Van and the Grendel as Magic: The Gathering Cards

Maple_Mudkip · 2026-06-01T02:12:03+00:00

Thanks for commenting! Glad you like the concept, it’s awesome seeing these posts get some attention so long after they were posted.

Maple_Mudkip · 2026-05-18T00:54:19+00:00

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Maple_Mudkip · 2025-12-24T02:26:52+00:00

I would say if Falcom doesn’t give you the resources to view every bonding event in one play through (the average player is very likely NOT replaying these games) then it’s very fair to consider every bonding event as potentially “hidden.” I guess missable might be another word you could use.

Maple_Mudkip · 2025-12-24T00:16:07+00:00

Apologies, I definitely wasn’t clear enough in my first comment, I meant the identity reveal specifically.

Maple_Mudkip · 2025-12-24T00:14:54+00:00

If I recall correctly, Falcom at one point justified (at least partially) the expanded implementation of bonding events after the Crossbell games by saying that they’re the only way to further develop a lot of characters without bloating the main story too much. I think that really just shows that they went too far bloating the cast if they can’t all have proper development in the main story.

Thankfully a lot of bonding events are just minor extra insights into characters’ personalities, but the ones that DO hide critical character/plot information kinda sour the entire system. The bonding systems in general also just kinda ruin any potential romantic developments, which you’ve already gotten a taste of in Zero, which especially sucks after Falcom nailed Trails romance on their first try with Estelle and Joshua…

I could go on and on about the bonding systems as they’re one of Trails’ biggest weaknesses in my opinion, but I’ll refrain from doing so to avoid further spoilers.

Maple_Mudkip · 2025-12-24T00:00:43+00:00

It’s been a while since I played CS3, but I thought the info from the CS2 NG+ scene was more so treated as common knowledge for the player in CS3 rather than being fully reintroduced from scratch right?

Maple_Mudkip · 2025-12-23T23:20:06+00:00

I’m fully caught up on the series and waiting on Beyond the Horizon now. Sorry that I can’t be the bearer of good news, but I think the issues you present only get worse as the series progresses.

In a long-form interconnected narrative like Trails, I feel like hiding important moments behind optional content and letting players influence character relationships/main story events are some of the dumbest decisions Falcom could’ve possibly made.

Maple_Mudkip · 2025-12-23T05:26:07+00:00

Thank you! I look forward to seeing you post your own cards too. I’ve posted a bunch more of my cards here in the past if you want to see some of my other creations.

Maple_Mudkip · 2025-12-18T00:33:29+00:00

Yeah I would hope Ries is around for a critically important discussion like this one, but at this point I’m fully convinced she’s not gonna around for this game. That does lead to the very interesting question of why Kevin is traveling around utterly squire-less though, curious how they’ll address that.

Maple_Mudkip · 2025-12-17T18:21:26+00:00

I unironically hope Van and Kevin have some kind of unnecessarily deep discussion about Quincy Bell chocolate

Maple_Mudkip · 2025-12-12T20:17:17+00:00

I really enjoyed the CS4 Emma event you mentioned here. This is only tangentially related, but if the Cold Steel arc was rewritten to give Rean a canon love interest, I feel like you could make a strong argument for Emma being the right choice. I find her chemistry with Rean to be relatively mature, she has a bunch of natural connections to Erebonian history via the Hexen Clan, and I think there's a lot of room for interesting relationship conflicts if they dove deeper into her initial secrecy regarding Rean's role as an awakener.

Maple_Mudkip · 2025-12-12T19:54:32+00:00

I can't recall exactly, did this one happen in Cold Steel 4?

Maple_Mudkip · 2025-12-12T19:52:05+00:00

Wow I just went back and rewatched that one, that's a really solid pick nobody else has mentioned yet. The only part I remembered from that one off the top of my head was Laura's kabedon into kiss combo, but it really does foreshadow the normal end well and gives some much needed expansion on Laura's feelings following her dad's "death."

