- Make simple cards! Overly complicated cards with a lot of text doesn't neccessarily mean the card is good. Simple, elegant cards are often much better than complicated ones.
- Make cards that fit the color pie! White generally doesn't get creatures with haste, or counterspells, and blue doesn't get a lot of direct damage or land destruction.
- Try to be creative! If you have a card idea, try to search to see if there's already a card that looks similar. A good place to do this is for example http://gatherer.wizards.com/.
How to format cards:
Formatting your cards is important! The cards look much more clean and neat, and more professional looking. When you post your cards, try this formatting:
CARDNAME :MANACOST:
Card Type - Subtype (Rarity)
Card text Flavor text
P/T
An example:
Graceful Adept :2mana::symu:
Creature - Human Wizard (U)
You have no maximum hand size. “When you have mastered my lessons, it will seem as though the whole of the world has opened up to your mind and nothing is beyond your grasp.” - Lady Azami
1/3
You can add more to this thread if you like to, but only add things that are helpful! This should be a thread that contains tips, help and links that can help people make better cards!
Don't be afraid to do weird things that have never been touched before, like "Protection from white creatures" or "When ~ is returned to its owner's hand..."
~ is common short hand for "this", and should be replaced with the card's name when read.
Some people prefer to put the p/t right after the creature types, as it appears in the Oracle text file. Feel free to use either convention, and look before saying "But what's its power and toughness?!"
Stick to the color pie, but remember that a particularly flavourful card can break it a bit. And black can do just about anything for a high price.
When posting, try not to post just one card (unless it needs a lot of discussion to fix the wording or power) and try not to post too many cards - no one wants to read and comment on 20 cards at once. 10 is a good max.
"Sufficiently advanced experience is indistinguishable from clairvoyance." -Carsten
"Ah those eyes, those horrible creepy eyes!" -Chaosof99
DCI Level 3 Judge & TO "I do not consider myself a hero. I know only what the Vec teach:
justice must always be served and corruption must always be opposed."
Go read! I am one of the three authors of Cranial Insertion.
But seriously, if you can't remember "Woapalanne", just call me Eli.
Great Evil Demon - 5BBB
Creature - Demon
Flying, trample
When CARDNAME comes into play, return a creature card with converted mana cost 5 or less from your graveyard to play. If you pay 3 life, you may return a creature with converted mana cost 7 or less instead.
BBB, T: Put three 1/1 black Spawn creature tokens into play.
Sacrifcie a Spawn: Regenerate CARDNAME.
5/5
What I mean is, when you overflood the card with mechanics, it becomes boring and unpreofessional. The two last abilities of the card above interact well, and perhaps should be on the same card. But no need for the reanimation madness, or even for the flying/trample.
Graceful Adept :2mana::symu: (U)
Creature - Human Wizard
You have no maximum hand size. “When you have mastered my lessons, it will seem as though the whole of the world has opened up to your mind and nothing is beyond your grasp.” - Lady Azami
1/3
Just a verry small thing, but I think that it is easier to read if the rarity is at the end of the type line.
Formating as close to real card format:
Graceful Adept :2mana::symu:
Creature - Human Wizard (U)
You have no maximum hand size. “When you have mastered my lessons, it will seem as though the whole of the world has opened up to your mind and nothing is beyond your grasp.” - Lady Azami
1/3
Then you don't have posibility of confusing R or U as being part of the mana cost. Just my two cents. :evil2:
Don't do anything that'll completely make you win regardless of the board. Making something with a win condition i.e. door to nothingness or darksteel reactor is ok if you balance it. Don't make the win easy. For the door you need 10 mana! and the reactor need a lot of counter. DO NOT DO THE FOLLOWING
Super Blasto!!!!- R
If you paid the mana cost without using mana from a land, you win the game, other wise ~ deals 20 dmage to target player.
Even though, it may me hard to pay wihtout land, and 20 dam can be prevented, Its stupid to make a game winner.
This would be better:
Super Blasto - 6RRRR
You may not use land's abilities to play ~.
~ deals 20 dam. to target player.
Make the win HARD. Something with a 1 in 50 easy pull and a 1 in 20 easy pull off. Don't try 'You win', try 'deals 20 dam.', your opp. might have more than 20 life or prevention.
This is a bit of a longshot, but is there any chance someone could post links to versions of the 8th Ed card stuff split up into smaller files (with fewer layers in each) ?
Reason is, I have an older version of Photoshop (5.5) and it refuses files with that many layers. (And for various reasons I can't use illegal software on my machine.)
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Also, don't include too many cards in a set that are similar. Meaning, don't include more than 1 X damage spell, don't include more than one Wrath of God variant, a bunch of 1cc draw cards for blue, and so on. Sometimes it just happens, especially if you're brainstorming by yourself, but it leads to a bad set overall.
Also, leave room for expansions! You definately don't want an entire block in one set, since you can't effectively expand the card pool later on. If you're creating cards that seem to follow a bunch of themes, put some aside for later expansion(s). You also want to expand on abilities later on, so don't include every way to use/abuse with an ability in your first set. Remember how long it took WotC to expand on Cycling? Try mana-only costs for a keyword ability in your first set, then alternative and creative routes (discard, sacing) in an expansion.
And, when building a set, keep in mind that it needs to have a theme. A set that is just all the cards that you have made put together isn't going to be a very good set. If you design cards with a set in mind, cards are more likely to come together well.
All sets also need a storyline. If you create a storyline, you are more likely to create a successful set because you can look at your storyline for ideas.
Initial Remarks I saw a need to create a resource for card creators. I’ll be the first to admit that I am not an authority on the topic, but I have been at it for a long time. For more than three years now I’ve been designing with friends many sets. Card creation can be one of the most rewarding aspects of the game. “Next to winning with a 1,000,000 point fireball of coarse. Yes I’m a Timmy.” It can also be quite annoying when you think you had the greatest idea in the world, and someone points out holes in it. “Fun to fix though, if fixable. *Grumble*” Nothing feels better than when you come up with an original idea, and MTG releases a similar card. So have fun and I hope that this document help’s you to make great cards.
Forum Etiquette There are many formats in which to post your cards, but most loosely follow something like:
Card Name Mana Cost Card Type - Subtype (Rarity) Rules Text Flavor Text Power/Toughness
When posting a card, many people use a placeholder such as ~, ~this~, or –this card– to indicate the card’s name in the rules text. Many card creation applications use ~; it can save time when actively changing and creating cards.
