The Shichifukujin Dragon is one of only two unique Magic cards in existence (using the original definition of unique, meaning there’s only one copy in existence). The other one, if you’re interested, is the 1996 World Champion card given to, you guessed it, the 1996 World Champion (Tom Chanpheng of Australia). For those that enjoy useless Magic design trivia (and if you don’t what are you doing reading this column?), I designed both of the unique cards. As a quick aside, here’s how each was made.Shichifukujin Dragon – To commemorate the opening of the DCI Tournament Center, Wizards was asked if they could design and draw (just as I designed both cards, Chris Rush illustrated both of them – back then he was a full-time Wizards employee) a card called Shichifukujin Dragon. Shichifukujin is the name of the Seven Deities of Good Fortune in Japanese mythology. The card was very symbolic as it was supposed to bring good luck to the DCI Tournament Center. Chris Rush drew a lovely picture. And just as it was about to go off to press, it occurred to someone, “Hmm, perhaps it might be cool to put actual rules text on the card.”
So they came to me. They needed a cool mechanic that matched the name and art. Oh, and I had an hour. As the art had to be a seven-headed dragon, I looked for a mechanic that played into the card’s seven-headedness. That is where I came up with the idea of the seven +1/+1 counters. Somehow seven heads got me thinking of hydras and I came up with the idea that it could grow new heads. But to do so it had to make itself more vulnerable for some duration of time. As I played around with the card I came up with the idea of losing two +1/+1 counters to get three… at the end of the turn. I quickly had the rules text templated (by a trained professional – I know better than to get involved in templating) and handed off the card.
引用元
LAND OF THE RISING FUN Posted in Making Magic on February 14, 2005
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/making-magic/land-rising-fun-2005-02-14
当時、日本特集ウィークでした。そこでマローは、日本旅行の話をしています。直接的に神河の話が出てくるわけではありませんが、気になった部分を少し取り上げてみます。
ここでは、《Shichifukujin Dragon》が話に出ました。日本にDCIトーナメントセンターが設立されたことを記念して送られたカードであるため、このような記事ではもってこいでしょう。
「七福神/Shichifukujin」が日本神話で幸福をもたらす存在だということで、カード名がまず決まった上で、イラスト、それに合わせた能力がデザインされたようです。
日本神話ということで七福神が出てきましたが、神河で同様のモチーフを使う予定はあったのでしょうか。このドラゴンとの重複を避けるため、あえて作らなかったのかもしれません。ただ、神河にはすでにドラゴン・スピリットサイクルという重要な役割を担うドラゴンはいますから、そもそも必要なかったのかもしれません。
コメント