Uniform Stealing Board

Long story short, my brother and I like to play the cardgame Magic: The Gathering. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic:_The_Gathering
Recently, I found a software that allows to easily create fanmade cards. I wanted to train using it before I create "serious" fan cards I could play with my brother, and that's when I got the idea to try and adapt uniform stealing tactics to the rules of Magic.

It was mostly an excuse to understand how the software works, and to see how I could crop and/or edit pictures and see what fits and what doesn't. However, I thought I'd still share my attempts with you. I'm not posting it on the fanart section because, as you will easily see, they're not real fanarts I drew - just existing pictures drawn by other people which have been edited. Veterans of the Board will most likely recognize all of these scenes...

I'll make up the excuse it's lore. Klenia wanted to find a way to build good PR for infiltrators, and got the idea of designing cards promoting them. But in all honesty, it was just me having fun for a couple of hours, and sharing the result with you instead of keeping it on my laptop.

It was fun to find some ways to feature infiltration tactics in the game, though I suppose if you don't know anything about Magic: The Gathering's rules, things must look pretty obtuse to you. Hopefully, Klenia's little comments will make it up to you.

To keep the rule talk simple, the core idea of an infiltration deck would revolve around two mechanics:
- to immobilize your opponent's creatures to prevent them from doing anything (usually achieved by "tapping" them), which simulates the sentries getting mugged and stashed away
- and to make your own creatures unblockable so that they can directly attack your opponent's life points without being stopped, which simulates them getting disguises and sneaking into the compound

What I like about some Magic: The Gathering cards is that, when read in some order, they almost tell a short story.







You people most likely recognized the art of DarkHiro and his story WIB, which still contain two of the very best uniform stealings ever in my opinion. (Keen-eyed people will notice I cropped and sometimes rearranged the frames so that the panels can be read from left to right. But since I don't know how to use Photoshop, I cropped them with Paint and then used a PowerPoint and a screen capture... )

And a couple of other cards:



Once again, art by DarkHiro.



(Their ability makes them easier to be targeted by cards - both ones to buff them and ones designed to "mug" them.) Art from the To Aru Kagaku no Railgun manga, Chapter 106.



Art by Shabazik.

Finally, a couple of scraps, because sometimes it was hard to choose a picture...





That's all folks! Next post will once again be a normal story.

What a fun and creative idea. I have never played Magic: The Gathering and am not too familiar with its rules, but I think I got the basic gist by reading the cards and descriptions. Looks like this version would be a fun game.

The use of classic USB pictures helps - the two scenes from DarkHiro's WIB are indeed Hall of Fame moments, and the Black Widow scene is great as well. (As I recall, you previously payed homage to that scene in one of your stories.)

Klenia's comments at the bottom of each card are wonderful, giving humorous commentary as a form of USB "tips". I would honestly read a whole story that was just her delivering a lecture in front of a class of uniform thieves in training, explaining to them the tricks of the USB trade. Knowing her, she probably teaches a few of those classes already.

It was something different, but hopefully it was still entertaining. And there's the chance an other member of the Board is also into Magic and will have more ideas.

Thanks a lot for your comment! It made the time spent uploading the pictures and writing the post worth it. Adding Klenia's comments was a fun aspect, so I'm glad you enjoyed them.

I would honestly read a whole story that was just her delivering a lecture in front of a class of uniform thieves in training, explaining to them the tricks of the USB trade. Knowing her, she probably teaches a few of those classes already.

Just don't tell Mikani and Aster.

These aren't bad! I only have a few nitpicks, but it's mostly wording to make it feel more "official". Also, I think you made an error with your "Ambushed in the Restroom" card. I don't think you meant for it to have power/toughness as an Instant ^^

I almost want to clean up the wording in the program I use myself now.

Also, Seizing the Opportunity as Uncommon? You get to Scry 3 AND draw a card? For one Blue? That's pretty strong. Sure, not as good as Ancestral Recall from back in the day, but I'd probably set it at 1U.