Example Soldier :2mana::symw: or 2W Creature – Human Soldier Whenever ~ attacks, it gets +1/+1 until end of turn. 2/1
Critiques Card Creation forums are a community effort. One shouldn't expect to post a bunch of cards and get a bunch of critiques. If you want critiques back, go out there and critique some others cards. As with all people that perform or produce there will always be critics. When creating cards this is no different. In almost all card creation posts you’re looking for feedback on you ideas, so be kind when you review others cards. The idea may be bah-roken but explain to the creator of the card why you find the card too powerful/underpowered/unnecessary/etc., so they can learn and fix such issues. As with all civilized postings, flaming and harassing is unacceptable!
Critiques should include comments on all aspects of the card that you feel could use assistance. In many cases the new card could have terribly powerful effects on the current set, and the creator may not recognize this. Informing the creator of the unforeseen interaction is also helpful. Further comments to assist in balancing the card, adding flavor, or improving on formatting are always welcome.
Complexity is not a Necessity You will find that in many card creation forums that simplicity is encouraged. It’s entirely possible that each ability and mechanic you come up with can be its own idea. The only reason, usually, to put multiple mechanics on one card is to create synergy (see below). Too many abilities can drag a card down and clutter the idea (this is known as the Akroma problem). You’ll find that if you have to use a lot of text to explain how the card works or clarify rules, that you may be overloading the card. Wizards of the Coast usually tries to keep their cards to eight lines of rules text or less.
Synergy and Flavor Multiple abilities on a card should have some kind of connection or work well with each other. When two or more abilities on one card complement each other well, this is called synergy. Some cards have very little flavor, while others have very strong flavor. A creature with strong flavor is the Samite Healer. The creature type is healer, and he has the ability to “fix” damage.
Examples of good synergy: Mobilization :2mana::symw: or 2W Enchantment All Soldiers have vigilance. (Attacking doesn't cause Soldiers to tap.) :2mana::symw: : Put a 1/1 white Soldier creature token into play.
Pristine Angel :4mana::symw::symw: or 4WW Creature - Angel Flying As long as Pristine Angel is untapped, it has protection from artifacts and from all colors. Whenever you play a spell, you may untap Pristine Angel. 4/4
Example of bad synergy: In the example below, the combat ability negates the first strike (and pretty much negates the creature).
Obnoxiously Pointless Combat Guy :2mana::symr: or 2R Creature - Goblin First Strike When ~ attacks or blocks, it deals 1 damage to each creature. 3/1
Additional Concepts of Card Design Color Wheel - Each ability or card mechanic should fit in a certain color. Easy examples include: Damage prevention in white, direct damage in red, and counterspells in blue. Some mechanics can bleed over to multiple colors, such as artifact destruction, shown in Disenchant/Naturalize/Shatter. White, Green, and Red are all proficient at destroying artifacts, but blue and black rarely get the ability.
Splashable - A “splashable” card is one that can be easily inserted as one of few cards in a deck that are not of the main color(s) of the deck. Artifacts are always splashable, as are some non-basic lands.
Cost The abbreviations for colored mana costs are W (white), U (blue), B (black), R (red), and G (green). When talking about generic card creation, many people recognize C as “colored” mana, while numbers (1, 2, 5, 13, etc.) are “colorless” or generic mana.
Mana Cost Scale (Cheapest to most expensive) 0 1, C 2, 1C, CC 3, 2C, 1CC, CCC 4, 3C, 2CC, 1CCC 5, 4C, 3CC, 2CCC, 1CCCC, CCCCC 6, 5C, 4CC, 3CCC, 2CCCC, 1CCCCC, CCCCCC 7, 6C, 5CC, 4CCC, 3CCCC, 2CCCCC, 1CCCCCC, CCCCCCC And so on…
Adding a 2nd or 3rd color to a mana cost is often equivalent to upping the converted mana cost by 1.5 or 2. WU is more expensive than 2, 1U, 1W, WW, or UU. When “enemy” colors (colors across from each other in the color wheel) are in the same mana cost, it becomes more expensive still. Thus, UR is generally regarded as more expensive than either WU or UB.
Card Symbols on MTG Salvation In all examples, remove the * or replace the # with the desired number. (T) Tap :*symtap: or [mana*]T[/mana] (W) White :*symw: or [mana*]W[/mana] (U) Blue :*symu: or [mana*]U[/mana] (B) Black :*symb: or [mana*]B[/mana] (R) Red :*symr: or [mana*]R[/mana] (G) Green :*symg: or [mana*]G[/mana] For colorless mana use :#*mana: or [mana*]#[/mana] (0) (1) (2) (20)-(X) :0mana:, :1mana:, :2mana:, - :20mana:,
Acknowledgments Thanks to Cantripmancer for editing, and clarifications.
Thanks to SorryGuy for the mana Symbols edit.
Excluded Examples Akroma, Angel of Wrath :5mana::symw::symw::symw: or 5WWW Legendary Creature - Angel Flying, first strike, trample, haste, protection from black, protection from red
Attacking doesn't cause ~ to tap. 6/6
This created a problem when putting in the reminder text.
Akroma, Angel of Wrath :5mana::symw::symw::symw: or 5WWW Legendary Creature - Angel Flying (this creature can't be blocked except by creatures with flying), first strike (this creature deals combat damage before creatures without first strike), trample (if ~ is attacking, you may assign combat damage divided as you choose among all creatures blocking ~ and the defending player, but only if you assign lethal damage to all creatures blocking ~), haste (this creature may attack the turn it comes under your control), protection from black (this creature can't be damaged by, enchanted or equipped by, blocked by, or targeted by black sources), protection from red (this creature can't be damaged by, enchanted or equipped by, blocked by, or targeted by red sources), vigilance (attacking doesn't cause this creature to tap). 6/6
Alright I am going to plead you all to use mana symbols. It makes life so much easier! It looks cleaner as well! Also here is what was just written:
Card Symbols on MTG Salvation In all examples, remove the * or replace the # with the desired number. (T) Tap :*symtap: (W) White :*symw: (U) Blue :*symu: (B) Black :*symb: (R) Red :*symr: (G) Green :*symg: For colorless mana use :#*mana: (0) (1) (2) (20)-(X) :0mana:, :1mana:, :2mana:, - :20mana:,
Okay, most of the bases have already been covered, but I'll add a few things of my own, mostly from mistakes I've witnessed relatively recently.
