I started making cards before Invasion, and sometimes (not too often), when browsing a new set, I'm taken aback with the thought "gee, where have I seen this card before? Oh yeah, I made it...". Not to insinuate of course that WotC really do steal cards from people, but coming up with an idea before a bunch of highly-paid professionals is cool by itself.
So, here's a brief summary of cards I came up with before WotC:
Mystic Snake (in my version, a 1/3 flyer for 2UU) Screams from Within (in my version, cost 3B) Cryoclasm (in my version, cost RR) Clutch of Undeath (in my version, cost 2B and gave either +2/+2 or –2/-2) Deathmark (in my version, 1B) Cremate (exact match, even the name!) Lovisa Coldeyes (my version of course was named differently, but amazingly enough was also a 3/3 legend for 3RR, and gave the bonus to two out of the three creature types Lovisa does)
EDIT: I also came up with the cycle of insta-sorceries from Time Spiral (Might of Old Krosa, Haunting Hymn, etc.). There were some differences in costs and effects, but overall very similar. My version of the Haunting Hymn, for example, cost 2B and discarded 1 card as instant, 2 as sorcery (WotC went for the exact doubling of both cost and effect).
Not really a specific card, but I did invent the Imprint mechanic long before Mirrodin. It was concepted as a custom Spellshaper, with about a hundred lines of text :D.
Prior to Wizard's official release of that Soldier lord, I made a facsimile of it.>.> Well, I'm glad that the Soldiers have a lord now.:)
Ah, yes, the Soldier lord is none other than Field Marshal.
Come to think of it, Wizards and I have designed rather similar cards!:D This is probably the case with other people; if so, it's not really a surprise because often cards overlap due to a lack of desire in designing clunky, uber-long cards and whatnot.
Le Chat's made similar mechanics: for a set-in-progress she developed Unveil, which was similar to forecast, in that it used cards in the hand as resources without expending them. (With unveil, you'd play with the card perpetually revealed, and so it could generate either a one-shot or continuous effect.)
There are plenty of other overlaps, and it's no surprise. Magic has a fairly succinct structure; development, by its nature, dwells in proximity to that structure.
What gets Le Chat's dander are the non-WotC moggs who ape her cards. Some time after Le Chat created Join the Fray! on mtg.com, some tool over here posted it as though it was his own. *Sigh*
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Playlace --
Instant
Target spell or permanent's tone becomes playful.
I sort of came up with Sunburst thre eyears before Fifth Dawn, though they were a whole new color ('Rainbow') by itself, and the colors actually mattered.
Then there was another set I made some time in 2001 that featured a lot of legends and a 'Day/Night' mechanic... sound familiar?
More specific cards:
A couple of days after Suspend was revealed, I was sitting with a bunch of friends, speculating about other cards, so I said "It's not really that hard to see how Wizards does cards... Of course we're gonna have an Sorcery, say, "Search your library for a basic land card and put it into play, then shuffle your library." and it'll, I dunno, cost 2-colorless-1-green, and... one-green Suspend 2."
Fortify two years before, except that it costed :symr::symw:.
No cards for me, per se, but I did come up with a card that emptied mana pools which I called Damnate, so I was a bit annoyed with the title for Damnation.
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'93-'94: Black Lotus, the moxen, and Mishra's Workshop introduced. Artifacts are broken.
'98-'99: Tolarian Academy, Tinker, Memory Jar, and Metalworker introduced. Artifacts still extremely broken.
'03-'04: Wizards decides to base a full block around broken artifacts.
'08-'09: You do the math. There will be broken artifacts in Rock Block. You will see.
ALL YOU NAIVE FOOLS SHALL SEE!!!
-Jed
I'd developed a mechanic that was Forecast to an exact match except the name and the fact that you could use it as an instant, and the costs were higher.
Also when i heard about the alternate storylines, i developed a white Ascendant Evincar, and lo and behold, we have crovax
i can't think of anything else right now, but my friend had an idea for hybrid mana a while before ravnica came out.
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-This signature intentionally left blank to increase general intrigue and mystery-
Chain X: cost When you played the spell, you could pay the cost up to X times to copy the spell X times. Similar to Replicate.
