Some info for you non-magic'ers.
Each magic set has a set number of cards.
Each magic set comes in one of two sizes. "Large" 230~250 card sets or "Small" 125~150 card sets.
A great deal of magic is "drafted". In which you open 3 packs of 11~12 cards, pick one and pass it around to others playing at the same table. When you have done this, you then construct a deck out of the resulting cards, and then play magic with people from the same table.
A set will commonly be drafted by a group of 8 people, resulting in 24 mythic/rares, 72 commons, and 192 commons in the total pool.
------------------------------------------
Magic has 4 rarities.
MYTHICThere are approximately 15 Mythic Rares per set.
Mythics are by far the most complex cards in any set, and are not to be seen by "new" or introductory players. Cards like
Epic Experiment or
Jayce, Architect of Thought are mythic for this reason.
Mythics are also supposed to feel big and powerful! This is where you make the most important spells, or iconic cards of a set.
Plainswalkers are only printed at Mythic, and no more than 5 are made per block, with only 1 or 2 made per set (Exception is the Lorwyn cycle due to that being their first printing and introduction of the planeswalker type).
RAREThere are approximately 35 rares in small sets, and 45 in large sets.
Rares and above are meant to contain fairly powerful "Bombs", cards that win the game, or greatly help you achieve that goal.
All rares have some sort of interesting effect, and 99% of Legendary ANYTHINGS are printed at this rarity.
Example of good rares are
Champion of the Parish;
Thalia, Guardian of Thraben; and
Niv-Mizzet, The Firemind.
UNCOMMONThere are approximately 40 uncommons in small sets, and 80 in large sets.
Uncommons are slightly "better" than commons, and contain things you don't want "TOO TOO" much of in a "limited" or draft pool. General purpose Removal (kill your dude) and "Vanilla Bombs" (very large creatures with keywords). More difficult keywords are usually placed at uncommon and higher.
Examples include
Go for the Throat and
Archweaver.
COMMONSThe rest of your set is filled with commons.
These cards are the grunts of the game. Vanilla creatures, and the like. Most removal is printed at common, and common cards are cards you will see ALL THE TIME in drafts.
Commons are also where you set the "theme" and tone of the set. Because there are so many, it's really where you make the most of the design work.
------------------------------------------
Set compositionHere is an example of two sets published in magic:
The first image is the set composition of of M13, a core set (a set designed to be fairly "vanilla" and used as a baseline for around a year or two). The next one is the set composition of the "Scars of Mirrodin" set, part of a Block (set of 3) where artifacts were the focus.
Notice that in both cases creatures form half the available card base, instants and sorceries are about a quarter, and the others are approximately the other quarter.
Also notice how all the colors get equal representation, and the glut of cards are at 2 and 3 CMC.
------------------------------------------
Costing Spells and CreaturesI will now present essentially the "baseline" creature for each color. Each of these creatures essentially shows what you get from that color for 1-2 mana.
Blue:
Sea EagleWhite:
Elite VanguardBlack:
Bloodthrone VampireRed:
Goblin ArsonistGreen:
Llanowar ElvesEach colored mana is essentially worth different amounts of Power and Toughness, and different different amounts of effects.
The standard rate for mana should approx be 2/2 for 2 CMC (converted mana-cost).
Spells are usually as follows:
White mana is ~5 life.
Blue mana is draw a card and rearrange the top cards of your library somehow.
Black mana is opponent discards a card of a certain type. 1 + Black mana is "Kill a creature"
Red mana is ~3 damage.
Green mana is +3/+3 on a creature until the end of turn.
Drawbacks allow you to get "more power" out of a spell.
The more colored mana you require for a spell, the more powerful the effect is due to how difficult it is to gather the required resources.
Geralf's Messanger is much more powerful than normal 3CMC cards because how difficult it is to get BBB.
Cruel Ultimatum is probably my favorite example of this. Multicolor spells are much more powerful because it is RIDICULOUSLY HARD to get different manas out of your land. Requiring more than one type of mana is a HUGE DRAWBACK.
Legendary is actually a huge drawback.
Thalia, Guardian of Thraben is allowed to have that ability at that mana cost because she has less toughness than the average white creature would at 1W, and there can only be 1 of them at any time.
Black's "thing" is to have many additional costs to their spells like paying life or sacrificing creatures to gain a great deal of power in comparison to what other colors would do normally.
------------------------------------------
TemplatingMagic cards are written in a very specific way in order to be clear and concise between cards with similar effects.
All colors appear in a certain order. WUBRG. White, Blue, Black, Red, Green.
All Artifact Creatures are "Robots". There is no need for a subtype specifically for them. If you like, you may use Golem as the creature type instead. This also allows for cards to be "actual card friendly".
Examples that could use some Sprucing up from Morpheus's Album:
Moddy Doo 2B:
2B{T}: Return target creature from your graveyard to your hand.
Katerina, Robot Angel 4UU:
Flying
All Artifact Creatures gain +1/+1.
UU{T}: Return target Artifact Creature from your graveyard onto the battlefield under your control. It gains Modular 1.
Good Hope HospitalGood Hope Hospital comes into play tapped.
Diego, Father of Robots 4{U/B}{U/B}:
Sacrifice a creature, {T}: Destroy target creature. All creatures get -2/-2 until end of turn.
Reynardine, Cotton Wolf 5R:
Trample
When ~ enters the battlefield, it deals 1 damage to target creature.
Shadow Two W:
Shadow Two is Unblockable.
Paz 1{U/G}:
{T}: Prevent the next 1 damage dealt to a creature this turn.
{T}: Target creature gains +1/+0 until end of turn.
ReynardineThis card is gross. Do you want it to trigger ETB effects, or just gain activated abilities and keywords?
---------------------------------------
Some adviceModular is a really gross mechanic. It represents "recyling" of the parts once a creature has died. I don't think the court's robots really exhibit this behavior.
Beware of not including the cost of "Sacrifice <this creature>" in the costs for the ability. If it is destroyed before the ability can resolve, the ability just won't happen. Reynardine, Stuffed Toy is a good example.
Avoid multicolor cards like the plague. By doing so, you will design better via the constraints of the color pie.
Understand the color pie, and what colors are allowed to have what keywords. Flying is not a very "white" mechanic at 1~2CMC. Flying, flash, and prevent damage doesn't sound very "Red" to me, that belongs on a white creature.
Avoid "Parasitic cards". Reynardine, Stuffed Toy, and Renardine, Cotton Wolf have a flavorful Synergy, but without Cotton Wolf, Stuffed Toy is really REALLY bad (boxbot bad). This is really important when you may not have both cards at the same time in limited.
Pick no more than 2-3 non evergreen keywords for a set. If it's any more, the set will seem just thrown together (which I find is usually the case).
Search on
magiccards.info to see if a card has "already been done", and take cues from it's wording to make your own.