Don't Make Swingy Cards Mise, from Unhinged, was removed from an actual set because it was too swingy. This means that there will be some condition on the card that you might be able to meet, such as the flip of a coin or a certain topdeck or a certain card in play or whatever, and if you do meet it, the card will be extremely powerful, and if you don't, the card will be awful. Even if the two possibilities balance each other out, even if the chance of getting the good one is extremely low, if the good one is good enough compared to the cost of the card, the card is too swingy.
"This Ability Can't Be Countered."
Every now and then I'll see a card that has this modifier on a triggered ability, because if the ability were countered the card would be extremely good. This ability is not only unneccessary, it is unhealthy to the game. There is one card in the entire game that can counter triggered abilities: Stifle. Cards you create, we can assume (see below), won't be in Standard with Stifle. The chance of the ability being countered, except in a deck dedicated to doing just that, is slim to none. Which brings me to my next point: Stifle isn't that powerful. If you go out of your way to hose it, you're hurting Stifle's playability, you're hurting Johnnies who have Stifle decks, and you're hurting the overall interactivity of the decks. So please don't.
Keep in Mind the Environment of Your Cards
Always have in mind with what cards in Magic your card will be played to see whether or not it is broken. Are your cards geared towards being the next block in Magic? Part of the current one? Or five years down the line? These will all help you figure out what formats your cards will be legal in, so you can balance them against cards there. Personally, I design all my cards either for many blocks in the future, so I don't have to concern myself with any metagame but Legacy and Vintage, or in the current block, so I don't have to imagine (or create) a phantom block.
The way to make default card tags is like so: Vesuvan Doppelganger. This will produce Vesuvan Doppelganger, which will link to the magiccards.info page on the card, which will come up in a popup window. If you want to change which search engine you link to, though, there is an option in your User CP at the bottom of "Options" that allows you to change your card tags between Gatherer, magiccards.info, and Wizards.
Shell Uploader. Uploads your images to Imageshack or other free image hosting sites with an option menu from a right click, and you can get the thumbnail code.
Order of mana symbols: In a mana cost or activation cost, mana symbols are grouped so that they appear next to each other in the following string of mana symbols:
WUBRGWUBRGWUBRG
So, if you had a card with mana cost :1mana:, :symw:, :symu:, and :symg:, you'd put the first, then :symg::symw::symu:.
In activation costs, the mana part of the activation comes first, followed by a tap symbol (if required), then any nonmana, nontapping costs, such as sacrifices.
Order of abilities: First, put any keyword abilities (like flying, first strike, fear, etc.). Then static abilities (which are all kinds of abilities not described below). Then triggered abilities (abilities that start with 'whenever', 'when', or 'at'). Then activated abilities (abilities that you have to pay a cost to activate. Activated abilities are written as <cost>: <effect>. Look for the colon.)
"Hello! I've come to serenade you. I can't play guitar. I can't play this accordion either, but I thought it'd be less obvious."
Dylan Moran, Black Books
This is a sort of narrow part of design space, but I almost never see it discussed - should a given ability be put on a creature, on an enchantment, or on an artifact?
Putting an ability that is famous for being on an artifact or enchantment onto a creature is sometimes referred to a "putting it on a stick." For example, Kami of the Crescent Moon is Howling Mine on a stick. (Not to be confused with imprinting a card on Isochron Scepter, a card known as the stick.) When should abilities be put on a stick?
Pretend I designed this triggered ability:
"Whenever an opponent gains life, draw a card."
Ignore the fact that this ability is sort of lame and combos with things in dangerous ways. I just decided that it's a blue ability, so there's basically three ways I can go with it.
Medical Researcher - 2U
Creature - Human Wizard
Whenever an opponent gains life, draw a card.
2/2
Medical Research - U
Enchantment
Whenever an opponent gains life, draw a card.
Medic's Tomb - 2
Artifact
Whenever an opponent gains life, draw a card.
There are pros and cons to all three.
The advantage of putting the ability on a creature is that the card will always have some functionality, even if the ability is never triggered. Since my ability is pretty narrow, it will frequently have little effect in limited, but the 2/2 body for three is fine in limited. An effect that is too small or narrow to be worth playing at all as an enchantment or artifact might be salvaged by being placed on a creature. (Although very narrow or minor effects should probably be avoided in general.)
A significant and I think underrecognized facet of putting an ability on a creature rather than on an artifact or enchantment is that it alters the ease with which each color can deal with the card. A 2/2 blue creature can be easily dealt with by red or black, but not by white or green. Since white and green are the colors most victimized by this card, putting the ability on a creature might make it stronger.
There are cases where this can make a huge difference; a card that has
"Black spells cost an additional 'tap two lands' to play"
is much stronger as an enchantment than as a creature, since black struggles against enchantments.
We might also consider putting my ability on an enchantment. Though environments vary, enchantment hate is often not maindecked, so an enchantment generally has a better chance of sticking around. If an ability is very broad or interesting, especially if it encourages building a deck around it, (Sneak Attack, Doubling Season) an enchantment is likely the best home for it. The colors that can most easily dispose of Enchantments are white and green. Red and black are notoriously bad at it.
Lastly comes the option of putting the ability on an artifact. Obviously the biggest issue here is that this allows every color relatively easy access to the ability. If the ability I designed was heavily tied to one color, or did something that a color should never be able to do, I would think long and hard before relagating it to an artifact. (Mirrodin stretched this rule, but it was the artifact block.) More colors have access to artifact removal, although green and red are currently the best at it. If the ability is particularly potent against red or green, this may affect your decision to put it on an artifact one way or another.
There's probably a reason that this area of design doesn't come up all that much; a lot of it is sort of intuitive, and flavor often trumps this tiny bit of function. Neverthelss, I think it's worth considering when designing.
**************************************
On Hybrid Mana Costs
Since Ravnica's most notable mechanic was first discovered, many people have created cards with hybrid mana costs. This is a fun and exciting area of design space that is largely unexplored, so it's easy to see why. Unfortunatly, it's easy to misuse hybrid mana costs.
Hybrid cards have a lot in common with traditional multicolor cards, but in some ways they are the very opposite of a those cards. A traditional multicolor card (a "gold card") lets a card combine two abilities from different colors onto one card. A Hybrid card pretty much by definition can only have abilities that are entirely okay in either color.
Consider the following card:
Orzhov Vacuum - :xmana::symwb::symwb:
Instant
Choose one - Target player gains X life or target player loses X life.
Besides being sort of weak, this card has other problems. It lets black by itself gain life without draining it from somewhere, which is sort of sketchy, and it lets white by itself do X to a player, which is downright wrong. The bottom line is that if you can't see a card being printed for any of its possible mana costs, then it can't be a hybrid card. Since Orzhov Vacuum would never see print at :xmana::symw::symw:, then :xmana::symwb::symwb: is out of the picture as well.