I'm using a mechanic in my block that uses time counters that I thought of some time during GP. It's not really similar to Suspend, just the use of time counters.
Single-colored split cards: I had a cylce of them in a set long ago (the blue one was Ride the Tide/Go With the Flow). I seemed to blah to keep, and then a year later, I see it in PC...
There's more, including some specific cards, but I can't remember them all.
Let's see... Back around Invasion era, I came up with the concept of Equipment, and had rules similiar to Wizards'. I also had a cycle of creatures with the "traitor" mechanic, similiar to Karona.
In '04, I came up with a card remarkably similar to Commandeer cald "Mind Pilfer" that costed UUUU and allowed the aquisition of any spell, not just non-creature, and didn't have the alt-cost. It was deemed "Not different enough from Spelljack to be interesting." I also had a card similiar to the Unhinged Staying Power called "Permanence," with almost the exact same rules text, only mine costed 2GW.
IIRC, I've had a major card in every set since Onslaught, but I can't identify them all right now.
I once created a card called goblin tobboganer (doubt I spelled that correctly but you get the idea). The only three differences between it and spark elemental were the name, creature type, and flavor text (the rules text was exactly the same, word for word).
I did, however, think of the Commandeer mechanic. See, I just think about the rules often, and it occurred to me that they were quite capable of handling a change in controllership (it's a word now) of a spell. The rules would already take care of everything. And I just noted that no card did that yet.
Back in Mirrodin, I believe.
I'm so miffed that Commandeer got the butt end of the mega pitch spell cycle; why couldn't they just print a normal spell with a reasonable mana cost???
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Epic banner by Erasmus of æтђєг.
Awesome avatar provided by Krashbot @ [Epic Graphics].
WotC stole Torment, as a set, from me. Originally I was going to make a set just like it, with red, but Torment came around and color-based sets were no longer going to be special.
Single-colored split cards: I had a cylce of them in a set long ago (the blue one was Ride the Tide/Go With the Flow). I seemed to blah to keep, and then a year later, I see it in PC...
Monocolored spilt cards are probably a common type of card that non-wotc people have have made. My slight "twist" on them was that one side was an instant and the other a sorcery. So far all of the spilt cards have had the same type on both sides. I'm not really sure why since rules wise it really shouldn't matter. For example, the blue one was an instant "Counter target spell" and a sorcery "Draw three cards."
I did, however, think of the Commandeer mechanic. See, I just think about the rules often, and it occurred to me that they were quite capable of handling a change in controllership (it's a word now) of a spell. The rules would already take care of everything. And I just noted that no card did that yet.
Back in Mirrodin, I believe.
I'm so miffed that Commandeer got the butt end of the mega pitch spell cycle; why couldn't they just print a normal spell with a reasonable mana cost???
heh. I made a card namedCommandeer costed at 1UUU with "Target player gains control of target spell." Neo-Donate. You could steal an opponent's spell or give them one of your own. This was one of my first cards I thought up, around the time of Legions. 4UUUBBBB two card combo ftw!
I thought of those "enhanced creatures" that they had in Dissension, you know, with the sacrifice, except it was a little different:
Edict Crier2BB
Creature-Spirit
If Edict Crier would come into play, target player sacrifices a creature. If that creature has power 3 or less, Edict Crier comes into play with a +1/+1 counter on it instead.
4/0
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Amazing banner by Rivenor and classic avvy by PurpleD
I've done several, but off the top of my mind the one that sticks out is an instant, one-shot version of Staying Power. However, I don't know if that counts because that's an Un- card. As for Commandeer, I contemplated making a card that controlled an instant or sorcery spell before they had actually made Commandeer, but I figured that wasn't that much different than Misdirection, so I didn't make it.
I used several names WotC's used before they've used them in a contest I ran back on MTGnews a long time ago. It was called I Dare You! and was quite popular... not to toot my own horn, but I'm about 99% positive that it's success was the reason we got a CCC forum there, and thereby one here. But, that's not the point. Here's a short list of names I used...
