge Review What is Magic missing? We listened to all of you! This month's challenge was to use a new creature type and we went through all your cards. Juliet's new game: Moonshot Patreon for Juliet's next project: Join Beacon of Creation's Discord: Show Notes: /episode/index/show/beaconofcreation/id/35157265

Design Crossover - Joyride: Survival of the Fastest 01/29/2025

Design Crossover - Joyride: Survival of the Fastest In this episode we learn about Joyride, a bumper car battle race board game. Along the way we brainstorm ideas in Magic inspired by this new game! Join Beacon of Creation's Discord: Show Notes: /episode/index/show/beaconofcreation/id/35060830

Cube Concoctions! Reviewing Your Cube Pitches 01/22/2025

Cube Concoctions! Reviewing Your Cube Pitches This week we're in the lab, talking all about cube experiments! Something between a normal limited format and a custom set, a cube is a way to test out all varieties of Magic in just the right conditions. To help him, Tim brings on cube organizer Alex and format mastermind Sam to go through more than a dozen cube pitches! Join Beacon of Creation's Discord: Show Notes: /episode/index/show/beaconofcreation/id/34953065

The Beast Unleashed! Iterating a Set Mechanic 01/15/2025

The Beast Unleashed! Iterating a Set Mechanic Would you like to listen to two people say the word "Beast" about two hundred times each? We have the episode for you. Diving into "Call the Beast" from Wrenchmar, we talk all about how to package flavor and novelty into a showstopper mechanic. No need to know anything going in, we cover it all! Join Beacon of Creation's Discord: Show Notes: /episode/index/show/beaconofcreation/id/34863225

Ways for You to Make a New Game in the New Year! 01/08/2025

Ways for You to Make a New Game in the New Year! Part of what makes Custom Magic fun is how easy it is to get into. Design a card, show it around, and done! For the New Year, Juliet wanted to tell us all about other ways to get involved in game design as a solo designer. There's so much in this pod!!! Some of the tools described: GB Studio Bitsy Renpy Button Shy downpour decker RPGMaker w/Pokemon Essentials Also look forward to Showcase Zero this Friday! Join Beacon of Creation's Discord: Show Notes: /episode/index/show/beaconofcreation/id/34769865

Advent Sentinel Challenge Review 01/01/2025

Advent Sentinel Challenge Review We've got a ten pack of Defender-matters cards to review this month for our (Ad)vent Sentinel design challenge! The added twist here of getting the number 12 on a card really put our designers on an interesting track. Juliet's Castmas pod: Join Beacon of Creation's Discord: Show Notes: /episode/index/show/beaconofcreation/id/34672570

Design Crossover - Teamfight Tactics w/Shawn Elizabeth Main! 12/25/2024

Design Crossover - Teamfight Tactics w/Shawn Elizabeth Main! We've got a super cool guest for our episode this week! Principal game designer on the new Teamfight Tactics season, Shawn Elizabeth Main!! Not only that, Shawn was the lead on Conspiracy, so you know we're getting some multiplayer Magic talk in too. These Design Crossover eps are all about learning a new game and then riding that wave of inspiration back into some ideas for Magic. This one is for the multiplayer draft heads! The new TFT set/season, Into the Arcane: Join Beacon of Creation's Discord: Show Notes: /episode/index/show/beaconofcreation/id/34612980

Unpacking - Wrenchmar 12/18/2024

Unpacking - Wrenchmar Unpacking is where we go through a pack one card at a time and learn what we can just from that pack. No archetype lists, no explanation of mechanics, just what's on the cards. It's a great way to both see what the packs can tell us, but also brainstorm things that COULD be in a set but aren't. (also shh... we told Bradley he was recording an ep about Foundations so we could suprise him) The pack: Bradley's twitch: Join Beacon of Creation's Discord: Show Notes: /episode/index/show/beaconofcreation/id/34498340

Design Crossover - Transformers Card Game 12/11/2024

Design Crossover - Transformers Card Game We've got Bass back on the pod to tell us EVERYTHING about the short-lived Transformers TCG! This game burned short but burned bright. You start with your whole team in play, and each card has value both as a spell but also during the super cool "flip" phase of combat! Like all Crossover eps, we also sprinkle in plenty of ideas of how to cross those mechanics back into Magic. Join Beacon of Creation's Discord: Show Notes: /episode/index/show/beaconofcreation/id/34390760

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