A smaller facet related to hybrid is that the number of colored mana symbols in a hybrid card's cost should generally be fairly high. If you look at Ravnica, 10 of the 12 Hybrid cards have at least half of their mana cost in Hybrid Mana. The idea behind a hybrid card is that it's possible to play it in a deck that includes any of its colors, but easy to play it in a deck that includes all of its colors. A card that costs :5mana::symrg: isn't really easier to play in a red/green deck than it is in a green/white deck, since by the time you have 6 mana in either deck, you almost certainly will have access to both colors. If the card costs :2mana::symrg::symrg::symrg::symrg:, it is possible to play in the green/white deck, but it is much easier to play in the red/green deck.
Five Years Later Update - 1/06/11
The above no longer reflects modern design philosophy about hybrid nor my personal views about how it should be used. Modern hybrid cards should generally hew pretty closely to the above - that is, if the card can't exist as a monocolored card in either of its colors, it can't exist as a hybrid - but hybrids are allowed slightly more bleed than normal, particularly in hybrid-heavy environments.
******************************************
Understanding Rarity - 1/22/06
Unless you're planning on playing in limited formats with the cards you create, rarity doesn't make all that much of a difference, but it never hurts to know how the rarity of a card is decided. This is very much a "feel" thing; given a certain card, if you ask 20 people who know what they're doing what rarity it should be, most of them would probably give you the same answer.
The biggest misunderstanding that I see tossed around a lot is that it's more okay for a card to be way too powerful if it's rare. This is, in fact, not the case. If a card is so powerful in limited formats that getting it into play in those formats makes winning certain. (Kokusho, for instance), then that card should probably be a rare, but that doesn't mean that a rarer card gets "bonus" power. This is the most important thing to understand about rarity. (Five Years Later Update: I don't believe this any longer, because I play a lot more limited than I did when I wrote this. The truth is that cards exist in a wide band of power levels and sometimes that means that a card is going to be strictly better than another one. Artificially tacking random stuff onto fair cards to avoid the aesthetic unpleasantness of making a strictly better or strictly worse card just mucks stuff up without adding to play value. The reason that people don't play Runeclaw Bear in constructed formats is not because there are strictly better alternatives but because the card's innate power level places it below the curve.)
These are some reasons that a card should have one of the higher rarities.
I'll try to use example from the current Standard where I can think of them.
* The card is all confusing - At the Minneapolis Ravnica prerelease, I saw not one, but two games in which the players were incorrectly playing Concerted Effort, and that's hardly the most confusing card out there. Complex cards are also apt to confuse new players, since those are the players who have seen the fewest cards. If Warp World was a common, then every new player in the world would run into it before they had a firm handle on the game. A lot of cards might look simple (have little text) but end up causing a lot of rules complications. (Look at all of the Saturday School questions that involve Wrath of God.) Note that the rule doesn't work in reverse. A lot of cards that are easy to understand are rare.
* This one's sort of flavor. With few exceptions (in blocks devoted to legends), Legends are rare and big awesome stuff is rare. I mean really big stuff, like Autochthon Wurm. Big awsome instants and sorceries, too.
* The Dual lands in a big set are generally rare. (This is primarily because it ups the average pack value.)
* Cards that are not very fuctional in limited because they're more combo cards than anything else are ususally rare. Searing Meditation and Bloodbond March, for example.
* The set a card is in can influence what it's rarity should be very much. A card that interacts all special with artifacts could be more common in Mirrodin, where there are lots of artifacts to interact with, than in Kamigawa, where there are fewer. On the other hand, Shattering Spree - if it wasn't way too powerful to get printed - would definately have to be a rare if it was in Mirrodin.
* Mark Rosewater mentions a few others in his article.
The biggest ones are really complexity and "specialness" (doing something sort of unique). Rare cards do NOT get extra "power points" to spend; there is no mana cost discount for being rare. (However, a card that is at the high end of the natural power band will often - but not always - be rare.)
*********************************************
Foolproof guide to getting the mana symbols in the right order - 4/11/05
Unlike a lot of things in this post, which I suppose are open to debate, this one is pretty much a cleanliness issue. While a lot of people won't care if your colored mana symbols in multicolored cards are in the wrong order, and many won't notice, if you want your cards to look as neat as possible, it helps to get this right. In general, you put the symbols in a way that follows the :symw::symu::symb::symr::symg: pattern with as few gaps and the smallest gaps possible. Three-color "wedge" cards are perhaps the hardest to remember.
Hey, I was just curious as to if MtG Editor is used by some or even many people here to create their own cards. It's what I use at the moment and was just wondering, since I've been out of the game itself for three years, if the images it produces are of nice quality.
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How to add mana symbols to your posts, plus a zillion other things.
Understanding Rarity, Hybrid Mana Theory, Mana Symbol Ordering, and more.
Templating Tips and Common Mistakes
The Basics of Card Design and Advanced Card Design.
Articles on Set Design
Some Useful Links
Articles by bravelion83
Guide for exporting and playtesting cards on Cockatrice
Doombringer's NWO primer
Hybrid vs. Gold
Doombringer's Remaking podcast
Also, the official MSE thread.
Tips when making cards:
- Make simple cards! Overly complicated cards with a lot of text doesn't neccessarily mean the card is good. Simple, elegant cards are often much better than complicated ones.
- Make cards that fit the color pie! White generally doesn't get creatures with haste, or counterspells, and blue doesn't get a lot of direct damage or land destruction.
- Try to be creative! If you have a card idea, try to search to see if there's already a card that looks similar. A good place to do this is for example http://gatherer.wizards.com/.
How to format cards:
Formatting your cards is important! The cards look much more clean and neat, and more professional looking. When you post your cards, try this formatting:
CARDNAME :MANACOST:
Card Type - Subtype (Rarity)
Card text
Flavor text
P/T
An example:
Graceful Adept :2mana::symu:
Creature - Human Wizard (U)
You have no maximum hand size.
“When you have mastered my lessons, it will seem as though the whole of the world has opened up to your mind and nothing is beyond your grasp.” - Lady Azami
1/3
You can add more to this thread if you like to, but only add things that are helpful! This should be a thread that contains tips, help and links that can help people make better cards!
Also, is it possible to sticky this?
Don't be afraid to do weird things that have never been touched before, like "Protection from white creatures" or "When ~ is returned to its owner's hand..."
