Ravenloft/Magic: the Gathering (Updated 18 October 2016)

[Dion of the Fraternity]

Here I combine two of my illicitly geeky love affairs: the classic RAVENLOFT setting and MAGIC: THE GATHERING. As with almost all fan-made content found on this website, this is all UNOFFICIAL. Where applicable, all card names and art are copyright their respective authors and artists. Wizards of the Coast is not affiliated with this endeavor in any way. I should probably also point out that (duh) NONE of these cards are tournament-legal, although yes I wish they were.

The RAVENLOFT block of Magic: the Gathering is a standard three-set block. The first set entitled “Ravenloft: Dark Powers,” has 300 cards (excluding 20 basic lands), while the succeeding two expansion sets will each feature 125 cards. Like the LEGENDS block and the KAMIGAWA block, the RAVENLOFT block is legends-heavy.

All card ideas featured below follow updated Oracle text and rulings, and as much as possible stay close to the characteristics of Ravenloft as a campaign setting.



Before we go to the stats themselves, here are two sample cards I made. There's of course old Strahd:



Meanwhile, for those who are still all irked up by Strahd's 3rd-edition look, here's the promotional prerelease card!



STORYLINE (part 1)
After fleeing a tragedy that ignites her planeswalker spark, a rogue named Brix Taltos inadvertently goes through the Mists and enters the Dread Realms. Unable to leave, she stays in the shadows of the world, watching as history passes her by.
Then the Grand Conjunction occurs, and two more planeswalkers get trapped within the Mists. One of them could be Brix’s ally in finding a way out of this prison-realm—while the other could simply destroy both of them.

Brix Taltos
Mythic Rare
1BB
Planeswalker – Brix
+2: Target player discards a card and you gain 1 life.
-2: Look at the top card of target player’s library. You may put that card at the bottom of his or her library.
-8: Shuffle your hand and your graveyard into your library, then draw seven cards.
3

DARKLORD is a new permanent supertype.
-- All Darklord permanents are Legendary permanents. Any spell, effect or ability that can affect any permanent that has the Legendary supertype can affect any permanent that has the Darklord supertype.
-- The “legend rule” applies to Darklord permanents.
-- Darklords can be played from the graveyard.

Darklord cards in the “Ravenloft: Dark Powers” set as of March 19, 2009:

Diamabel of Pharazia
Uncommon
2W
Darklord Creature – Angel
Flying, vigilance
Discard a card: Diamabel of Pharazia becomes a 3/2 black Demon creature with flying and fear until end of turn.
2/3

Elena Faith-hold
Rare
2WWW
Darklord Creature – Human Knight
First strike, vigilance
WWW, Pay 3 life: Destroy target nonwhite creature.
3/3

Malken, Curse of the Hiregaard
Mythic Rare
3W
Darklord Enchantment – Aura
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets +2/+2, gains first strike and “T: Destroy target tapped creature. Skip your next combat phase.”
1W: Return Malken, Curse of the Hiregaard to its owner’s hand. Play only as a sorcery.

Dominic d’Honaire
Rare
1UU
Darklord Creature – Human Advisor
All other players play with their hands revealed.
T, Discard a card: You control target creature until end of turn. It gains haste until end of turn.
2/2

Ivana Boritsi
Mythic Rare
UU
Darklord Creature – Human Advisor
B: Target creature you control gains deathtouch until end of turn. Sacrifice that creature at end of turn unless it’s a Darklord.
T, Sacrifice a creature with deathtouch: Choose one—Draw two cards; or destroy target creature.
1/3

Count Strahd von Zarovich
Mythic Rare
3BB
Darklord Creature – Vampire
Fear
Pay 3 life: Count Strahd von Zarovich gains flying and gets +X/+X until end of turn, where X is the number of black creatures you control.
2/2

Death, Lord of the Necropolis
Rare
3B
Darklord Creature – Elemental Incarnation
Fear
BBB, T: Destroy target creature. It can’t be regenerated. Put a 1/1 black Spirit creature token with flying into play.
3/2

Inza Kulchevich
Rare
3BB
Darklord Creature – Gypsy Rogue
Shroud
Inza Kulchevich gets +1/+1, gains flying and is unblockable as long as all swamps you control are untapped.
2/2

