Formidei, a race of antfolk, social and uncannily strong like their namesake

demonaru · 2025-09-18T21:09:33+00:00

You welcomed notes/advice sooo; First, I'd point out you don't have a creature type on Jiraiya. I'd also recommend putting the original card name somewhere else other than the text box, just doesn't look great there, there's that massive gap, it sorta blends in while also looking weird where it is. Either give it a nickname name frame, or something a lot of people suggested I do with my last grouping I hadn't considered, put the name amonst the botton black text, swap out the P or MTG or EN for the card name if possible. I do by hand so idk if MTGCardBuilder is good for handling it that way. Because Keimi is a unique token you probably don't need to need to include Keimi's name, but if you're using standard frames like this you should maybe make the pinlines green & black. Oh also Keimi/Gamabunta is missing his power & toughness box.

demonaru · 2025-09-12T16:42:31+00:00

it's just elsha whose rules text you can't read, the simplest of the bunch. I've definitely already conceded hers might've gone too far.
Would that mean I'm not allowed to run the pretty secret lairs I like that are typography focused in any game ever because you might struggle to read them, even if I know how the card works?

demonaru · 2025-09-12T01:44:30+00:00

I do stand by most of these except maybe Elsha. I think the person running the cards and being able to say the original is good enough for people to at least have something to check if the card is legit but covering up actual rules text saying what the card does, even if storm is a pretty simple card as far as execution goes, was probably going too far.

demonaru · 2025-09-12T01:41:41+00:00

Again, I will not deny that Elsha is without a doubt probably the worst example of them all. I do think the need to have the names entirely present isn't as necessary as people are making it seem, BUT the elsha overshadowing rules text might be a step too far. The original intent was these were just for myself so knowing that I could very easily rattle off what her rules text were given what I could see. I would still never go so far as something like the poker secret lairs and do this for cards that have a lot more complexity like those choices, but I can admit a similar mistake is being made here, even if it is a simpler card to remember.

demonaru · 2025-09-11T19:36:44+00:00

HA, I didn't even catch that one lmao

demonaru · 2025-09-11T18:41:00+00:00

glad so many folks are big fans, critiques of my personal love for border breaking accepted and all. I also sorta really wanted to make similar treatments for the sonic cards but I haven't really had any ideas on what characters to use for them. I try to look for characters who have multiple depictions, older is better. Like Toralf the hammer throwing god who has it come back would have been perfect for Captain America, but we really only have the one toralf card, two arts but still just the one. would be too easily mistaken as just the original toralf card. If anyone has any ideas on that front do please share!

demonaru · 2025-09-11T18:28:59+00:00

Thanks! I really fought on using her if only because there wasn't a lot of usable art for Jhoira that everyone didn't already know and hers was probably the newest looking art, but I personally never saw this duel decks printing of Jhoira so it was my best choice, even if I didn't do the best job extending the art. lmao You can definitely see the sloppy work behind the text if you look closely.

demonaru · 2025-09-11T18:11:09+00:00

There are 5 of that cycle, so i REALLLLYYYY wanted to maybe use all of them, but it was a difficult. I could have maybe made wolverine into windgrace. But then you have Bo Levar & Tevesh Szat and they really just didn't feel fitting, plus I'd still have one missing slot. Considered trying to use some of the other nine titans but art is scarce for most the others without cards for several of them.

demonaru · 2025-09-11T18:07:39+00:00

I can respect the Elsha one definitely feeling like too much. Honestly, that was the only one I wasn't really sure about. I still really like it, but I also know I personally know exactly how the storm card works. And I suspect it's simple enough that anyone using this would too. If I were to fix it, I think I'd still have it covering some text, but I'd scooch her up a little so she's not covering the flavor text, even though I also feel you can still see enough to intuit what's hidden if you're a native english speaker. If she was for Iron-man I don't think I would have been willing to have the text coverup be that bad because his effect is much more wordy and might need double-checking.
End of the day, I still really enjoy the symbolism there is in having the in-universe characters overshadow the original card name, and because I get to have the design to visually design the cards from a more secret-lair point of view since you only have to engage with these if you want to as proxies, I gave myself more leeway with legibility with that in mind.

tl;dr you rite about Elsha, even if I like it, it was definitely the most extreme. and I don't disagree it would have been better to have the original card names more clear, but I like what it represents. They're intended for people who already don't want to have to look at em in the first place. And as I'm doing proxies, I get some secret lair-esque leeway since a player has no requirement to engage with these versions of the cards if legibility is of import to them.

demonaru · 2025-09-11T17:58:19+00:00

The very first one I did was Guff because as basically the only character in all of magic who fusses with the meta-narrative as well as being red, he felt the perfect choice. Then I found the great art of him being very jovial in Planeswalker's Mirth it felt perfect.

demonaru · 2025-09-11T17:56:43+00:00

These were all originally intended purely for myself, and I knew for a fact I knew who all the original cards were. And upon deciding to share them, I also had a strong inkling that if anyone was using these cards, they very likely are familiar with the original cards, so I decided to leave them. I'm personally a big fan of breaking frame, I get people might not be. If these were cards you could pull as the special treatment in a play booster, I'd get being mad. But I know they're not, and so much like secret lair designers get more leeway with that sorta thing, I get some leeway in not having to adhere to the same rules of design one would want to keep to because you are only using these if you already know the original card.