Funeral Pyre (about 23 weeks or so before Judgment was released)
Blind Hunter (quite some time before Guildpact... at least a year, if not more)
Trial and Error (though, to be honest, mine was set to be a single card, not a split card)
As far as I know that's it... I don't have the notes I used on me (I'm studying abroad, and thus there in another country), so I can't delve further at the moment...
I did Night's Whisper (for one mana less) a month or two before it came out.
I deduced Gilded Lotusexactly, when we just had the picture.
Me and Scurimancer (hope I remember the name right) did the entire Flip mechanic several months before it came out; I made the turning from one thing to another part, and he drew it with that diagonal slash it actually got.
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Possibly the last remaining member of the Banana Clan (+1)
Banana of the Month Feb '05 Cool stuff here.
Back around the time of Urza block, I had created Last Laugh in a more restricted form (was just "whenever a creature is put into a graveyard from play") and called it Sudden Death (under the assumption that this was what would happen to all creatures in play more or less immediately). So they've used both my card name and my mechanic, just on different cards
Mirrodin Set - When I was starting I really liked artifacts and I traded for all of the rare and good ones so I could make a deck, finally as I am about to make my deck I show up at school and everybody has an Artifact deck.
Kamigawa Set - Same deal as Mirrodin but with Legends
The Izzet - I was trying to make a good U/R deck and then they came up with the Izzet.
That is not really cards but really screwed up my (IMO) orginal decks.
Split Second - I called it Flash though, but they used that name for Flash.
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Break, O Earth.
Dry up, O Sea.
Burn out, O Sun.
Grant us power Earthly Leaders and Gatekeepers of Hell.
Guide us Makers of the Underworld.
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So, here's a brief summary of cards I came up with before WotC:
Mystic Snake (in my version, a 1/3 flyer for 2UU)
Screams from Within (in my version, cost 3B)
Cryoclasm (in my version, cost RR)
Clutch of Undeath (in my version, cost 2B and gave either +2/+2 or –2/-2)
Deathmark (in my version, 1B)
Cremate (exact match, even the name!)
Lovisa Coldeyes (my version of course was named differently, but amazingly enough was also a 3/3 legend for 3RR, and gave the bonus to two out of the three creature types Lovisa does)
EDIT: I also came up with the cycle of insta-sorceries from Time Spiral (Might of Old Krosa, Haunting Hymn, etc.). There were some differences in costs and effects, but overall very similar. My version of the Haunting Hymn, for example, cost 2B and discarded 1 card as instant, 2 as sorcery (WotC went for the exact doubling of both cost and effect).
What about you?
Ah, yes, the Soldier lord is none other than Field Marshal.
Come to think of it, Wizards and I have designed rather similar cards!:D This is probably the case with other people; if so, it's not really a surprise because often cards overlap due to a lack of desire in designing clunky, uber-long cards and whatnot.
Future Sight (Childsight, WWW, that sacced if another color came up.)
Yawgmoth's Tomb (cost 2 life when tapped, instead of legendary)
Ayumi, the Last Visitor (nowhere near as big, costly or legendary)
Ironshell Beetle (0/1 flying Lark)
Leyline of Singularity (no leyline affect)
Reciprocate (1W)
There are plenty of other overlaps, and it's no surprise. Magic has a fairly succinct structure; development, by its nature, dwells in proximity to that structure.
What gets Le Chat's dander are the non-WotC moggs who ape her cards. Some time after Le Chat created Join the Fray! on mtg.com, some tool over here posted it as though it was his own. *Sigh*
Instant
Target spell or permanent's tone becomes playful.
Then there was another set I made some time in 2001 that featured a lot of legends and a 'Day/Night' mechanic... sound familiar?
More specific cards:
A couple of days after Suspend was revealed, I was sitting with a bunch of friends, speculating about other cards, so I said "It's not really that hard to see how Wizards does cards... Of course we're gonna have an Sorcery, say, "Search your library for a basic land card and put it into play, then shuffle your library." and it'll, I dunno, cost 2-colorless-1-green, and... one-green Suspend 2."
Fortify two years before, except that it costed :symr::symw:.
And a couple of older ones I suppose.