~ is common short hand for "this", and should be replaced with the card's name when read.
Some people prefer to put the p/t right after the creature types, as it appears in the Oracle text file. Feel free to use either convention, and look before saying "But what's its power and toughness?!"
Stick to the color pie, but remember that a particularly flavourful card can break it a bit. And black can do just about anything for a high price.
When posting, try not to post just one card (unless it needs a lot of discussion to fix the wording or power) and try not to post too many cards - no one wants to read and comment on 20 cards at once. 10 is a good max.
"Sufficiently advanced experience is indistinguishable from clairvoyance." -Carsten
"Ah those eyes, those horrible creepy eyes!" -Chaosof99
DCI Level 3 Judge & TO
"I do not consider myself a hero. I know only what the Vec teach:
justice must always be served and corruption must always be opposed."
Go read! I am one of the three authors of Cranial Insertion.
But seriously, if you can't remember "Woapalanne", just call me Eli.
Anyway, here's what I'd call a no-no card:
Great Evil Demon - 5BBB
Creature - Demon
Flying, trample
When CARDNAME comes into play, return a creature card with converted mana cost 5 or less from your graveyard to play. If you pay 3 life, you may return a creature with converted mana cost 7 or less instead.
BBB, T: Put three 1/1 black Spawn creature tokens into play.
Sacrifcie a Spawn: Regenerate CARDNAME.
5/5
What I mean is, when you overflood the card with mechanics, it becomes boring and unpreofessional. The two last abilities of the card above interact well, and perhaps should be on the same card. But no need for the reanimation madness, or even for the flying/trample.
Hope this helps!
*****
ricklongo and RicardoLongo on MTGO
*****
Visit my gaming blog: http://www.gamingsweetgaming.blogspot.com
****************
Check out Rick's Picks, my PureMTGO article series
****************
How to make a set
Custom Keyword Encyclopedia
Helpful articles:
Design 101 by Mark Rosewater
Design 102 by Mark Rosewater
The Great White Way by Mark Rosewater
True Blue by Mark Rosewater
In the Black by Mark Rosewater
Seeing Red by Mark Rosewater
It's Not Easy Being Green by Mark Rosewater
Misetings' "How to Create Cards"
Musteval's "How to Create Cards: A Tutorial Sorta Thing"
WotC, please hire me already.
Just a verry small thing, but I think that it is easier to read if the rarity is at the end of the type line.
Formating as close to real card format:
Graceful Adept :2mana::symu:
Creature - Human Wizard (U)
You have no maximum hand size.
“When you have mastered my lessons, it will seem as though the whole of the world has opened up to your mind and nothing is beyond your grasp.” - Lady Azami
1/3
Then you don't have posibility of confusing R or U as being part of the mana cost. Just my two cents. :evil2:
USE THIS IF YOU DON'T WANT YOUR CARDS TO SUCK.
I'm sick of MSE/CCG Maker/MSPaint/MWS cards. Enough is enough.
[/Rant]
Super Blasto!!!!- R
If you paid the mana cost without using mana from a land, you win the game, other wise ~ deals 20 dmage to target player.
Even though, it may me hard to pay wihtout land, and 20 dam can be prevented, Its stupid to make a game winner.
This would be better:
Super Blasto - 6RRRR
You may not use land's abilities to play ~.
~ deals 20 dam. to target player.
Make the win HARD. Something with a 1 in 50 easy pull and a 1 in 20 easy pull off. Don't try 'You win', try 'deals 20 dam.', your opp. might have more than 20 life or prevention.
[Photoshoppers] ◊ [NPI] ◊ Solar Flare Studios ◊ deviantART
Winner of Avatar & Sig Contest Week 72
Reason is, I have an older version of Photoshop (5.5) and it refuses files with that many layers. (And for various reasons I can't use illegal software on my machine.)
(I'm on on this site much anymore. If you want to get in touch it's probably best to email me: dom@heffalumps.org)
Forum Awards: Best Writer 2005, Best Limited Strategist 2005-2012
5CB PotM - June 2005, November 2005, February 2006, April 2008, May 2008, Feb 2009
MTGSalvation Articles: 1-20, plus guest appearance on MTGCast #86!
<Limited Clan>
Also, leave room for expansions! You definately don't want an entire block in one set, since you can't effectively expand the card pool later on. If you're creating cards that seem to follow a bunch of themes, put some aside for later expansion(s). You also want to expand on abilities later on, so don't include every way to use/abuse with an ability in your first set. Remember how long it took WotC to expand on Cycling? Try mana-only costs for a keyword ability in your first set, then alternative and creative routes (discard, sacing) in an expansion.
:symw::symu: Merfolk
Definitely not an aggro player.
All sets also need a storyline. If you create a storyline, you are more likely to create a successful set because you can look at your storyline for ideas.
I saw a need to create a resource for card creators. I’ll be the first to admit that I am not an authority on the topic, but I have been at it for a long time. For more than three years now I’ve been designing with friends many sets. Card creation can be one of the most rewarding aspects of the game. “Next to winning with a 1,000,000 point fireball of coarse. Yes I’m a Timmy.” It can also be quite annoying when you think you had the greatest idea in the world, and someone points out holes in it. “Fun to fix though, if fixable. *Grumble*” Nothing feels better than when you come up with an original idea, and MTG releases a similar card. So have fun and I hope that this document help’s you to make great cards.
Forum Etiquette
There are many formats in which to post your cards, but most loosely follow something like:
Card Name Mana Cost
Card Type - Subtype (Rarity)
Rules Text
Flavor Text
Power/Toughness
When posting a card, many people use a placeholder such as ~, ~this~, or –this card– to indicate the card’s name in the rules text. Many card creation applications use ~; it can save time when actively changing and creating cards.
Example Soldier :2mana::symw: or 2W
Creature – Human Soldier
Whenever ~ attacks, it gets +1/+1 until end of turn.
2/1
Critiques
Card Creation forums are a community effort. One shouldn't expect to post a bunch of cards and get a bunch of critiques. If you want critiques back, go out there and critique some others cards. As with all people that perform or produce there will always be critics. When creating cards this is no different. In almost all card creation posts you’re looking for feedback on you ideas, so be kind when you review others cards. The idea may be bah-roken but explain to the creator of the card why you find the card too powerful/underpowered/unnecessary/etc., so they can learn and fix such issues. As with all civilized postings, flaming and harassing is unacceptable!
