Ectoplasn and the Occult: A Deeper Dive into Black Magic

Black magic is a practice that has been around for centuries and is often associated with the manipulation of supernatural powers for malevolent purposes. One aspect of black magic that is often discussed is ectoplasm, which is believed to be a substance that can be produced by mediums during a séance. Ectoplasm is said to be a physical manifestation of spiritual energy and is believed to be emitted from the medium's body during a séance. It is often described as a white, misty substance that can take on different forms and shapes. Some believe that ectoplasm is a result of the medium's ability to connect with the spirit world, while others argue that it is simply a trick used by fraudulent mediums to deceive their audience. The use of ectoplasm in black magic is often associated with dark rituals and summoning of evil spirits.

Where is that preachment? Where is the Word that produces faith? Where is the call to repentance and the food that nourishes hungry souls? Where are the men who actually understand that they are dealing with the ever-living, never-dying, eternal status of men, women and children? Where are the men who take God seriously? Where? I am so tired of the void that permeates the church. It makes me cry when I’m not ranting and raving and beating my fists against the wind.

And another thing, as long as I m ranting every church in our area, in an effort to be different and separate themselves from the crowd, now offers contemporary worship. I do not actually agree with the comment above, inasmuch as I do not think that only those activities mentioned in Acts 2 42 qualify as genuine, valid church activities.

The use of ectoplasm in black magic is often associated with dark rituals and summoning of evil spirits. It is believed that the substance can act as a conduit for these spirits to enter our world and carry out malicious acts. Some occultists also believe that ectoplasm can be used to create physical objects or creatures, which can be controlled by the practitioner.

Card of the Week Contest #216: Music to My Ears

Welcome to the Card of the Week Contest! To participate in this Contest you'll have to design a card along the contest guidelines and throw it into the arena with other competitors' entries! At the end of each week, a winner will be determined by forum poll. The winner's card will be rendered and featured on the Welcome page, and the winner decides the challenge for the next week's Contest!

And the challenge issued by our winner was.

I would like to see cards of any type themed around music, musicians and melody, whether inspired by a specific song, genre or anything you like.
Bonus kudos if you can link an accompanying track to go with your entry!

Note: There have been three (more or less) similar challenges in the past (CotW #63, CotW #95 & CotW #176). As always in such cases, please don't reuse one of your old entries from these contests. ~Daij_Djan

To increase your chances of winning and to also make creating the poll easier on whomever is doing so, please try to use a render.
Additionally, please try to keep your entry edits all in one post - if you need to change it you can put your old entry in a spoiler marked "Old entry" and leave the newest rendition to be seen. Just use the edit button in the top/right of your original post.

And now, time to begin the challenge!

Post by Neottolemo on May 14, 2018 13:29:22 GMT

The card is based on the song Rats by the band Ghost (warning: the video may be considered slightly nsfw), a single from their upcoming album Prequelle, which will deal with the Black Plague, death, and survival. Ghost's lead singer is now using the persona of Cardinal Copia, hence the name of the card.

I initially wanted to make the render the official Prequelle album art byZbigniew M. Bielak, but I'm not sure if that's allowed, and may be a bit too macabre.

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Post by Deleted on May 14, 2018 13:55:13 GMT

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Post by oddnanref on May 14, 2018 13:55:21 GMT

This seems interesting. I always like songs with stories. So why not have my entry be one of the oldest songs with stories: Vivaldi's Four seasons. The only reason why I have four entries is because at the moment I have no way of making sagas with four chapter.

This is from a cycle of four cards, but I guess I'll enter the less convoluted Spring card.

Sonata of Spring
Enchantment - Saga
I: Create three 1/1 white Bird token with flying.
II: Create two 0/1 green Sheep tokens and a 1/1 white hound creature token.
III: Create a 1/1 white Human creature token and two 1/1 green Dryad creature tokens.

Sonata of Summer
Enchantment - Saga
I: Deal 1 damage to all creatures.
II: Deal 3 damage to all creatures.
III: Creatures you control have +1/+1 and haste until end of turn.

Sonata of Fall
Enchantment - Saga
I: Creatures you control gain " : Gain 2 life."
II: Creatures cannot attack you until your next turn.
III: Create four 1/1 green Hound creatures. They deal damage to target creature equal to their power.

Sonata of Winter
Enchantment - Saga
I: Tap all creatures. Creatures do not untap for as long as ~ is on the battlefield.
II: Untap up to four target creatures.
III: Detain all tapped creatures.

Might tweak some numbers for balance.

Post by Aarhg on May 14, 2018 15:21:04 GMT

Treetop Troubadour
Creature - Squirrel
, : Tap any number of untapped creatures you control. Create a 1/1 green Squirrel creature token for each creature tapped this way. Activate this ability only any time you could cast a sorcery.
"Come one, come all! The boar, the harrier!"
1/1

Treetop Troubadour
Creature - Squirrel
Frolic - , , Tap any number of untapped creatures you control: Create a 1/1 green Squirrel creature token for each creature that frolicked with Treetop Troubadour. Frolic only any time you could cast a sorcery and only once each turn.
"Come one, come all! The boar, the harrier!"
1/1

Post by Neottolemo on May 14, 2018 16:31:52 GMT

Point taken, but there's also the question that no version of the art without the band logo exists and is public, and I'm not sure what the rules are on displaying logos on cards.

