Thank you for your insight, Darrin! So, fetchlands are super important. Good to know. I assume that includes cards like Terramorphic Expanse or Evolving Wilds?
Good catch on the Commander's Sphere! The Cycling lands look okay too, and Cavern of Souls looks cool, but I'm not too keen on those other lands. I notice you include in the "remove" list some lands like Arcane Sanctum, Dromar's Cavern, Nykthos, and Vesuva, which do (or can) give me colored mana. Why was that?
One final question. With a pillow fort deck, I'm noticing there's not much in the way of big finishers, so how do I win? Keep hitting with Zur till they die?
As this is not intended for competition, it doesn't need to be as focused as that. This will be used for more casual games than that. So, I've looked at stax and hate, and that feels too competitive and mean than what I'd like to accomplish. Reanimator or Pillow Fort looks like it'll be more my speed.
Give us a little bit more information about your needs and we can help more
Honestly, I don't really have much more information, as I don't really know what direction to go. I'm literally starting from scratch. I have Zur. I like control. Blue is my primary color of choice. I like to run Mill decks frequently, but doubt this is the commander for that sort of deck. Other than control, I don't really know what other "themes" I could/should play with, or what win conditions I really want to work with.
I'm building an Esper control deck with Zur the Enchanter as my commander, and I need help.
1 - I've searched for hours each night for the past three nights, and I still don't have a good concept of what ratio of draw, counter, removal, discard, or commander-specific tricks I should be aiming for.
2 - Would it be wise if I wanted to go with a tribal theme such as Zombies, Wizards, or Humans? My gut says no.
3 - I imagine this deck is going to be heavier in enchantments than the average deck, or should I just aim for fewer but more powerful enchantments?
If anyone can assist me, I'd greatly appreciate it. Feel free to advise me on points I may be missing.
That sounds like OspreyDawn's way of handling mana cost. It is good for displaying any standard mana cost (no special cases like phyrexian and hybrid mana) within a constant sized box without much dead space. In other words, the mana cost box will always look similarly full whether the card is a Lightning Bolt or Progenitus. Downside is removal of the "empty space" info. Empty space can communicate just as well. The emptiness of the standard Lightning Bolt mana cost area tells you the spell is easy and cheap while the packed Progenitus mana cost area tells you the spell is hard to cast. So again, this is the type of trade-off you consider to keep in line with the priorities set in the first step (what's important to you).
I very much like that presentation of Mana costs, but I understand what you mean. I just wanted it to be left-aligned and efficient, and that was the best example I could think of at the time.
I'll take your suggestions to heart, and work out what it is I'm trying to achieve. Thank you for your assistance!
If any of my ideas are interesting enough to anyone, feel free to use them in your own work. =)
Does this help? I can go further if this is what you're looking for.
Yes! It helps a lot!
I like your frame a lot. The only thing I'd really do different is to somehow abbreviate like symbols. Like UUUU would become U4, as an example. I tried sketching out my frame design, and so far I'm not very happy.
I've got the card type symbol in the top left corner. Then the name across the top still. Directly under the name, right aligned, is the card sub-type, if any. Along the left is mana cost, abbreviated like I mentioned above. And P/T is vertical, left aligned, similar to yours.
Also, I'm toying with the idea of making symbols for "core" keyword abilities, such as flying, first strike, reach, trample, etc.
Not sure what you mean by information design, but are you referring to custom templates that people make?
I can't explain it, so I'll let Wikipedia do it for me:
"Information design is the practice of presenting information in a way that fosters efficient and effective understanding of it. The term has come to be used specifically for graphic design for displaying information effectively, rather than just attractively or for artistic expression."
The idea is, I want to design a custom template/layout/frame that communicates, more efficiently, the information you need to know about a card, and I'm not satisfied with anything I've produced. That's why I also asked what everyone's process is like, beginning with inspiration.
Ever since I've joined, specifically for this thread, I've been thinking, drafting, and tossing away ideas about information design for MtG layouts. Nothing I come up with really satisfies me. For those of you that have made custom layouts, what's your process? How do you even form the idea to make the frame you create?
Honestly, I don't really have much more information, as I don't really know what direction to go. I'm literally starting from scratch. I have Zur. I like control. Blue is my primary color of choice. I like to run Mill decks frequently, but doubt this is the commander for that sort of deck. Other than control, I don't really know what other "themes" I could/should play with, or what win conditions I really want to work with.
1 - I've searched for hours each night for the past three nights, and I still don't have a good concept of what ratio of draw, counter, removal, discard, or commander-specific tricks I should be aiming for.
2 - Would it be wise if I wanted to go with a tribal theme such as Zombies, Wizards, or Humans? My gut says no.
3 - I imagine this deck is going to be heavier in enchantments than the average deck, or should I just aim for fewer but more powerful enchantments?
If anyone can assist me, I'd greatly appreciate it. Feel free to advise me on points I may be missing.
I very much like that presentation of Mana costs, but I understand what you mean. I just wanted it to be left-aligned and efficient, and that was the best example I could think of at the time.
I'll take your suggestions to heart, and work out what it is I'm trying to achieve. Thank you for your assistance!
If any of my ideas are interesting enough to anyone, feel free to use them in your own work. =)
Yes! It helps a lot!
I like your frame a lot. The only thing I'd really do different is to somehow abbreviate like symbols. Like UUUU would become U4, as an example. I tried sketching out my frame design, and so far I'm not very happy.
I've got the card type symbol in the top left corner. Then the name across the top still. Directly under the name, right aligned, is the card sub-type, if any. Along the left is mana cost, abbreviated like I mentioned above. And P/T is vertical, left aligned, similar to yours.
Also, I'm toying with the idea of making symbols for "core" keyword abilities, such as flying, first strike, reach, trample, etc.
I can't explain it, so I'll let Wikipedia do it for me:
"Information design is the practice of presenting information in a way that fosters efficient and effective understanding of it. The term has come to be used specifically for graphic design for displaying information effectively, rather than just attractively or for artistic expression."
The idea is, I want to design a custom template/layout/frame that communicates, more efficiently, the information you need to know about a card, and I'm not satisfied with anything I've produced. That's why I also asked what everyone's process is like, beginning with inspiration.