Jacqueline Renier
Rare
2BB
Darklord Creature – Rat Rogue
1BB: Put a 1/1 black Rat creature token into play.
Sacrifice three Rats: All Rats you control get +1/+1 and gain swampwalk until end of turn.
2/1

Lady Ivania and Lord Vorno
Uncommon
2BB
Darklord Creature – Demon Ghoul
Lady Ivania and Lord Vorno can’t be blocked by only one creature.
2, T, Sacrifice a creature: Target player loses X life and you gain X life, where X is the sacrificed creature’s power.
3/3

Drakov of Falkovnia
Mythic Rare
3R
Darklord Creature – Human Warrior
When Drakov of Falkovnia comes into play, it deals damage to target creature or player equal to twice the number of red creatures you control.
Other red creatures you control get +2/+2 and can’t block.
2/2

Alfred Timothy
Mythic Rare
2G
Darklord Creature – Wolf Shaman
Trample
All Wolf creatures you control get +1/+1 and gain forestwalk.
When a creature dealt damage by Alfred Timothy is put into a graveyard, put a 1/1 green Wolf creature token into play.
2/2

King Crocodile
Uncommon
3G
Darklord Creature – Crocodile
Trample
GG: Choose a basic landwalk ability. King Crocodile gains that basic landwalk ability until end of turn
3/2

Adam, Child of Mordenheim
Mythic Rare
4
Darklord Artifact Creature – Golem
Adam, Child of Mordenheim comes into play with X +1/+1 counters on it, where X is the number of creatures target opponent has in his or her graveyard.
During your upkeep, remove a +1/+1 counter from Adam, Child of Mordenheim.
2: Return Adam, Child of Mordenheim to its owner’s hand.
2/2

Ebonbane
Rare
3
Darklord Artifact – Equipment
Equip—Pay 2 life
Equipped creature gets +1/+1 for each artifact in play, is unblockable and gains shroud.
---

Additional flavor information as of March 20, 2009

RELIGIONS follow allied color triads.

Ezra – WUB; emphasis on “Cleric” creature type
Lawgiver – UBR; emphasis on “Mystic” creature type
Eternal Order – BRG; emphasis on “Shaman” creature type
Morninglord – RGW; emphasis on “Monk” creature type
Hala – GWU; emphasis on “Druid” creature type

All VISTANI fall under the “Gypsy” creature type; with a few exceptions all Gypsy creatures have shroud, and all tribes fall under a particular color.

W – Kamii, Zarovan
U – Canjar, Naiat
B – Corvara, Darklings
R – Equaar, Mortu
G – Giamarga, Vatraska

Naiat Bard
Common
1U
Creature – Gypsy Wizard
Shroud
T: Tap or untap target creature.
1/1

Madame Eva
Rare
2W
Legendary Creature – Gypsy Mystic
Shroud
All other Gypsy creatures get +1/+1.
Whenever a Gypsy creature comes into play, draw a card.
2/2

HYSKOSA’S PROPHECY: Each Hexad of Hyskosa’s prophecy gets its own instant card and color, with the exception of “Touch of Death,” which already exists as a card.

Feast of Goblyns
Uncommon
XRR
Instant
Put X 1/1 red Goblin creature tokens with haste into play. Sacrifice all Goblin tokens at end of turn, then Feast of Goblyns deals damage to target creature or player equal to the number of Goblin tokens sacrificed this way.

Ship of Horror
Uncommon
XUU
Instant
Put X 0/1 blue Sailor creature tokens with haste into play. Sacrifice all Sailor creature tokens at end of turn, then return a number of target permanents equal to the number of Sailor creature tokens sacrificed this way to their owner’s hands.

Night of the Walking Dead
Uncommon
XBB
Instant
Put X 1/1 black Zombie creature tokens with haste and fear into play. Sacrifice all Zombie creature tokens at end of turn.

From the Shadows
Uncommon
XWW
Instant
Put X 1/1 white Spirit token creatures with haste into play. Sacrifice all Spirit creature tokens at end of turn, then gain 2 life for each Spirit creature token sacrificed this way.

Roots of Evil
Uncommon
XGG
Instant
Put X 2/2 green Beast token creatures with haste into play. Sacrifice all Beast creature tokens at end of turn.