Critiques should include comments on all aspects of the card that you feel could use assistance. In many cases the new card could have terribly powerful effects on the current set, and the creator may not recognize this. Informing the creator of the unforeseen interaction is also helpful. Further comments to assist in balancing the card, adding flavor, or improving on formatting are always welcome.
Complexity is not a Necessity
You will find that in many card creation forums that simplicity is encouraged. It’s entirely possible that each ability and mechanic you come up with can be its own idea. The only reason, usually, to put multiple mechanics on one card is to create synergy (see below). Too many abilities can drag a card down and clutter the idea (this is known as the Akroma problem). You’ll find that if you have to use a lot of text to explain how the card works or clarify rules, that you may be overloading the card. Wizards of the Coast usually tries to keep their cards to eight lines of rules text or less.
Synergy and Flavor
Multiple abilities on a card should have some kind of connection or work well with each other. When two or more abilities on one card complement each other well, this is called synergy. Some cards have very little flavor, while others have very strong flavor. A creature with strong flavor is the Samite Healer. The creature type is healer, and he has the ability to “fix” damage.
Examples of good synergy:
Mobilization :2mana::symw: or 2W
Enchantment
All Soldiers have vigilance. (Attacking doesn't cause Soldiers to tap.)
:2mana::symw: : Put a 1/1 white Soldier creature token into play.
Pristine Angel :4mana::symw::symw: or 4WW
Creature - Angel
Flying
As long as Pristine Angel is untapped, it has protection from artifacts and from all colors.
Whenever you play a spell, you may untap Pristine Angel.
4/4
Example of bad synergy:
In the example below, the combat ability negates the first strike (and pretty much negates the creature).
Obnoxiously Pointless Combat Guy :2mana::symr: or 2R
Creature - Goblin
First Strike
When ~ attacks or blocks, it deals 1 damage to each creature.
3/1
Additional Concepts of Card Design
Color Wheel - Each ability or card mechanic should fit in a certain color. Easy examples include: Damage prevention in white, direct damage in red, and counterspells in blue. Some mechanics can bleed over to multiple colors, such as artifact destruction, shown in Disenchant/Naturalize/Shatter. White, Green, and Red are all proficient at destroying artifacts, but blue and black rarely get the ability.
Splashable - A “splashable” card is one that can be easily inserted as one of few cards in a deck that are not of the main color(s) of the deck. Artifacts are always splashable, as are some non-basic lands.
Cost
The abbreviations for colored mana costs are W (white), U (blue), B (black), R (red), and G (green). When talking about generic card creation, many people recognize C as “colored” mana, while numbers (1, 2, 5, 13, etc.) are “colorless” or generic mana.
Mana Cost Scale (Cheapest to most expensive)
0
1, C
2, 1C, CC
3, 2C, 1CC, CCC
4, 3C, 2CC, 1CCC
5, 4C, 3CC, 2CCC, 1CCCC, CCCCC
6, 5C, 4CC, 3CCC, 2CCCC, 1CCCCC, CCCCCC
7, 6C, 5CC, 4CCC, 3CCCC, 2CCCCC, 1CCCCCC, CCCCCCC
And so on…
Adding a 2nd or 3rd color to a mana cost is often equivalent to upping the converted mana cost by 1.5 or 2. WU is more expensive than 2, 1U, 1W, WW, or UU. When “enemy” colors (colors across from each other in the color wheel) are in the same mana cost, it becomes more expensive still. Thus, UR is generally regarded as more expensive than either WU or UB.
Card Symbols on MTG Salvation
In all examples, remove the * or replace the # with the desired number.
(T) Tap :*symtap: or [mana*]T[/mana]
(W) White :*symw: or [mana*]W[/mana]
(U) Blue :*symu: or [mana*]U[/mana]
(B) Black :*symb: or [mana*]B[/mana]
(R) Red :*symr: or [mana*]R[/mana]
(G) Green :*symg: or [mana*]G[/mana]
For colorless mana use :#*mana: or [mana*]#[/mana]
(0) (1) (2) (20)-(X)
:0mana:, :1mana:, :2mana:, - :20mana:,
Links
*^\MTG R&D Guidelines/^*
Design 101
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgcom/daily/mr68
Design 102
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgcom/daily/mr132
Timmy/Johnny/spike
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgcom/daily/mr11b
*^\Programs/^*
MSE (Magic Set Editor)
http://magicseteditor.sourceforge.net/
MtG Editor
http://mtglair.de/
*^\Resources/^*
http://www.essentialmagic.com/Cards/Search.asp
http://gatherer.wizards.com/
http://magiccards.info/autocarderror/
Acknowledgments
Thanks to Cantripmancer for editing, and clarifications.
Thanks to SorryGuy for the mana Symbols edit.
Excluded Examples
Akroma, Angel of Wrath :5mana::symw::symw::symw: or 5WWW
Legendary Creature - Angel
Flying, first strike, trample, haste, protection from black, protection from red
Attacking doesn't cause ~ to tap.
6/6
This created a problem when putting in the reminder text.
Akroma, Angel of Wrath :5mana::symw::symw::symw: or 5WWW
Legendary Creature - Angel
Flying (this creature can't be blocked except by creatures with flying), first strike (this creature deals combat damage before creatures without first strike), trample (if ~ is attacking, you may assign combat damage divided as you choose among all creatures blocking ~ and the defending player, but only if you assign lethal damage to all creatures blocking ~), haste (this creature may attack the turn it comes under your control), protection from black (this creature can't be damaged by, enchanted or equipped by, blocked by, or targeted by black sources), protection from red (this creature can't be damaged by, enchanted or equipped by, blocked by, or targeted by red sources), vigilance (attacking doesn't cause this creature to tap).
6/6
Good sites: Zombie's! - Coast to coast - Travian Browser Game
Card Symbols on MTG Salvation
In all examples, remove the * or replace the # with the desired number.
(T) Tap :*symtap:
(W) White :*symw:
(U) Blue :*symu:
(B) Black :*symb:
(R) Red :*symr:
(G) Green :*symg:
For colorless mana use :#*mana:
(0) (1) (2) (20)-(X)
:0mana:, :1mana:, :2mana:, - :20mana:,
The new mana symbol is:
[mana*]G[/mana]=G
[mana*]R[/mana]=R
For those who do not know. Please use those!
Don't Make Swingy Cards
Mise, from Unhinged, was removed from an actual set because it was too swingy. This means that there will be some condition on the card that you might be able to meet, such as the flip of a coin or a certain topdeck or a certain card in play or whatever, and if you do meet it, the card will be extremely powerful, and if you don't, the card will be awful. Even if the two possibilities balance each other out, even if the chance of getting the good one is extremely low, if the good one is good enough compared to the cost of the card, the card is too swingy.