Sorry....I just spent a good portion of a year working on a handful of Marvel Legends as cards, only to come to find out after I was nearly finished...that they announced Marvel as one of their Universe Beyond projects in 2025. Still, nicely done!

Wulflist wrote: Thu Nov 30, 2023 5:33 am These aren't bad! I only have a few nitpicks, but it's mostly wording to make it feel more "official". Also, I think you made an error with your "Ambushed in the Restroom" card. I don't think you meant for it to have power/toughness as an Instant ^^

I almost want to clean up the wording in the program I use myself now.

Also, Seizing the Opportunity as Uncommon? You get to Scry 3 AND draw a card? For one Blue? That's pretty strong. Sure, not as good as Ancestral Recall from back in the day, but I'd probably set it at 1U.

Sorry....I just spent a good portion of a year working on a handful of Marvel Legends as cards, only to come to find out after I was nearly finished...that they announced Marvel as one of their Universe Beyond projects in 2025. Still, nicely done!

Oh no, please don't apologize! I'm a casual player, so balancing fanmade cards is very hard. In fact, I was hoping one other member of the Board would be into Magic as well to give me advices. So, thanks a lot for that!

I confess Blue is the color I use the less - I prefer White, Green, and Red; White/Red and mono Green are my favorite types of decks. I wanted "Seizing the Opportunity" to be different from the official card "Opt". I hesitated a lot with the mana cost (between U and 1U as you proposed), but I thought making it a sorcery would compensate the powerful Scry 3 (I thought Scry 2 wouldn't be enough to compensate the drawback of the spell being a sorcery, since many Blue decks will want to play cards during the opponent's turn). The idea was to make a player choose between Opt's bigger versatility or Seizing the Opportunity's more powerful effect... If I go back to this side-project, maybe I'll change to Scry 2 instead, or make it rare? (I like the idea of it being a one mana card - blame my fondness for fast-paced attack decks )
Ironically, it's Mugging the Staff who got me pulling my hair off when I had to choose the mana cost - I wanted it to be cheap enough to be playable, but on the other hand permanently making a creature unblockable is a powerful effect so this can't be an early card as well.

How could I miss this error in Ambushed in the Restroom? I edited my post to correct the mistake. Thanks a lot.

I didn't think I'd come across an other person who has fun creating fan cards. (Marvel-themed, uh? Sounds interesting. So I'm not surprised the official creators ended up having the idea.^^ Personally, I'd like to create a fanmade (humming)bird deck, because I found this really funny picture of a warrior hummingbird https://www.deviantart.com/artnm13/art/ ... -865043386 The idea would be to summon as many small 1/1 and 2/1 flying creatures during the first turns; then come turn 4 or 5, you boost them with a creature giving +1/+1 to birds.)

Which software do you use? If you're not using it, I'd recommend Magic Set Editor. It's really ergonomic. In a few hours, I mastered it well-enough.

Thanks a lot for your comment! I still have a few ideas, so I may later update this post just for fun, and if you have ideas as well, I'd be glad to hear them.

Yup, MSE is exactly what I use. I know Cajun is working on mini-releases now (the one that does the heavy lifting for updates).

RGW is a good deck; I would also say I'm casual (went to a few pre-releases...they're more competitive than I care to be lol), but the only difference is I've been playing since about '95 (Mirage was just around the corner from being released).

I also primarily play White, usually putting it with Red, Green, and Blue. My first deck I ever made was a G/W deck; then a U/W (that's Blue, for you non-Magic peoples lol). Blue is and always will be the king of card draw. Most of their cards have you drawing in some fashion. I'd probably put it at Rare, but making it an Uncommon Sorcery would also work! Because while it's strong for it's cost and what it does, making it a Sorcery slows it down, so you're only able to play one on your turn, especially if you have a second Sorcery you're looking at playing. And don't feel bad! Card balance is very hard to do, especially if you don't have a reasonable way to test them.