Level 2 Judge
Token and Playmat Store
Beyond the Guildpact
'98-'99: Tolarian Academy, Tinker, Memory Jar, and Metalworker introduced. Artifacts still extremely broken.
'03-'04: Wizards decides to base a full block around broken artifacts.
'08-'09: You do the math. There will be broken artifacts in Rock Block. You will see.
ALL YOU NAIVE FOOLS SHALL SEE!!!
-Jed
Also when i heard about the alternate storylines, i developed a white Ascendant Evincar, and lo and behold, we have crovax
i can't think of anything else right now, but my friend had an idea for hybrid mana a while before ravnica came out.
Chain X: cost When you played the spell, you could pay the cost up to X times to copy the spell X times. Similar to Replicate.
I'm using a mechanic in my block that uses time counters that I thought of some time during GP. It's not really similar to Suspend, just the use of time counters.
Single-colored split cards: I had a cylce of them in a set long ago (the blue one was Ride the Tide/Go With the Flow). I seemed to blah to keep, and then a year later, I see it in PC...
There's more, including some specific cards, but I can't remember them all.
In '04, I came up with a card remarkably similar to Commandeer cald "Mind Pilfer" that costed UUUU and allowed the aquisition of any spell, not just non-creature, and didn't have the alt-cost. It was deemed "Not different enough from Spelljack to be interesting." I also had a card similiar to the Unhinged Staying Power called "Permanence," with almost the exact same rules text, only mine costed 2GW.
IIRC, I've had a major card in every set since Onslaught, but I can't identify them all right now.
My Custom Cards
My Twitch - Languishing in neglect under the vain hope of starting again
My Livestream Archive
lol. not
I did, however, think of the Commandeer mechanic. See, I just think about the rules often, and it occurred to me that they were quite capable of handling a change in controllership (it's a word now) of a spell. The rules would already take care of everything. And I just noted that no card did that yet.
Back in Mirrodin, I believe.
I'm so miffed that Commandeer got the butt end of the mega pitch spell cycle; why couldn't they just print a normal spell with a reasonable mana cost???
Awesome avatar provided by Krashbot @ [Epic Graphics].
If you don't use "wombat" in every sentence I will send my people after you.
Monocolored spilt cards are probably a common type of card that non-wotc people have have made. My slight "twist" on them was that one side was an instant and the other a sorcery. So far all of the spilt cards have had the same type on both sides. I'm not really sure why since rules wise it really shouldn't matter. For example, the blue one was an instant "Counter target spell" and a sorcery "Draw three cards."
heh. I made a card named Commandeer costed at 1UUU with "Target player gains control of target spell." Neo-Donate. You could steal an opponent's spell or give them one of your own. This was one of my first cards I thought up, around the time of Legions. 4UUUBBBB two card combo ftw!
Edict Crier 2BB
Creature-Spirit
If Edict Crier would come into play, target player sacrifices a creature. If that creature has power 3 or less, Edict Crier comes into play with a +1/+1 counter on it instead.
4/0
Funeral Pyre (about 23 weeks or so before Judgment was released)
Blind Hunter (quite some time before Guildpact... at least a year, if not more)
Trial and Error (though, to be honest, mine was set to be a single card, not a split card)
As far as I know that's it... I don't have the notes I used on me (I'm studying abroad, and thus there in another country), so I can't delve further at the moment...
I deduced Gilded Lotus exactly, when we just had the picture.
Me and Scurimancer (hope I remember the name right) did the entire Flip mechanic several months before it came out; I made the turning from one thing to another part, and he drew it with that diagonal slash it actually got.
Possibly the last remaining member of the Banana Clan (+1)
Banana of the Month Feb '05
Cool stuff here.
Kamigawa Set - Same deal as Mirrodin but with Legends
The Izzet - I was trying to make a good U/R deck and then they came up with the Izzet.
That is not really cards but really screwed up my (IMO) orginal decks.
Split Second - I called it Flash though, but they used that name for Flash.
Dry up, O Sea.
Burn out, O Sun.
Grant us power Earthly Leaders and Gatekeepers of Hell.
Guide us Makers of the Underworld.