And the winner is… card mechanic! Once again, the winning choice beat out the combined total of the other choices. Here’s how the voting turned out:

Hmmm... Mark said this article was about mechanics...

Getting Your Collective Hands Dirty

Time to make the mechanic. Okay, this vote is going to be a little more complicated than the last few. For starters, this vote has two parts. The first part requires all of you that are interested to send in your card mechanic ideas. Then after some massive pruning by R&D, the second part will let you have a chance to vote on your favorite submission. This incidentally is how all the “creative” votes (card mechanic, art description, card name, flavor text, etc.) will go.

Da Rules

If you are interested in submitting a card mechanic, here’s the rules you need to follow:

1. Each person may submit up to three card mechanic ideas. After three ideas are submitted, we will not look at any more. So please think about what you wish to submit before blindly sending in an idea.
2. Do not send anything but the rules text for your card. The rules text is what is written in the text box of the card. We do not need (nor want at this point) the creature’s name, creature type, power/toughness or mana cost. I will state this last part once again since I don’t want any confusion. DO NOT list the mana cost (what used to be called casting cost) of the creature. We will be deciding this later.
3. Use the letter "M" for specific mana costs for activations. To separate the mechanic’s ability from its power level, we are asking for mana costs to not be specified. For example, if you wanted a card that tapped, spent some mana and fogged for the turn, you would write “M, Tap: Creatures do not deal combat damage this turn.” We will understand that the "M" stands for a mana cost. Other costs, such as sacrificing the creature, should be listed.
4. Keep it simple. The number one mistake beginners make when designing a card is to make the rules text too long. A good guideline is about 140 characters -- any more than that and there will be no room for flavor text (and how fun would that be?) If your mechanic goes much more that 140 characters, it's probably too long. Keep in mind that proper templating might lengthen the text.
5. Any submitted idea becomes the property of Wizards of the Coast. In order to be able to give you all this opportunity, Wizards of the Coast has to be able to legally protect itself. (Full legal text is at the beginning of the form.) If this makes you uncomfortable, please do not submit any ideas.

As a designer, I know that the mechanic is not just the heart of the design but also the most fun part. Please enjoy the experience. I’m looking forward to see what your collective creativity can generate.

The deadline for the first part of this vote is midnight, Sunday, March 10th. The second part of the vote will happen as soon as R&D is able to make their way through all your submissions.

SUBMIT YOUR IDEAS HERE!