I could see the hummingbirds being green, white and maybe even G/W. They'd have to have Haste, due to how fast they are. It'd be a fun theme for a weenie deck. And while there's a variety of cards that could give things +1/+1, Soraya the Falconer from Homelands can fit that bill, since her errata is now "all birds". She used to be "all falcons" back when they were labeling each creature individually (those days were a nightmare....let me tell you -_-). But she's a Legendary 2/2 Human for 1WW. She also gives Banding for 1W (Banding was a thing...if you don't know how it works, don't worry - nobody did back then). Also, I love the picture and idea!

The pro is she's cheap, meaning you could give those hummingbirds a quick boost from her. The con is she's Legendary, meaning you can only have one of her in play at a time. So yes, there is someone else here that does play! On a side note, I will admit to once getting a Revised Earthbind for the art alone lol

I didn't even think this post would get any comment at all - as Magic is a bit of niche when it comes to card games; but since there are some people who took an interest, I kicked myself in the backside and finished a couple of other cards I had in mind. So first, before I turn this post into one more suited for a Magic the Gathering forum, allow me to propose a second batch of cards for the ones who are here for the USB cards. We may now have enough cards for the core of an USB-approved infiltration deck.

I admit I have a lot of fun browsing my archives of uniform stealing arts to find which ones to use. Huge nostalgic trip...

First, the one I had to most trouble with, but which could also be the funniest to actually play. Yes, her last ability is meant to simulate her disguising herself as a mugged sentry. (Art by DarkHiro.)



An other one using DarkHiro's art. Effect inspired by (taken from) a real 'infiltrator' card from the game, if you wanna get the joke: https://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/card ... eid=439828



Then, a bunch of cards centered around henchwomen... and the way they are often dispatched. All the arts are from the master of Henchwomen on Deviantart, Shabazik.





Edit: Changed Spotting the opportunity into a rare sorcery for balance issues.

Wulflist wrote: Fri Dec 01, 2023 1:38 pm Yup, MSE is exactly what I use. I know Cajun is working on mini-releases now (the one that does the heavy lifting for updates).

RGW is a good deck; I would also say I'm casual (went to a few pre-releases...they're more competitive than I care to be lol), but the only difference is I've been playing since about '95 (Mirage was just around the corner from being released).

I also primarily play White, usually putting it with Red, Green, and Blue. My first deck I ever made was a G/W deck; then a U/W (that's Blue, for you non-Magic peoples lol). Blue is and always will be the king of card draw. Most of their cards have you drawing in some fashion. I'd probably put it at Rare, but making it an Uncommon Sorcery would also work! Because while it's strong for it's cost and what it does, making it a Sorcery slows it down, so you're only able to play one on your turn, especially if you have a second Sorcery you're looking at playing. And don't feel bad! Card balance is very hard to do, especially if you don't have a reasonable way to test them.

I could see the hummingbirds being green, white and maybe even G/W. They'd have to have Haste, due to how fast they are. It'd be a fun theme for a weenie deck. And while there's a variety of cards that could give things +1/+1, Soraya the Falconer from Homelands can fit that bill, since her errata is now "all birds". She used to be "all falcons" back when they were labeling each creature individually (those days were a nightmare....let me tell you -_-). But she's a Legendary 2/2 Human for 1WW. She also gives Banding for 1W (Banding was a thing...if you don't know how it works, don't worry - nobody did back then). Also, I love the picture and idea!

The pro is she's cheap, meaning you could give those hummingbirds a quick boost from her. The con is she's Legendary, meaning you can only have one of her in play at a time. So yes, there is someone else here that does play! On a side note, I will admit to once getting a Revised Earthbind for the art alone lol

Should have guessed you used MSE. It's the thing that taught me Blue's shortcut is U.

From my part, I started with Time Spiral, and a G/W/R Sliver deck. Love at first sight. I still have one. Except it's now built around Cloudshredder Sliver, Sinew Sliver, and many cheap 1 or 2 mana Slivers which give fun things like tapping for mana, vigilance, poisonous, first strike, flanking, REPLICATE... My brother hates it.