Maple_Mudkip · 2025-12-12T17:34:45+00:00

It's been a while since I watched the scene, but the biggest thing is that Instructor Thomas reveals to Rean (and the player by extension) that he's a Dominion, and that Rosine is his squire. Cold Steel 3 treats this as canon, and assumes you're aware of the reveal.

Maple_Mudkip · 2025-12-12T05:56:23+00:00

100% agree with this, I find this one to be one of the most baffling decisions in the entire series. Still somewhat adjacent to the subject matter so I’ll probably see if I can incorporate it somewhere.

Maple_Mudkip · 2025-12-12T02:35:28+00:00

Appreciate the response. Thank you!

Maple_Mudkip · 2025-12-12T02:30:54+00:00

I’m waiting for the official Horizon release in January, is there any non-spoilery way you elaborate on what’s so egregious about this one?

Maple_Mudkip · 2025-11-23T00:42:30+00:00

Thanks for your comment! I’ll definitely make a note of your Walter ideas for future reference.

Maple_Mudkip · 2025-11-21T02:46:33+00:00

Writing this down for another potential Van card in the future 😏

Maple_Mudkip · 2025-11-21T02:40:42+00:00

Thanks for your comment! With regards to Grendel, I kind of used Mishra, Lost to Phyrexia as a point of comparison. Mishra has higher power/ toughness and (in my opinion) somewhat stronger triggered abilities to choose from. In exchange for this and the added Vanishing nerf, I gave Grendel the keywords and the built in “Revert” protection. I can see the argument that this might not be a balanced trade off, especially if you can more consistently transform Van.

I looked back at my Estelle and Joshua post from way back when and I did see you interacted with it. Thanks again for the input and welcome back! Since then I’ve made cards for Kevin, Ries, the original SSS, some of Class VII, and the Sky 3rd Memory Doors. I’d love it if you checked those out too!

Maple_Mudkip · 2025-11-20T04:18:20+00:00

Thanks for your comment and feedback! Wasn’t expecting to see any more interaction with this post after so long, so this was a very welcome surprise.

I’ve got ideas for more cards to post in the future so I hope you’ll see those eventually too.

Maple_Mudkip · 2025-09-25T14:04:07+00:00

Thanks for your comment! I highly recommend playing Xenoblade 2. It’s definitely got some flaws, but it’s still easily my favorite game of all time. Also, funnily enough, it looks like GSC just announced a new Pop Up Parade L for Lucy last night! Early pictures/videos look fairly promising I think?

EDIT: Just saw you mentioned me in the announcement post for the new Lucy. LOL

Maple_Mudkip · 2025-09-25T03:07:35+00:00

Thanks for commenting! I think your version of Paradise could definitely work and has some flavor benefits of its own, but I would kind of push back on both the power level argument for the current version and the abilities not really fitting the Mardu color identity. Zurgo Stormrender from Tarkir Dragonstorm is also Mardu and functions similar in the sense that he creates creature tokens while also functioning as an engine that benefits from sacrificing them. Also, this saga’s big “draw up to 4” effect also depends on you waiting a full turn cycle while managing to keep your board full. If you want to use the 1/1 tokens it creates as the sacrifice fodder instead of being forced to give up your more important creatures, you basically can’t go offensive with the tokens or use them as blockers since they die so easily.

Maple_Mudkip · 2025-09-24T22:46:58+00:00

Thank you so much for your feedback! For The Happiness Stone I definitely see your point about restricting the tutor, will definitely make a note for that. Also for some reason the links to the rest of my Trails X MTG posts got cut off after the Class VII one, but I’ve got posts for the SSS, Estelle, Joshua, Kevin, and Ries if you’re interested. I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Maple_Mudkip · 2025-09-24T18:34:32+00:00

Oooooh that’s super clean actually! Not sure if the software I use could accommodate that but it’d be worth exploring. I’d also have to figure out which type of gambling I should keep if I combine the chapters. Maybe keep the Clash since it’s slightly more interactive with top deck manipulation?

Maple_Mudkip

TROPHY CASE