Hi everyone. I am well aware that I haven't posted in forever, nor was I a frequent posted to begin with back in the day which I think was 8 years ago. I dropped out of the fandom for quite a bit (school and work can really getcha), but I finally remembered this place exists and wanted to both make people aware of this project and also make sure we're doing this above-board.
I have been assisting my friend for quite a while in making a full series of Touhou-based Magic the Gathering sets called "Mesmerizing Journey." We're going all-in -- the goal is to make 8 stand-alone sets similar to a "Standard" environment with its own storyline, mechanics, and takes on the classic Gensokyo setting. If you're interested in more details, I'm glad to go over them in this thread, but another issue takes precedence that I need your help with. I'm kinda out of my depth.
Last week we finally decided we were ready to start incorporating a wider audience and let them know about this project. Per the guidelines of Wizards of the Coast, we have no intention of physical distribution, nor any plans to sell the completed works. Once they're ready, tested, and balanced out, we will distribute the final products freely. We are pretty certain we're kosher as far as they're concerned. However, we wanted to use a Patreon account while the project is still in the alpha/beta stage so we can commission artwork for the various cards (and there are a LOT of cards; we're at a bit over 1,000 right now, though I doubt we'll ever get all of them done). Based on what I read in one of the pinned posts here, it sounds like that violates ZUN's rules, which is absolutely not our intention. What would you suggest? Is it possible for non-Japanese speakers to contact Team Shanghai Alice to see if we can get their blessing? Art is crucial for this kind of project; it's even recommended by Magic head designer Mark Rosewater in one of his columns when making fan sets.
Thanks for reading all of this. We've jumped into the deep end with both feet and are now hoping we can learn to swim quickly. However, having played quite a few matches now, I think we have something going on here, and we want to see it through.