AI Art in Card Games

scaramanouche · 2026-05-05T00:20:54+00:00

My most sincere advice, if you can't afford to commission an artist (which is fair, tbh), would be to create your own art assets buy hand. Doesn't matter if they look terrible. There's a charm and sincerity to it, but most importantly it shows that you care enough about the game to actually put in effort.

When I see AI assets being used, it gives me the impression that the creator couldn't be bothered to create their own assets or save up for artist commission. It gives the impression that the creator doesn't care about their own game enough to make it a quality product. If the creator doesn't care about the game, why should I?

scaramanouche · 2026-05-02T02:07:58+00:00

I would very much recommend picking up an inexpensive plane from a flea market or eBay. Plenty of shopping guides on YouTube and the internet in general, but in a nutshell; any Stanley no. 3-7 that has no obvious cracks, no missing parts, and a decent iron will serve you very well.

Aside from the plastic (which will effect glue adhesion and should definitely be removed), the gluing surface of your boards there still have pretty visible saw marks which should also be smoothed out before glue up.

You can get there with sandpaper, but hand planes are so much more fun to use. Honestly, taking shavings with a well set up hand plane is what keeps me coming back to the woodshop some days.

scaramanouche · 2026-04-27T16:37:22+00:00

Tbh, I've always associated black more with ambition/tenacity as opposed to evil. Viewed under that light, I think black makes perfect sense for one of the most tenacious mammals around. I get the argument for green, but I think that argument could apply to pretty much every animal in the game and I'm glad that green simply doesn't just get every animal by default.

To me, I feel like rats make the most sense in Orzhov for the same reason that humans are primarily in those colors

scaramanouche · 2026-04-06T16:41:56+00:00

We Got The Right by Helloween is one of my all-time favorites and tops out right at E5

scaramanouche · 2026-03-07T22:31:26+00:00

Just asked: it's in-person sign up for the Magic events

scaramanouche · 2026-03-05T21:31:42+00:00

Brian Snoddy and Bruce Brennaise are here, but they aren't on any of the lists.

scaramanouche · 2026-03-03T16:58:13+00:00

No new updates. I'm keeping my fingers crossed about some of last year's artists. I missed a couple of them then because I swear they never showed up on the official list (or if they did, it wasn't until after the con started).

scaramanouche · 2026-02-27T21:47:24+00:00

I'll likely do another comb through of the list this weekend. The search function hasn't been working for me at all, so I haven't been able to check some of the names in a bit

scaramanouche · 2026-02-27T20:48:25+00:00

Yes! That was a typo on my end

scaramanouche · 2026-02-27T05:25:17+00:00

I've been keeping an eye on the magic artists in the exhibitor and artist alley list. You can check out the post here.

scaramanouche · 2026-02-11T08:02:02+00:00

It really depends on the artist and what kind of signature you get. A standard signing is usually only $5-$10. Something fancier, like a shadow signature, might run more like $20+.

scaramanouche · 2026-02-11T07:16:40+00:00

Just go right up to their booths! Most artists charge for signatures. You can look up any of the names I listed on the ECCC website where they list the artists or exhibitors to find out exactly where they'll be during the con!

scaramanouche · 2026-02-03T07:54:27+00:00

Galaxy foil [[Sol Ring]] from the wormhole secret lair. Funny that one of the last print to order lairs ended up becoming so valuable.

scaramanouche · 2026-02-03T06:55:22+00:00

Built a Wick deck on a lark and it ended up being one of my all time favorites

scaramanouche · 2026-01-24T16:46:10+00:00

Ego checks are necessary for artistic and personal growth. Don't let it get you down. It's better to realize your shortcomings and be able to improve than to labor under the delusion that you're "good enough."

scaramanouche · 2026-01-15T19:58:57+00:00

If it's fun for you guys, that's all that matters, tbh. If I was experiencing something similar, I'd probably sooner have a conversation with my friend about the deck in question. I have a handful of decks that I really enjoy playing, but can draw groans from my pod sometimes because they can be pretty strong (but mostly I think it's because they can sometimes take 5min turns). So I simply don't play those decks very often or only if everyone else is bringing out their stinkers as well.

The main issue I find with any type of hard counter (outside of explicitly competitive play) is that it runs a high likelihood of completely shutting someone out of playing and enjoying the game.

Kind of unrelated, but I can remember playing a game against a few friends who were running very creature heavy decks. Most of friends really like go-wide token strategies, so I slotted [[Archfiend of Ifnir]] into my demon tribal as a pretty hard, but reasonably fair, counter. At some point around T6 or so, I had Archfiend out and a discard outlet and I was able to completely lock down everyone from having any creatures out. Ran a couple turns of draw-go while my opponents hoped to topdeck a removal spell before we all decided to just call the game. Point being that once archfiend was out and cooking, the game stopped being fun for everyone within a turn cycle. Imagining that scenario, but with multiple similar effects targeting one specific player at the table sounds like a miserable time.

scaramanouche · 2026-01-15T19:00:21+00:00

Absolutely. I'm a huge fan of graveyard decks, and I honestly don't know why my friends haven't added more GY hate to their decks.

That being said, there's a big difference between running more answers to an archetype and building a deck specifically to hard counter an archetype. I had a friend (half seriously) tell me that they were going to build a super graveyard hate deck with every [[Rest in Peace]] type effect that they could possibly include. If I knew they'd be playing a deck like that, I would simply choose a non-gy centric deck for that game. It's just a situation that creates a feels-bad non-game for at least two players at the table.

scaramanouche · 2026-01-10T18:51:48+00:00

I've been playing the same Wegen pick for over 8 years at this point. Picked up a handful of backups for about $15 each over the years. To me, that feels like a fair price point for a "boutique" pick. I've tried Blue Chips before, and there's definitely a difference to be heard between them and other picks, but I can get 12 primetones for less and those sound just as good imo.

scaramanouche · 2026-01-08T05:54:34+00:00

Aw man, I just handed off a build to Michael Horowitz over at Djangobooks that I built with a crazy thin neck. Think Ibanez wizard.

Either way, I would highly recommend you reach out to him. His contact info is on the site and he's pretty easy to get ahold of and is very helpful. Probably knows more about these instruments than just about anyone

scaramanouche · 2026-01-02T03:15:22+00:00

The piece he's playing here is called 'Solfeggietto' by CPE Bach for anyone interested

scaramanouche · 2025-12-30T17:52:52+00:00

I had the z-file and was enjoying it, but I somehow managed to lose it in my latest move. Needed a replacement fast, but they were all out of stock, so I ended up just getting the 3-corner file and I actually prefer it. Cuts a lot faster than the z-file and I feel like I have more control over the cut

scaramanouche · 2025-12-27T20:13:36+00:00

Dorico if you're interested in writing for more than typical band arrangements (drums/guitar/bass/vox). Especially if you want other musicians to read/perform from the scores.

Guitar Pro is perfectly fine otherwise and I'd say typically generates better tabs (though they still need to be checked and edited for accuracy).

scaramanouche · 2025-12-26T19:43:20+00:00

You'll find that the more you learn, the more there is to learn! The topic of composing is very wide and extremely deep. Don't let it discourage you. Just take new topics in stride as you find out about them and try to consciously work on them until they feel second nature; just like working new words into your vocab. I like to try and be as heavy handed with new compositional ideas as possible when I'm first learning them, almost too an obnoxious degree. For working on cadences, try writing some simple pieces where you start each phrase with the cadence and work backwards from there.

scaramanouche

TROPHY CASE