Storywise, the Prophecy then leads to the only multicolor card in “Ravenloft: Dark Powers:”

Grand Conjunction
Rare
WUBRG
Sorcery
Grand Conjunction can’t be countered.
Each player shuffles his or her hand and his or her graveyard into his or her library, then draws seven cards.

…and speaking of cards with book titles, just for the sheer heck of it…

When Black Roses Bloom
Rare
3B
Enchantment
All lands are swamps in addition to their land type (even if they’re not in play).

Heaven’s Bones
Uncommon
3W
Sorcery
Return target creature card from a graveyard into play under your control with a +1/+1 counter on it. That creature gains flying.


ELVES: To emphasize the difference between the elves of Darkon and the elves of Sithicus, this block’s elves will deal with green’s opposing colors, which are blue and black. NEVUCHAR elves deal with blue mana and abilities (due to their sudden and awkward proximity to the Nocturnal Sea), while SITHICAN elves deal with black mana and abilities (due to their relationship with the Black Rose).

CALIBANS have the Beast creature type. As with humans they can be found in all colors.

LANDS: The art found within basic lands in the Ravenloft block follow a Gothic horror theme. As an emphasis, each panorama would feature a Vistani caravan or encampment.

Forest – the savage forests of the southwestern Core, with a cairn or an abandoned hamlet.
Island – a low fog on the islands of the Nocturnal Sea, probably showing a derelict ship or a lighthouse.
Mountain – the high snowcapped Balinok mountain range.
Plains – horsemen on the open plains of the eastern Core.
Swamp – deserted manors at the edges of a large moor on the northwestern Core.

LEGENDARY NONBASIC LANDS each feature a darklord’s lair. For “Ravenloft: Dark Powers,” five of these legendary lands will be uncommon and will give one color of mana, while five of these legendary lands will be allied-color dual-lands.

Two examples:

Castle Ravenloft, House of Strahd
Rare
Legendary Land
Castle Ravenloft, House of Strahd comes into play tapped.
T: Add BB to your mana pool.
1,T: Target creature gets -1/-1 until end of turn. That creature doesn't untap during its next controller's untap step.

Old Kartakan Inn
Uncommon
Legendary Land
Old Kartakan Inn comes into play tapped.
T: Add G or W to your mana pool.
1, T: You may play a Wolf card from your hand without paying its mana cost if you control four or more Wolf creatures.

MULTICOLORED CARDS and ENEMY-COLOR DUAL-LANDS will feature in the second and third sets of the Ravenloft block.

Updated March 19, 2009.

[Daisu]

Never been a great fan of magic the gathering.

Though I once did a Spellfire version of home campaign.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Love the mock up cards. Beautiful! (Though shouldn't the expansion symbol be more Ravenlofty?)

Lots of really fun stuff here, (I especially like Ebonbane and Malken not being creatures) but the Magic rules lawyer in me must nitpick some of your templating.

- Modern templates say "gains flying," not "has", and when a creature "gets" a power/toughness change AND "gains" an ability like flying, the P/T change is listed first. (see Dreadwing, Dragonsoul Knight, Paragon of the Amesha)

- your Darklord supertype doesn't quite work. "If ___ happens" is usually written as "when ___ happens" nowadays, and it indicates a triggered ability, which goes on the stack immediately, so "as a sorcery" doesn't make sense. You can simplify it to say "when a darklord is put into a graveyard from play, its owner may pay its casting cost. If he or she does, put it into play tapped, under its owner's control." If instead you meant that he can play it as a sorcery on a later turn, that doesn't really work because once it hits the graveyard, it forgets it was ever in play, so you'd lose the "from play" restriction and say simply: "darklord cards may be played from the graveyard." (see Haakon, Stromgald Scourge).

- for Diamabel, use "becomes" instead of "is". (see the mimics from Eventide)

- Blue deathtouch is a bit odd for Ivana. The only blue creature with deathtouch is Vectis Silencers, and it requires a black activation. If you want to avoid multicolor (i.e. make her UB), I'd change her to:
Ivana Boritsi
Mythic Rare
UU
Darklord Creature – Human Advisor
B: Target creature you control has deathtouch until end of turn. Sacrifice that creature at end of turn, unless it is a Darklord creature.
T, Sacrifice a creature with deathtouch: Draw two cards. Play this ability only during your turn.
1/3

That way she can give deathtouch to herself with the B: ability. The "templating team" might say "unless it is Darklord" (see scrying sheets), but I like the flow of "a Darklord creature" better.