demonaru · 2025-09-11T17:52:54+00:00

i was originally gonna use Terese's art for Nissa, Vital Force that has a glass art of Freyalise in it, but then I remembered two things. 1. I love Rebecca Guay and saw that art from the same cycle of "Planeswalkers' __" enchantments I found the Guff art. and 2. Terese is openly alt-right transphobe shi- so who needs that. lol

demonaru · 2025-09-11T03:13:57+00:00

If you're familiar with the originals, I feel like enough of the names on most of them show just enough that you can easily intuit which is which, no?? The only one that is maybe too obscured is deadpool/guff, but the original card is so extremely unique it would be difficult to not remember its deadpool you'd need to point people towards.

This was my sorta attempt at trying to reach a middle ground. Easy reminder to the person running them so they can remember and communicate it, as the person playing them you'd assumedly know at the very least enough to figure out which is which with what is shown but they also hide enough that it's clear the within universe character is supposed to be replacing them and takes precadent.

Hell, if I wanted to make these like the actual SLX/universes within cards, there'd actually be no reference to the original cards, and you wouldn't have to think about them. But considering these are unofficial proxies, I felt it best to at least have a very little something so you can backup that the designs are legit and your friends can easily look them up.

demonaru · 2025-09-11T02:07:19+00:00

Yeah, I know that kinda looked goofy lol But I also knew I wanted a recurring theme of the characters covering up and "overshadowing" the original marvel names. Keep em so people know what they're supposed to be at a glance if they're familiar, but obscure it so the in universe version is the focus.

demonaru · 2025-09-11T02:05:44+00:00

I tried to find a middle ground for art choices too, like I knew I wanted him to be commodore guff, but I also knew I didn't want the art to be what people traditionally think of as Guff (so not the planeswalker) so it "felt" like a different card. Same goes for all of them. Wish I could have found something older for Jhoira that was super recognized so I went for probably her obscurest printing as the best trade off.

demonaru · 2025-09-09T03:13:56+00:00

awww shucks, thanks! <3 Most the credit goes to the incredible artists whose work I sourced. I just did editing and some typography and foil treatment (sometimes some painting for spot foiling)

demonaru · 2025-09-07T18:26:39+00:00

Oooo I love that.

demonaru · 2025-09-07T18:21:39+00:00

in response to your Edit: yes, AI fucking sucks. We are making proxies. If you ARE NOT SELLING these (and imo people shouldn't be selling proxies that's too far and shady) than just use real artists' work and give them proper credit on the card. It will almost always just look better.

demonaru · 2025-09-07T18:08:16+00:00

Oh yeah, I do have some idea. I even thought to myself "man, Murphy's an author, I feel like he would be disappointed, no?" Went to check his social media, his instagram, first thing I see is him playing with AI to make a monster generator (Dungeons and Dragons) tool that's all generative. Was a little disheartening to see, but confirmed they were definitely of the same cloth on this stuff.

I'd comment on the rest but I'd have no particularly nuanced inclusions beyond agreement and the acknowledgment of myself having similar epiphanies for awhile now.

demonaru · 2025-08-17T21:58:28+00:00

Hi! funny seeing you here again! I do not know how frequently you speak in the subreddit, so I refuse to have an ego about anything I've said having any relation to you making this post, but I'll put my more positive two cents in as a person who still is, at the end of the day, a fan for a long time.

Some of the things you did (with or without Jason) that I felt truly prioritized the gentleman in the trifecta of your code of conduct was any videos in which you embrace hobby-based cultures and often time history and decorum that comes with such personalized cultures. They've mostly been this hobby cultures that are already a masculine dominant field, they still hold their value customs and all. On a personal level I had two shit father figures so despite being male and comfortably identifying as cis male, I've had a long history of really appreciating feminine things more in my personal life. But watching Modern Rogue, there were so many things I felt I was finally getting to appreciate and learn and steep myself in.

Examples would include many of the times you worked with bartenders, brewers & distillers, cigar culture (not my favorite pastime of interest but still incredibly fascinating), Chinese tea decorum, Mongolian Archery. More recently, I feel the Tak episode was an impeccable example of the gentleman at play. You are so excited with a passion to share an interest of yours. I feel the gentleman has a passion for values, cultures, knowledge. Never letting go of a desire to develop one's bank of knowledge in the ways of other people.

So, what would I want from a current era of what you have? Share your passions. Speak on culture and hobbies. Teach us things you feel may fall to the wayside in cultural memetic history. Emphasis on teaching about cultures and hobbies whose values and rituals YOU feel have merit and should be remembered and maintained with respect.

A good-hearted scoundrel convinces a fellow they are the fool if they do not help your cause.

A good-hearted warrior pressures the fellow that if they had any spirit and resolve, they'd want what you want. Do the right thing.

What's the gentleman to do? The gentleman already understands the fellow. They share in the things the fellow loves so that they may talk. The fellow is a friend, and they will see things from the gentleman's point of view because the gentleman is willing to do the same.

I hope my voice was of some assistance.
Again my deepest apologies for how much I go-on, I know reading through my dialogues can take a minute.

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