We could just set up a hidden subforum accessed only by members of a group. Joining the group is as simple as accepting certain terms, the people who joined would probably have to be regulated to insure people below a certain post count/join date wouldn't have access until a later point. Anyone who breaks the terms would then have their membership be revoked and unable to join again. We could then also have a public thread where someone posts up sheets of proxies made by the group's members, with an MTGS watermark plastered over it so people can't easily rip them, so that other people can see whats up.
I think a closed thread similar to how the 18+ forum sections work would be a good idea. There are currently enough established members that regularly post there that setting up a close group would be feasible. I've only recently begun to get into making digital alters, and proxies and it would really be a shame to see the thread go.
You claim bocephus is stating opinions and then you go on to list what certain decks seem like to you. Jund != Bant, Delver != faeries, storm != meilra, etc. Each deck is a different archetype, each deck plays out differently and that's not even counting the 1.5tier decks which can easily get there.
I'm not so sure on Bitterblossom. Yes, it is an amazing card that made Faeries dominate the meta; however we currently have access to the "hoser" cards that Wizards printed to late.
Damage on the stack should never come back; it is non-intuitive and makes certain decks way to powerful(Affinity).
I'd actually interested in what would happen to control decks with access to Fact or Fiction. Currently they have a 3cmc draw and a 4cmc draw, both of which seem important to them and I'm curious what control lists would end up dropping.
Disenchant
Overall – The difficulty and originality of this piece is astounding. Doing something new always merits recognition, and the work put into the textbox is worthy of such. I’m not sure that an anime hottie destroying her own artifact with her hair is the best choice here. I understand that the textbox is probably the focus on the destruction, but the card is white, not an artifact(or enchantment). Was it a personal choice to ignore the textbox color? It looks like you used a black textbox on a white card.
I had originally tried a different image, but it wasn't lining up properly. The different color text box is deliberate and is textured using the artifact textbox texture. This is the one I put the most work in and I'll have to give some credit to my friend who first suggested doing something with the textbox.
Pithing Needle
Overall – A letdown after the Disenchant. I like the art choice better here, and the spill is nicely executed. The only difficulty I see is adding the cracks in the textbox. Could there have been a way to save the title bar from covering her eyes? This would have looked much better with a minimized textbox, there is too much negative space with such sparse text.
I would have done more with this, and I wanted to; however I ended up not having any more ideas to make it pop. I agree the alignment is subpar, but there wasn't any other way to do it. I could probably do some cutting in the titlebar in order to make room, but I worry that it won't turn out that good.
Goblin Guide
Overall – I will try to overlook that we’ve seen this piece of art used before. Spill and shadow are done to par, I like that you added the light of the lamp overlaying the card. This submission seemed very much an “I need one more quick” addition. Appearance takes a huge hit because you used black twins in place of the red.
This was actually the first one I did and I never knew this image had been used before. I wanted to add some rocks in front of the card; however I didn't have time nor could I find a suitable stock image. What do you mean by "black twins"?
EDIT: Thanks for posting up such detailed critiques. I'll keep you're suggestions in mind for the future.
If I asked you to write an epic poem based on your knowledge of the story of Jesus, should I be surprised when it is stylistically different from Mark and in a different genre?
You have made some decent points in this thread, but the quoted is not one of them.
I'd like to point out that it would of course be stylistically different, considering you're requesting it in a different genre of literature, gospel to an epic poem.
It was, but that's the thing until Greed showed up it followed the manga, That's why Brotherhood was able to do in 13 episodes what it took the original 30 episodes to do. All that extra pointless stuff before the main storyline went anywhere.
And that is my problem with the first one. When I first saw it it was nice, but now that Brotherhood has been released that fleshes out the main storyline more and follows the manga more closely, the first just pales in comparison.
My 2 biggest gripes with BH is the fact that it's much more comedic, which is fine in some ways, but it removes any tension and drama.
Comedic relief is essential in creating more dramatic and tension filled moments. Its a problem very dark animes have, where the viewer eventually becomes inoculated against drama, because there are no points where the viewer can calm down and reset. FMA is a very serious anime/manga, with some very grim scenes; however it feels that much more dramatic and gripping when the comedic scenes are included.
