Hello Condemned! I’m back with another card to show off. I’m almost done with finishing out the artwork for The Condemned, and I can’t wait to show you all the rest of the cards! But let’s dive in, yeah?

This condemned was, more or less, made up as I went. I made a point to include a couple condemned with no other abilities other than types or weight classes. There’s one in the common slot, which you’ll see soon. But there’s also this guy in the uncommon slot, too. Meet Mad Buster:

Mad Buster started out as a card named “Little Timmy.” Hey, can it. I use throwaway names as much as I can when developing sets. Makes it easier to focus on the mechanics. Of course, then I have to come up with something else later…

Which is what happened when I first reached out to Ellen to create Mad Buster. And I had to come up with something, and fast. It took a bit, but I finally found the perfect inspiration point: The football hooligan.

The real world plays a huge part in my points of inspiration. And one group that does have a bit of a reputation, deserved or otherwise, is the concept of the football hooligan. They’re diverse, they’re (mostly) competent fighters, and they’re a force to be reckoned with. With all the different types of people that wind up settling the outer colonies, there’s no reason there won’t be a couple sports fans getting into a tussle outside the arena, in a bar, or just on the street. It’s bound to happen. So I took it and ran with it.

And that’s where Mad Buster comes in. He’s a guy who loves to fight, he’s got solid staying power on the field with 23 Life, and he’s an Uncommon, meaning he’ll show up periodically in packs at draft! He’s also Crazed and Heavy, meaning you can equip Riveted Greaves from Enter The Arena or make use of other weapons or equipment that care about Crazed Condemned. They’re coming, trust me. You’ll see them soon. Anyway! I had to tinker with Mad Buster on more than a few occasions because vanilla cards need to at least feel like they could be usable, at least in Limited. Which brings me to this card. When it comes time to play limited formats, Mad Buster will definitely see use. It’s versatile enough to be useful with most cards, and the extra 3 life puts him above just using nothing.

I have a few more cards from Ellen to share, as well as some from other artists. There’s more to come, and I can’t wait to show it to you. Mad Buster brings the Chaotic Assault total up to:

15/128 cards

It’s coming along nicely, I’ll have more cards to share next week. Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in The Arena!