"This Ability Can't Be Countered."
Every now and then I'll see a card that has this modifier on a triggered ability, because if the ability were countered the card would be extremely good. This ability is not only unneccessary, it is unhealthy to the game. There is one card in the entire game that can counter triggered abilities: Stifle. Cards you create, we can assume (see below), won't be in Standard with Stifle. The chance of the ability being countered, except in a deck dedicated to doing just that, is slim to none. Which brings me to my next point: Stifle isn't that powerful. If you go out of your way to hose it, you're hurting Stifle's playability, you're hurting Johnnies who have Stifle decks, and you're hurting the overall interactivity of the decks. So please don't.
Keep in Mind the Environment of Your Cards
Always have in mind with what cards in Magic your card will be played to see whether or not it is broken. Are your cards geared towards being the next block in Magic? Part of the current one? Or five years down the line? These will all help you figure out what formats your cards will be legal in, so you can balance them against cards there. Personally, I design all my cards either for many blocks in the future, so I don't have to concern myself with any metagame but Legacy and Vintage, or in the current block, so I don't have to imagine (or create) a phantom block.
DL: http://su.asdf17.com/
Shell Uploader. Uploads your images to Imageshack or other free image hosting sites with an option menu from a right click, and you can get the thumbnail code.
1) Are there any templates for making cards that I can use/download for Paint Shop Pro 9?
2) Where can I download the the blank templates?
3) What font and sizes do I use for the card's text?
4) Where can I download the fonts?
Thanks for the help.
As Athani described in the first post, PLEASE make sure your cards are formatted correctly. It makes them look SO much better.
Card name :cost:
Card type - Subtype (Rarity)
Rules text (Reminder text)
Flavour text
P/T
Alternatively, the card name can be in bold.
Mana Symbols
Again, please use mana symbols. You can use the [*mana][/mana] tags (without the *). Within the mana tags,
W =
U =
B =
R =
G =
1 =
2 =
3 =
...and so on, right up to 20 =
If you don't want to use mana tags, you can use:
:*symw: (without the *) =
:*symu: =
:*symb: =
:*symr: =
:*symg: =
:*symtap: =
:*1mana: =
:*2mana: =
:*3mana: = :3mana:, etc.
Card Templating
Order of mana symbols: In a mana cost or activation cost, mana symbols are grouped so that they appear next to each other in the following string of mana symbols:
WUBRGWUBRGWUBRG
So, if you had a card with mana cost :1mana:, :symw:, :symu:, and :symg:, you'd put the first, then :symg::symw::symu:.
In activation costs, the mana part of the activation comes first, followed by a tap symbol (if required), then any nonmana, nontapping costs, such as sacrifices.
Order of abilities: First, put any keyword abilities (like flying, first strike, fear, etc.). Then static abilities (which are all kinds of abilities not described below). Then triggered abilities (abilities that start with 'whenever', 'when', or 'at'). Then activated abilities (abilities that you have to pay a cost to activate. Activated abilities are written as <cost>: <effect>. Look for the colon.)
Hope this helps.
spanglegluppet dot com
"Hello! I've come to serenade you. I can't play guitar. I can't play this accordion either, but I thought it'd be less obvious."
Dylan Moran, Black Books
Notagoodcard :1mana::symr:
Instant
~ deals 2 damage to target creature or player.
Somecoolguy
Legendary Creature
3/3
Possibly the last remaining member of the Banana Clan (+1)
Banana of the Month Feb '05
Cool stuff here.
This is a sort of narrow part of design space, but I almost never see it discussed - should a given ability be put on a creature, on an enchantment, or on an artifact?
Putting an ability that is famous for being on an artifact or enchantment onto a creature is sometimes referred to a "putting it on a stick." For example, Kami of the Crescent Moon is Howling Mine on a stick. (Not to be confused with imprinting a card on Isochron Scepter, a card known as the stick.) When should abilities be put on a stick?
Pretend I designed this triggered ability:
"Whenever an opponent gains life, draw a card."
Ignore the fact that this ability is sort of lame and combos with things in dangerous ways. I just decided that it's a blue ability, so there's basically three ways I can go with it.
Medical Researcher - 2U
Creature - Human Wizard
Whenever an opponent gains life, draw a card.
2/2
Medical Research - U
Enchantment
Whenever an opponent gains life, draw a card.
Medic's Tomb - 2
Artifact
Whenever an opponent gains life, draw a card.
There are pros and cons to all three.
The advantage of putting the ability on a creature is that the card will always have some functionality, even if the ability is never triggered. Since my ability is pretty narrow, it will frequently have little effect in limited, but the 2/2 body for three is fine in limited. An effect that is too small or narrow to be worth playing at all as an enchantment or artifact might be salvaged by being placed on a creature. (Although very narrow or minor effects should probably be avoided in general.)
A significant and I think underrecognized facet of putting an ability on a creature rather than on an artifact or enchantment is that it alters the ease with which each color can deal with the card. A 2/2 blue creature can be easily dealt with by red or black, but not by white or green. Since white and green are the colors most victimized by this card, putting the ability on a creature might make it stronger.
There are cases where this can make a huge difference; a card that has
"Black spells cost an additional 'tap two lands' to play"
is much stronger as an enchantment than as a creature, since black struggles against enchantments.
We might also consider putting my ability on an enchantment. Though environments vary, enchantment hate is often not maindecked, so an enchantment generally has a better chance of sticking around. If an ability is very broad or interesting, especially if it encourages building a deck around it, (Sneak Attack, Doubling Season) an enchantment is likely the best home for it. The colors that can most easily dispose of Enchantments are white and green. Red and black are notoriously bad at it.
Lastly comes the option of putting the ability on an artifact. Obviously the biggest issue here is that this allows every color relatively easy access to the ability. If the ability I designed was heavily tied to one color, or did something that a color should never be able to do, I would think long and hard before relagating it to an artifact. (Mirrodin stretched this rule, but it was the artifact block.) More colors have access to artifact removal, although green and red are currently the best at it. If the ability is particularly potent against red or green, this may affect your decision to put it on an artifact one way or another.
There's probably a reason that this area of design doesn't come up all that much; a lot of it is sort of intuitive, and flavor often trumps this tiny bit of function. Neverthelss, I think it's worth considering when designing.