@aargh: Awesome flavour text and interesting effect. I'm not sure pseudo keywords' names can be referred to like that, though, since they have no rules significance. Do some precendents for that wording exist? I can't think of any.

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Post by Daij_Djan on May 14, 2018 17:08:10 GMT

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Post by Deleted on May 14, 2018 17:26:12 GMT

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Post by voltaic-qui on May 14, 2018 20:31:00 GMT

Pecs Hex
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature can't have more than one permanent attached to it.
Enchanted creature has " , : Gain control of target creature with power less than this creature's power until this creature leaves the battlefield."

Enthralling Victor is too sexy for his shirt

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Post by Daij_Djan on May 14, 2018 20:36:11 GMT

@@gorgonzola : True, sorry about that. Seems like you already took care of it

For my own entry I decided to get inspired by Jonathan Young. He's doing awesome metal/rock cover versions (sometimes together with Caleb Hyles) for songs with a wide range or origins: From normal pop songs, to anime intros or Disney songs, or completely different things.

So what does a cover do? It takes something you already know and brings it back with a new unique twist. Enjoy:

Post by sdfkjgh on May 14, 2018 21:07:25 GMT

Neottolemo : Awesome, I love Ghost! I just wonder what that mask is supposed to be. Is is some figure from Swedish politics? Guy's got some serious dance moves, though.

So, I knew I HAD to do a card based on something from Our Tom's oeuvre, but which song? On the Nickel? Kentucky Avenue? Burma Shave? Shiver Me Timbers? Excellent songs all, but all of them a little hard to translate to Magic. But then, unfortunately, this design came to me before any Waitsean ideas:

THIS IS NOT AN ENTRY!

Whenever a creature deals combat damage to a player, that player gains control of that creature.

And we dance to the music, and we dance. (In case you missed the earlier link to the song.)

So, that seems like a pretty good entry, but I still wanted something from Tom Waits. Then I remembered that time he trolled the ever living hell outta Disney. Apparently, they tried to sue him for changing the lyrics. 1 He did nothing of the sort. He just changed everything else about the song, turning it into a paean to slave labor.

This reminded me of the last lime I attempted to post a card designed around slave labor, which was, at best, only semi-successful as a troll, and nothing else. I won't provide any more details on THAT subject, as it's best to just let it die. For those of you who, like me, remember that design, ok, have a laugh at that situation, but let's move on to a better, less controversial design, my actual entry:

Curse of Hard Labor

Flash
Enchant player
Whenever a creature enchanted player controls becomes untapped, put a -1/-1 counter on that creature.

1 Any hardcore Waits fan will tell you: Do NOT go up against Our Tom in court. You WILL lose!

And now, to end with a joke:

What did the two French hens say when they bumped into each other?

Post by sdfkjgh on May 14, 2018 21:20:55 GMT

Jesus. This is why I thank Daij_Djan in (nearly) every column I write. Without his help, all my attempts at BBCoding look like crap! I'm no good at it.

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Post by kinotherapy on May 14, 2018 22:54:55 GMT

Serra's Swan Song
Legendary Sorcery
(You may cast a legendary sorcery only if you control a legendary creature or planeswalker.)
Your life total becomes equal to your starting life total.
“When you can no longer sing for yourself, sing for the world around you, so that it may bathe you in light forever after.”
—Song of All, canto 998

Based off some uncastable miracle I made for some other contest, thankfully Wizards made situationally uncastable spells for reason so now it's a legendary sorcery. I hope this counts since it's just musically flavoured rather than based on a specific song. I designed this while listening to Corey Feldman — Go 4 it feat. Snoop Dogg from his album Angelic 2 the Core and reading Serra lore for the first time.

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Post by Casstastrophe on May 14, 2018 23:10:29 GMT

. very very frightening me!

Post by spazlaz on May 15, 2018 8:23:46 GMT

I'm so sorry guys, but this had to be done.

EDIT: much needed flavor text

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Post by oddnanref on May 15, 2018 12:08:37 GMT

So, the guy is running around using any artifact he can find as a shield? To prevent damage. While he shouts "can't touch this!" That image is hilarious.

Post by Mahx Michael on May 15, 2018 22:12:43 GMT

@gorgonzola
Do you recommend to stear clear of Vocaloid references for this contest, since noone will get the references anyways? Either way, my taste in music is a little different from the mainstream, so I'm not sure if I now any music references others will get, but as long as it has something to do with music, it will fit the contest requirements, right? Is it actually normal for people to get each other's music references at all, or do people have such different taste in music, that the only thing that matters in this contest is how the card is designed, regarless of whether anyone gets the reference or not? (I'm just saying that referencing music isn't new to me in this contest series, and I ususally don't get to great results due to noone getting the references.)