- I love the "book title" cards, but Ship of Horror's a bit broken. I'd at least remove haste (blue rarely gets haste), and maybe make them 0/1's but even so, it's better than Braingeyser, which is too good to reprint. RoE might be a bit too good too.

- Heaven's Bones would probably be: Return target creature card from a graveyard into play under your control, with a +1/+1 counter on it. That creature gains flying.

- The legendary lands are a bit... boring? I feel like the lair of a DL should do more than just make mana. Maybe something like:

Castle Ravenloft
Uncommon
Legendary Land
Castle Ravenloft comes into play tapped.
T: Add B to your mana pool.
1B,T: Put a -1/-1 counter on target creature, it doesn't untap during its controller's next untap step.

Old Kartakan Inn
Rare
Legendary Land
Hideaway
T: Add G or W to your mana pool.
W/G, T You may play the removed card without paying its mana cost if you control 3 or more wolf creatures.

[Nathan of the FoS]

Fun!

Here, let me try:

Castle Tristenoira
Rare
Legendary Land

Castle Tristenoira comes into play tapped.

T, sacrifice Castle Tristenoira: Remove target creature attacking you from the game.

[Sorta like a combination of Oubliette and Maze.]

Harkon Lukas:
Rare
Legend
2GG

Harkon Lukas must attack each turn if possible.

All Wolf creatures get +1/+1 and Forestwalk when Harkon Lukas is in play.

If Harkon Lukas is placed in the graveyard, return him to your hand immediately.

2/2

[Troile]

It's a good effort.

I'm not sure how playable you want the cards to be. A lot of them aren't good.

A couple are down right broken like Madame Eva and Grand Conjunction.

[Dion of the Fraternity]

gonzoron: thanks for the suggestions and the rules clarifications! The first post has the necessary corrections, although I want to point out some things:

1 - "Ship of Horror" will no longer trigger the card-drawing effects, but will instead Boomerang creatures.

2 - I have inverted the rarity of the Legendary Lands. The monocolor lands are now rare (each will now give two same-colored mana for a possible 3rd-turn three-mana tap)

3 - I try as much as possible to turn away from Set-specific abilities like Hideaway and Ravnica dual-mana, so instead I gave Old Kartakan Inn a similar yet restrictive ability to pop up Wolf creatures.

4 - I'll try to create a better Ravenloft-y expansion symbol, right now I have a bit of a problem using the editor to create an appropriate one

And speaking of the editor, here's a visual of it, plus another mock-up card:

I'm not sure how playable you want the cards to be. A lot of them aren't good. A couple are down right broken like Madame Eva and Grand Conjunction.

How so?

In my next post, I detail the 25 or so Legendary Lands I would use in the entire ravenloft Block (two are already listed in the first post!)

[A G Thing]

I personally like them a whole lot.

This is something I have wanted to do for a while myself!!!

I say Good Job Dion...

P.S.: The symbol for the set does need a change... I don't know what though short of a small raven or gem... Perhaps a lock might also work...

P.S.S: So how long till finished and can I get them?

[Troile]

Most of the creatures are extremely weak.

They all cost 4 to 5 mana and don't have significant abilities and have low power and toughness.

"King Crocodile
Uncommon
3G
Darklord Creature – Crocodile
Trample
GG: Choose a basic landwalk ability. King Crocodile gains that basic landwalk ability until end of turn
3/2 "

3/2 for 4 mana and it's green, which means it should be bigger for the cost. Any creature that costs 4 or 5 mana should be at least 4/4 and have good abilities. For 4 mana you can be doing better things like Armageddon and such.

Grand Conjunction is 5 mana to draw 7 cards.

Memory Jar is broken but this is worse.


Usually the mechanic for a card like Madame Eva is to tap to look through your deck for a creature type then put it into your hand. Drawing cards on a comes into play trigger is very good to start with and can be abused.