**************************************
On Hybrid Mana Costs
Since Ravnica's most notable mechanic was first discovered, many people have created cards with hybrid mana costs. This is a fun and exciting area of design space that is largely unexplored, so it's easy to see why. Unfortunatly, it's easy to misuse hybrid mana costs.
Hybrid cards have a lot in common with traditional multicolor cards, but in some ways they are the very opposite of a those cards. A traditional multicolor card (a "gold card") lets a card combine two abilities from different colors onto one card. A Hybrid card pretty much by definition can only have abilities that are entirely okay in either color.
Consider the following card:
Orzhov Vacuum - :xmana::symwb::symwb:
Instant
Choose one - Target player gains X life or target player loses X life.
Besides being sort of weak, this card has other problems. It lets black by itself gain life without draining it from somewhere, which is sort of sketchy, and it lets white by itself do X to a player, which is downright wrong. The bottom line is that if you can't see a card being printed for any of its possible mana costs, then it can't be a hybrid card. Since Orzhov Vacuum would never see print at :xmana::symw::symw:, then :xmana::symwb::symwb: is out of the picture as well.
A smaller facet related to hybrid is that the number of colored mana symbols in a hybrid card's cost should generally be fairly high. If you look at Ravnica, 10 of the 12 Hybrid cards have at least half of their mana cost in Hybrid Mana. The idea behind a hybrid card is that it's possible to play it in a deck that includes any of its colors, but easy to play it in a deck that includes all of its colors. A card that costs :5mana::symrg: isn't really easier to play in a red/green deck than it is in a green/white deck, since by the time you have 6 mana in either deck, you almost certainly will have access to both colors. If the card costs :2mana::symrg::symrg::symrg::symrg:, it is possible to play in the green/white deck, but it is much easier to play in the red/green deck.
Five Years Later Update - 1/06/11
The above no longer reflects modern design philosophy about hybrid nor my personal views about how it should be used. Modern hybrid cards should generally hew pretty closely to the above - that is, if the card can't exist as a monocolored card in either of its colors, it can't exist as a hybrid - but hybrids are allowed slightly more bleed than normal, particularly in hybrid-heavy environments.
******************************************
Understanding Rarity - 1/22/06
Unless you're planning on playing in limited formats with the cards you create, rarity doesn't make all that much of a difference, but it never hurts to know how the rarity of a card is decided. This is very much a "feel" thing; given a certain card, if you ask 20 people who know what they're doing what rarity it should be, most of them would probably give you the same answer.
You might want to read "Rare, But Well Done" by Mark Rosewater.
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgcom/daily/mr9
The biggest misunderstanding that I see tossed around a lot is that it's more okay for a card to be way too powerful if it's rare. This is, in fact, not the case. If a card is so powerful in limited formats that getting it into play in those formats makes winning certain. (Kokusho, for instance), then that card should probably be a rare, but that doesn't mean that a rarer card gets "bonus" power. This is the most important thing to understand about rarity. (Five Years Later Update: I don't believe this any longer, because I play a lot more limited than I did when I wrote this. The truth is that cards exist in a wide band of power levels and sometimes that means that a card is going to be strictly better than another one. Artificially tacking random stuff onto fair cards to avoid the aesthetic unpleasantness of making a strictly better or strictly worse card just mucks stuff up without adding to play value. The reason that people don't play Runeclaw Bear in constructed formats is not because there are strictly better alternatives but because the card's innate power level places it below the curve.)
These are some reasons that a card should have one of the higher rarities.
I'll try to use example from the current Standard where I can think of them.
* The card does something strange or unique - Doubling Season and Concerted Effort are rares. Naturalize and Stone Rain are common.
* The card is all confusing - At the Minneapolis Ravnica prerelease, I saw not one, but two games in which the players were incorrectly playing Concerted Effort, and that's hardly the most confusing card out there. Complex cards are also apt to confuse new players, since those are the players who have seen the fewest cards. If Warp World was a common, then every new player in the world would run into it before they had a firm handle on the game. A lot of cards might look simple (have little text) but end up causing a lot of rules complications. (Look at all of the Saturday School questions that involve Wrath of God.) Note that the rule doesn't work in reverse. A lot of cards that are easy to understand are rare.
* This one's sort of flavor. With few exceptions (in blocks devoted to legends), Legends are rare and big awesome stuff is rare. I mean really big stuff, like Autochthon Wurm. Big awsome instants and sorceries, too.
* The Dual lands in a big set are generally rare. (This is primarily because it ups the average pack value.)
* Cards that are not very fuctional in limited because they're more combo cards than anything else are ususally rare. Searing Meditation and Bloodbond March, for example.
* The set a card is in can influence what it's rarity should be very much. A card that interacts all special with artifacts could be more common in Mirrodin, where there are lots of artifacts to interact with, than in Kamigawa, where there are fewer. On the other hand, Shattering Spree - if it wasn't way too powerful to get printed - would definately have to be a rare if it was in Mirrodin.
* Mark Rosewater mentions a few others in his article.
The biggest ones are really complexity and "specialness" (doing something sort of unique). Rare cards do NOT get extra "power points" to spend; there is no mana cost discount for being rare. (However, a card that is at the high end of the natural power band will often - but not always - be rare.)
*********************************************
Foolproof guide to getting the mana symbols in the right order - 4/11/05
Unlike a lot of things in this post, which I suppose are open to debate, this one is pretty much a cleanliness issue. While a lot of people won't care if your colored mana symbols in multicolored cards are in the wrong order, and many won't notice, if you want your cards to look as neat as possible, it helps to get this right. In general, you put the symbols in a way that follows the :symw::symu::symb::symr::symg: pattern with as few gaps and the smallest gaps possible. Three-color "wedge" cards are perhaps the hardest to remember.
Two-color allied cards -
:symw::symu:
:symu::symb:
:symb::symr:
:symr::symg:
:symg::symw:
Two-color enemy cards -
:symw::symb:
:symb::symg:
:symg::symu:
:symu::symr:
:symr::symw:
Three-color Allied cards -
:symw::symu::symb:
:symu::symb::symr:
:symb::symr::symg:
:symr::symg::symw:
:symg::symw::symu:
Three-color Wedge cards -
:symw::symb::symr:
:symb::symg::symw:
:symg::symu::symb:
:symu::symr::symg:
:symr::symw::symu:
Four-color cards -
:symw::symu::symb::symr:
:symu::symb::symr::symg:
:symb::symr::symg::symw:
:symr::symg::symw::symu:
:symg::symw::symu::symb:
Five-color cards -
:symw::symu::symb::symr::symg:
Colorless mana always is written first. :3mana::symr::symw: