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 A…

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: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ehronli…

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: https://www.patre…

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 Fi…

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…

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: https://discord.gg/t88Vpwh Show Notes: https://beaconofcreation.com Watch "C…

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: https://mousewifegames.itch.io/princeton Moonshot Patreon for Juliet's next project: https://www.patreon.com/c/moonshotnetwork/posts Join Beacon of Creation's Discord: https://discord.gg/t88V…

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: https://discord.gg/t88Vpwh Show Notes: https://beaconofcreation.com由Beacon of Creation

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 …

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: https://discord.gg…

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 https://www.gbstudio.dev Bitsy https://bitsy.org Renpy ht…

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: https://moonshotpods.com/ill-be-pod-for-castmas/ Join Beacon of Creation's Discord: https://discord.gg/t88Vpwh…

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 inspirati…

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 ab…

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 thos…

Who needs to cast spells when you can sit back and let your creatures do the casting? Just the easy life for us! Fortunately our listeners didn't take it easy and instead submitted a baker's dozen creatures-that-cast spells cards for us to review. Join Beacon of Creation's Discord: https://discord.gg/t88Vpwh Show Notes: https://beaconofcreation.com…

We're back with a new crossover episode! Peter explains everything Tim needs to know about Wingspan, then they ride the wave of inspiration into a variety of mechanics for Magic! You don't need to know anything about Wingspan to listen (Tim didn't!) Join Beacon of Creation's Discord: https://discord.gg/t88Vpwh Show Notes: https://beaconofcreation.c…

Spurred by the idea of simultaneous combat, Peter and Tim delve into all the phases and steps of a turn! After honing our understanding of each one, we also break out into some free form ideas. Deleting the draw step? A "start turn" phase to match "end turn"? Multiplayer alternating main phase actions? Lots more discussed. Join Beacon of Creation's…

Juliet and Esper witness the carefully-designed majesty of magister sphinxes on the white-blue-black Esper shard, from its played-everywhere cards to possibly the worst card in all of Magic: The Gathering. Join Beacon of Creation's Discord: https://discord.gg/t88Vpwh Show Notes: https://beaconofcreation.com…

Moxtober is our yearly event where we design cards based on a daily, one-word prompt. What would you design for "Alpha" or "Trial"? Our community designed a ton of cards. This year, we're putting the spotlight on all our new submitters (plus a who came back!). Moxtober is for everyone and this episode is a celebration of that! New members in this e…

You all went quiet on us... but then came back! In the Going Ghost challenge, we asked for cards that blink out but take some time to come back. Plenty of spooky ghosts and funny flavor to be found in this ep! Join Beacon of Creation's Discord: https://discord.gg/t88Vpwh Show Notes: https://beaconofcreation.com…

Juliet and Mdub dig up the bones of Magic's Skeletons—from the ever-imitated Drudge Skeletons, to Skeletons that are Swamps, to modern Demilichs, not forgetting a number of cards that are clearly Skeletons in all but name. Along the way, we regenerate the design space for Skeletons of the future! Join Beacon of Creation's Discord: https://discord.g…

We're back again with a deep dive on the uncommon gold cards of the newest set! We're honing our instincts on the design of these types of cards, and talk about how to apply it to our own designs. Join Beacon of Creation's Discord: https://discord.gg/t88Vpwh Show Notes: https://beaconofcreation.com

You've got questions, we've got an episode! We've got a whopping twenty-five questions packed into this episode, so you better press play! Theme music by Dee Culp "Misty Bog" by Eric Maytas soundimage.org Join Beacon of Creation's Discord: https://discord.gg/t88Vpwh Show Notes: https://beaconofcreation.com…

We're putting on our finest outfits and securing our monocles as we review the "To the Nines" challenge review. You all submitted equipment, but you weren't allowed to use the Equip ability! We've got scarabs, fish, crowns and collars this week and it's all going to be fun! More Juliet content at https://www.twitch.tv/moonshotnetwork Join Beacon of…