That being all the current posters have done is list their favorite anime and haven't really helped the OP. Admittedly, its very hard in figuring out suggestions for someone without dipping into your own tastes and we could probably do with a bit more information on what the OP's ideal anime is (themes, setting, type, length, etc).
Really? I felt that the first FMA didn't really have that much character development, instead opting for more non-sequitur sidestories, this problem was further compacted by the fact that it had less episodes.
Some others I forgot: Durarara, Time of Eve, Samurai 7.
Some movies:
Everything by Hayao Miyazaki, Studio Ghibli (the only one Hayao Miyazaki did outside of Studio Ghibli was Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, which is really amazing) and Satoshi Kon.
The Girl who Lept through Time
5 Centimeters Per Second
Metropolis
Ghost in Shell: SAC - The original Ghost in Shell movie is a bit to dark in comparison to the manga for my tastes; however all the Ghost in Shell animes are of really amazing quality. It pretty much is the Cyberpunk anime with a lot of psychological undertones. This is by far my favorite anime with just the amazing quality put into it, both story wise and visually.
(English Dub is quite nicely done and is on Netflix Instant Watch)
Full Metal Alchemist:Brotherhood - Do NOT watch Full Metal Alchemist. The first anime produced was terrible and completely off track of the manga. The remake, FMA:Brotherhood, is more faithful to the manga and is levels above the first anime.
(English Dub is quite nicely done and is on Netflix Instant Watch)
Eden of the East - A lot of comedy relief, but still has a very serious plot.
(English Dub is quite nicely done and is on Netflix Instant Watch)
Obligatory: TTGL, Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, FLCL, etc.
Damage on the stack should never come back; it is non-intuitive and makes certain decks way to powerful(Affinity).
I'd actually interested in what would happen to control decks with access to Fact or Fiction. Currently they have a 3cmc draw and a 4cmc draw, both of which seem important to them and I'm curious what control lists would end up dropping.
/saracsm
The best card in modern (are) the fetch lands. Without them we wouldn't have the kind of mana bases we have right now.
I had originally tried a different image, but it wasn't lining up properly. The different color text box is deliberate and is textured using the artifact textbox texture. This is the one I put the most work in and I'll have to give some credit to my friend who first suggested doing something with the textbox.
I would have done more with this, and I wanted to; however I ended up not having any more ideas to make it pop. I agree the alignment is subpar, but there wasn't any other way to do it. I could probably do some cutting in the titlebar in order to make room, but I worry that it won't turn out that good.
This was actually the first one I did and I never knew this image had been used before. I wanted to add some rocks in front of the card; however I didn't have time nor could I find a suitable stock image. What do you mean by "black twins"?
EDIT: Thanks for posting up such detailed critiques. I'll keep you're suggestions in mind for the future.
I'd like to point out that it would of course be stylistically different, considering you're requesting it in a different genre of literature, gospel to an epic poem.
Comedic relief is essential in creating more dramatic and tension filled moments. Its a problem very dark animes have, where the viewer eventually becomes inoculated against drama, because there are no points where the viewer can calm down and reset. FMA is a very serious anime/manga, with some very grim scenes; however it feels that much more dramatic and gripping when the comedic scenes are included.
That being all the current posters have done is list their favorite anime and haven't really helped the OP. Admittedly, its very hard in figuring out suggestions for someone without dipping into your own tastes and we could probably do with a bit more information on what the OP's ideal anime is (themes, setting, type, length, etc).
Some others I forgot: Durarara, Time of Eve, Samurai 7.
Some movies:
Everything by Hayao Miyazaki, Studio Ghibli (the only one Hayao Miyazaki did outside of Studio Ghibli was Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, which is really amazing) and Satoshi Kon.
The Girl who Lept through Time
5 Centimeters Per Second
Metropolis
(English Dub is quite nicely done and is on Netflix Instant Watch)
Full Metal Alchemist:Brotherhood - Do NOT watch Full Metal Alchemist. The first anime produced was terrible and completely off track of the manga. The remake, FMA:Brotherhood, is more faithful to the manga and is levels above the first anime.
(English Dub is quite nicely done and is on Netflix Instant Watch)
Eden of the East - A lot of comedy relief, but still has a very serious plot.
(English Dub is quite nicely done and is on Netflix Instant Watch)
Obligatory: TTGL, Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, FLCL, etc.