U/W (and U/G) must be the only color combinations I never tried. Blue really is my least favorite one... Too bad it's the one most suited for an infiltration-themed deck (alongside Black).

Given how aggressive hummingbirds are towards each other (from what I've heard they are extremeley territorial), I'd say Red would be even more suited than White as a secondary color. Haste would be logical, but I fear it would make them overpowered - or too expensive, which goes against the idea of the deck. I didn't even know there was a real card with the effect I was giving my fanmade one. (Though I'm not surprised either.) But now I see making my version (Hummingbird Flockleader) a 3G non-legendary card isn't too overpowered - it costs one more mana, but can be more easily included in two-colored decks. I have already several fanmade hummingbird cards ready (and even a Planeswalker). Next step would be to contact the artists to ask their permission for using their art before I post some cards on a Magic The Gathering forum...

And for your Marvel deck, I suppose the colors would be Red, Blue, and White. At least for Captain America's card.

Your Mistress could even be 1UB, but I do think it works as it is! Sleeper Hold is perfect - and yes, U/B is an Infiltrator style deck (Dimir from Ravnica has similar vibes, so yes, the colors fit the theme). Your henchwomen are good for 1B. They're a nice second turn 3/1 creature, sure, odds are good they'll die, but a turn two power 3 creature in black? That's pretty good!

Ah yes...Slivers....I remember Tempest coming out and introducing them. I knew right away they were going to be disgusting and everyone would either love them or hate them. I went to the pre-release for Future Sight, wound up pulling a Sliver Legion (I have the Queen, as well, but that's a story for another day). Fun Fact - Pulsing Sliver has Absorb 1, which has never been used as a keyword again since.

Red is another possibility for the hummingbirds, and they don't all have to have haste, but it would be an appropriate mechanic for some of them, and red usually has hasted creatures. Another idea is to give a few of them a +X/+0 (like 1 or 2) only when they're attacking.

My original Cap color was white, since I don't really do "Commander", but I have since gone and revised him to be 3URW, with Vigilance, boosting all other legendary creatures and giving him a search for a legendary creature.

I though the Mistress being 1UB would be redundant with the Evil Twin. Plus, I liked the idea that the three main 'infiltrator'-creatures of the deck are one full-blue, one full-black, and one dual blue-black. My main fear was that she would be too OP because of her abilities - especially the second one. However, I thought her restrictions made the mana costs reasonable. Her power is low, so turning unblockable is only useful if you boost her, and since she can only copy a tapped enemy creature for as long as it's tapped, the effect is either short-lived or requires at least one other card to be useful. (Obviously, and logically, the Mistress of Disguise was designed to combo with Locked in a Locker and/or Mugging the Staff. )
Sleeper Hold was easy to design - it's easy to balance out weak effects.
It's true that, while 3/1 for two manas are a common occurence, it's usually with White or Red. However, evil henchwomen could only use the black mana...

As a Boros-deck-user, I'd like to say it's physically painful for me to design a Dimir-like deck. People who know Ravnica's lore will understand my plight (and joke).

I have one Sliver Legion too (got lucky to get one in a booster when they remastered Time Spiral). It's in my deck - with 3 Homing Slivers to search it. Usually, when I manage to play it, a one-turn-kill follows suit. (So jealous you have a Queen. )

Never tried Commander either, but I thought Captain America, THE patriotic hero, not having the colors of the American Flag would have felt odd. And of course a Marvel deck would be built around Legendary cards.

True about hummingbirds with Haste. I have one with haste, should maybe think of adding at least one other. Or effects boosting the attack. Food for thoughts.

To tell the truth, I didn't think my hummingbird deck idea would catch someone's attention, or that I'd end up learning about someone else's fan cards, on this board. Though of course I do not wish to turn this post into a full MTG forum. Would you be interested to discuss things further? If yes, maybe we could do it with PMs. Though on the other hand you could say keeping it public would be an incentive for me to keep on imagining USB-related cards to have an excuse to post new comments. I may have at least one other idea, but I haven't found a decent picture yet.

Both....both is good