Casstastrophe
Thunderbolt already exists in magic, so making a duplicate with a totally different fuction might cause confusion. If you particularly want the "Thunderbolt and Lightning" title, what do you think about making the "Thunderbolt"-side look like Thunderbolt, and have the "Lightning"-side compliment it in some way?

Post by Aarhg on May 15, 2018 23:07:54 GMT

I'm thinking about changing some things on my design. I'd like to hear your input if you have any.

Using the word frolic to mean several different things in the same ability is confusing. If I go back to basics and scrap the frolicking part altogether, I'd get this card.

To make some kind of frolic mechanic possible with this new version, I tried making another card that would be great to tap with Treetop Troubadour's ability - a pacifist villager.

Neither of these are entries for now, just some ideas.

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Post by Xenagos on May 16, 2018 2:17:22 GMT

I was inspired by this song - Arrival of the Birds

It repeats the same theme a few times which is how I was inspired to put Rebound.

I curate a Custom Magic Card Instagram (@custommagic.cards). Message me if you have a card you'd like me to post!

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Post by Deleted on May 16, 2018 3:38:18 GMT

@mahx Michael: IDK, I think that if you explain what did try to refer to, it's perfectly fine. Of course, it may or may not affect your chance to win the contest if nobody gets it, but the card mayters the most I assume.

@cassatrophe: So you think you can stone me and spit in my eye?

Post by Akai Ryu on May 16, 2018 14:24:19 GMT

Based on the Epic song of the same name: Victory Songs, of Ensiferum

edit: Mahx Michael thanks for the rephrasing

Post by Mahx Michael on May 16, 2018 14:41:46 GMT

Akai Ryu
Is the effect of your card supposed to last forever, or did you forget to write "until end of turn"?

Post by Aarhg on May 16, 2018 14:49:43 GMT

Akai Ryu
Is the effect of your card supposed to last forever, or did you forget to write "until end of turn"?

Since it’s an enchantment, it should just say “have” instead of “gain”. Other than that, I think it’s correct.

Treetop Troubadour
Creature - Squirrel
, : Tap any number of untapped creatures you control. Create a 1/1 green Squirrel creature token for each creature tapped this way. Activate this ability only any time you could cast a sorcery.
"Come one, come all! The boar, the harrier!"
1/1

However, it is important to note that the concept of ectoplasm and its association with black magic has been heavily criticized by skeptics and debunked by scientific investigations. Many argue that the ectoplasm produced by mediums is nothing more than a result of trickery, such as the use of hidden materials or devices to create the appearance of the substance. In conclusion, black magic ectoplasm is a concept that has been long debated and surrounded by controversy. While some believe in its supernatural origins and its use in dark rituals, others dismiss it as a fraudulent practice. The true nature and existence of ectoplasm remain a mystery, with skeptics challenging its authenticity and believers asserting its power in the realm of black magic..

Reviews for "Harnessing Ectoplasn for Necromancy in Black Magic"

1. Emily - 2 stars

I was disappointed with "Black Magic Ectoplasm". The storyline was confusing and hard to follow, with too many plot twists that didn't make sense. The characters were also poorly developed, making it difficult for me to connect with any of them. Additionally, the pacing was slow, which made the book drag on. Overall, I was left feeling unsatisfied and wouldn't recommend this book to others.

2. Mark - 1 star

I couldn't stand "Black Magic Ectoplasm". The writing style was incredibly dull and lacked any creativity. The author failed to create a compelling atmosphere or build suspense throughout the story. I found the dialogue to be forced and unrealistic, which made it hard for me to stay engaged. The book felt like a chore to read, and I was relieved when I finally finished it. Save your time and skip this one.

3. Sarah - 2 stars

I was quite disappointed with "Black Magic Ectoplasm". The plot had a lot of potential but failed to deliver. The story was predictable, with no surprises or twists that kept me interested. The characters, although having interesting backstories, lacked depth and felt one-dimensional. The writing style was also subpar, making it hard to stay engaged. Overall, I expected more from this book and was left underwhelmed.

4. Alex - 3 stars

I have mixed feelings about "Black Magic Ectoplasm". The concept was intriguing and had potential, but the execution fell short. The pacing was uneven, with the beginning being slow and the ending feeling rushed. The characters were decently developed, but some of their actions felt out of place and inconsistent. While the book had its moments, it ultimately failed to fully captivate me. I don't regret reading it, but I wouldn't recommend it either.

5. Jessica - 2 stars

"Black Magic Ectoplasm" didn't live up to my expectations. The plot felt disjointed and lacked coherence, making it difficult for me to follow. The story had potential, but it was overshadowed by unnecessary subplots that added confusion rather than depth. The writing style was average at best and didn't leave a lasting impression. Overall, I found this book to be lacking in several areas and wouldn't choose to read it again.

The Haunting Phenomenon of Ectoplasn in Black Magic Ceremonies