Custom Magic the Gathering Valentine's Deck

Intro: Custom Magic the Gathering Valentine's Deck

This valentine is a variation of the “52 reasons I love you” card decks.  My boyfriend plays Magic the Gathering so I wanted to use those cards.  Since Magic cards already have text on them, I decided to use that to my advantage and design my own cards.

STEP 1: Materials

Here's what you'll need:


- A deck of Magic cards.  A standard Magic deck is 60 cards, so I used 60 (plus a cover card), but you could really make a deck of any size

- A list of 60 (or the number you choose) reasons why you love your loved one

- Photoshop or another photo editing software

- Printer

- Scissors or paper cutter

- X-Acto blade

- Glue or spray adhesive

- Stickers, gems, or other accoutrements

- Matte ModPodge

- Hole Punch (optional)

- Ribbon or loose-leaf binder rings (optional)

STEP 2: The Cover Card

I first designed the cover card.  My boyfriend and I frequently say “I love you XX much” with a random number, so I decided to use that with the number 60 (a standard Magic deck).  You could just say “60 reasons why I love you.”

For the title card, download a life-size image of the back of a Magic card and use Photoshop to personalize it.  Use the clone stamp tool to remove existing text and find fonts that are identical or very close to those used on real Magic cards. I used this font for the titles:

http://www.searchfreefonts.com/free/magicthe-gathering.htm


Use Photoshop to duplicate the patterns within the main titles.

STEP 3: Reason Cards

For the reason cards, download a life-size image of the front of a Magic card.  I decided to make all of my cards red, since it’s a valentine. 

Use the clone stamp tool to eliminate the text and symbols on the card and replace all of the text with placeholders.  Times New Roman font works just fine.  Other good fonts include Goudy Medieval, Matrix Bold, and MPlantin

http://www.fontspace.com/mentor-type/goudy-medieval
http://www.ufonts.com/fonts/matrix-bold.html
http://ufonts.com/fonts/mplantin.html

Use a Photoshop heart brush or a text heart to replace the Mana cost in the top-right corner of the card.  Remove the image using the magic wand and/or quick selection tools.  

After you have created a template, duplicate it! I found that 9 cards fit tightly on one 8.5x11 sheet, so I made 7 sheets, for 60 cards. 

Next, start filling in the text on each card.  Give each card a clever title to reflect the statement being made, a card type (I used the standard Magic types), and write your reason in the main box.  I also added inside jokes and additional things as flavor text on the bottoms of some cards. Lastly, add numbers to the power/toughness box.  I just numbered mine x/60, in order.

Add your own photos to some of the cards, or all of them.  I wanted to glue my cards to real cards for stability and also to eliminate having to print backs for every card, so I decided to add photos to some of them and leave some of them blank, so I could cut the space out for the image on the existing cards.

STEP 4: Print and Cut

Print your cards on thick-ish paper and cut them out! Cut out any blank image spaces.

STEP 5: Glue and Decorate

Glue each card to an existing card.  Add stickers, gems, or other printed or drawn images to further personalize the images.

STEP 6: Seal the Deal (Optional)

Give each card a coat of Mod Podge to seal it and make it sturdier.
If you printed your cards on an inkjet printer, a first coating of workable fixative or clear acrylic sealer may help to keep the Mod Podge from smearing the ink. 

STEP 7: Bind (Optional)

Punch two holes in each card and bind the whole stack with ribbon or loose leaf binder rings.  You can create a hole template on an extra card to make sure the holes are in the same place on each one.

You could also simply put the deck in a box or tie a ribbon around it.  I chose the latter. 

STEP 8: Present to Your Valentine!

Present your creation to the one you love and inevitably watch his or her face light up! 

Comments

[bmciver2]

If you think this 'able is cool, please vote for it in the Valentine's Day and Speed Crafting Challenge contests!

[kris10pauley]

How did you get the font coloring?

[bmciver2]

For the title, I believe I found a pattern/effect in Photoshop that was pretty close to the original. Then I adjusted the color until it was also pretty close.

[BrendaY]

Thank you so much for this idea! I was debating on what I should give my boyfriend for valentine's day and I happened to come across this, which is awesome! I kind of struggled because your instructions weren't in full detail but thanks to youtube, I figured out how to do everything and it turned out great!

[kara.wood.503]

How did you actually do this? These steps don't really explain anything at all. I have no idea what I'm doing. How did you clone the title card and change the text?

[BrendaY]

I was confused as well while I was attempting this. You can search on youtube to understand how to use the clone stamp tool to cover the original text.

[bmciver2]

I'm not really sure what you're asking. Please refer to step 2 for the cover cards. I didn't clone the cover, I just "download[ed] a life-size image of the back of a Magic card" and edited it. If you do need to "clone" it just copy and paste. Step 2 also explains how I "Use[d] the clone stamp tool to remove existing text" (by covering the existing text with the background pattern), and then write new text over. I can see how that would be confusing if you aren't familiar with Photoshop and the clone stamp tool.

Could you please remove your 10 duplicate comments?

Thanks for viewing my Instructable!

[RoseRaven]

Such an awesome variation on a cute idea! I love this!

[jcole24]

This is AMAZING! My fiance and I both love playing Magic!

[nsias]

What were the dimensions for the life size card? Or where did you download it? Oh and what kind of paper did you use? P.S. This is awesome!!!! Totally gonna do this for my hubby

[bmciver2]

I'm not sure of the exact dimensions, but you can get them by measuring a real card. I just did a google image search for magic cards to download them. Just print one to be sure the dimensions match up to the real card before you use it as a template. For the paper I used light card stock I believe.

[rubyjeans]

Wow this is amazing! My boyfriend plays magic too and I always struggle with what to get him for valentines and his birthday cos he always just buys whatever he wants for himself. :D