puzzle #16: doubling season (with totcho)

 

hi all! this puzzle comes to you from the minds of me (as usual) and totcho, who among other things is known for being good with photoshop and being familiar enough with magic: the gathering to have incepted this puzzle in crossweird's chat. that was almost two months ago and i honestly forget exactly how it happened but i'm glad it did because i think this puzzle turned out really well!

this was totcho's second time constructing - the first being Tabula Rasa - and honestly he's a natural. tons of the good, clever, funny, etc. clues in this puzzle are from him. we refined it all together but he came up with some fantastic cluing angles. i don't know if he plans to get into puzzle construction himself but you all better keep an eye out just in case!

this puzzle is very heavily themed around magic: the gathering, a card game that's too complicated for its own good and too expensive to get into. however, you need not be familiar with it to solve the puzzle.

this puzzle is called doubling season after an iconic (and much too expensive) magic card (unofficial printing shown above), because it has double the constructors, double the themes, and probably around the same amount of fun. we hope. and thanks to slugbiker for the very helpful test solve!

lastly, it's totcho's birthday today!! what better gift could i give than to give him his crossword constructor debut right here on this blog? so if you like this puzzle, tell us! the birthday boy deserves it. i will humbly accept the praise along with him, of course.

SPOILERY MAGIC STUFF TO EXPLAIN THE THEME FOR NORMAL PEOPLE: [1] [2]

.ipuz | .puz | .pdf | puzzleme fullscreen

 or click the link below. enjoy!