[MadStepDad]

Wow! I can't speak on the rules or powers but the artwork is dope! Good stuff! Where did you get the pictures?

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Most of the creatures are extremely weak.

well remember he's designing a set here. Sets have to have both strong and weak cards and everything in between.

They all cost 4 to 5 mana and don't have significant abilities and have low power and toughness.

Actually, his Darklord supertype gives most of them a VERY significant ability. So ignoring the type line, the darklord cards should be a little on the weak side. Without playtesting, it's a little tough to see how they should be costed.

Grand Conjunction is 5 mana to draw 7 cards.

It's more telling to compare it to timetwister. Take one of the top 9 most brokenly powerful cards in the history of the game, add 2 mana and make it uncounterable. Even the Multicolor discount can't really justify it.

Usually the mechanic for a card like Madame Eva is to tap to look through your deck for a creature type then put it into your hand. Drawing cards on a comes into play trigger is very good to start with and can be abused.

The ability itself isn't so terrible, just in the wrong color. (Compare to Wirewood Savage or Reki.) It's the shroud that puts it over the top, AND tacking the +1/+1 lord ability on there that makes it way undercosted. Shroud makes a card really difficult to answer (obviously), so they try not to put it on "must kill" cards, especially those that will usually stay out of combat. Putting in on the whole gypsy tribe is probably asking for trouble.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

1 - "Ship of Horror" will no longer trigger the card-drawing effects, but will instead Boomerang creatures.

Not sure if that's better or worse. Compare to Distorting Wake and Æther Tide. The new Ship of Horror is better than either of them, even without the token creating part.

3 - I try as much as possible to turn away from Set-specific abilities like Hideaway and Ravnica dual-mana, so instead I gave Old Kartakan Inn a similar yet restrictive ability to pop up Wolf creatures.

Fair enough. There's usually a way to make something similar though, and I like your new OKI.

I was going to suggest tacking Scry on the gypsies, actually. (or at least the ones with the Sight) Dunno if you consider that set-specific, since they brought it back once already.

[Troile]

Most of the creatures are extremely weak.

well remember he's designing a set here. Sets have to have both strong and weak cards and everything in between.

Agreed. That's why I asked if he wanted them all to be playable. If he's trying to make strong and weak cards then that's alright. Though I find that his creatures in general are pretty weak.

Of course being able to play them from the graveyard is very good and makes it troublesome to balance them.

I would base creature balance off of the Serra Angel which I would say is slightly too weak to play. I would want any of my creatures to be better. Keep in mind too that the best white creature is the Savannah Lions.

It's more telling to compare it to timetwister. Take one of the top 9 most brokenly powerful cards in the history of the game, add 2 mana and make it uncounterable. Even the Multicolor discount can't really justify it.

Yep

The ability itself isn't so terrible, just in the wrong color. (Compare to Wirewood Savage or Reki.) It's the shroud that puts it over the top, AND tacking the +1/+1 lord ability on there that makes it way undercosted. Shroud makes a card really difficult to answer (obviously), so they try not to put it on "must kill" cards, especially those that will usually stay out of combat. Putting in on the whole gypsy tribe is probably asking for trouble.

I don't know what Shroud is but it seems like it makes it even better.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Keep in mind too that the best white creature is the Savannah Lions.

Troile, meet Isamaru, hound of Konda. Isamaru, meet Troile.

I don't know what Shroud is but it seems like it makes it even better.

Shroud is the new keyword that takes the place of "~this~ cannot be the target of spells or effects"

[Tykus]

Been toying with idea myself for a few years (at least in my head). One idea was for border closings: enchantment--border; as long as this enchantment is in play, creatures you control cannot attack; possible upkeeps (Hazlan); the enchantment triggers when you're attacked (Darkon-zombie tokens; Barovia- a -2/-2 penalty), and the enchantment can only be played if the appropriate darklord is in play.

[Dion of the Fraternity]

I took a while, but here's a new update!

Here's fifteen mock-ups in the premiere set. Only Strahd and Death have pics, because it's pretty difficult to find colored Ravenloft art.

Pictured are the six mythic rare darklords, six (of the ten) rare darklords, one (of the five) uncommon darklords, the Grand Conjunction, and a simple common I decided to throw in.