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Tips to create your own cards

Written by Mots on the 2026-07-15.

Wether you play on paper or online, Monpa is that game where you may create your own cards. This article lists some tips to make your custom cards shine.

General tips

These can apply to any card game.

The obvious

Take example on existing cards. And try to surpass them :)

Test, test, test again your cards in games with and against varied decks. It’s only by testing that you will know the true strength of a card, and discover unexpected interactions.

The game needs to be fun, not broken. Nobody will enjoy playing against over-powered cards. Unless you really want the games within your friends circle to be so broken that official cards are unplayable. Even though powerful cards are cool, a game where the early game is a coin toss and the end game is the first turn, is really not fun.

Beware of parasitic mechanics

Avoid parasitic mechanics. These are gameplay mechanics that force you to build your whole deck around and cannot be mixed with other mechanics.

Parasitic mechanics reduce the diversity of decks, and triffle the creativity of the deckbuilders. Instead of expressing their character, they will just feel like they are assembling a puzzle.

Example of a parasitic mechanic

Lys, irresistible singer
Commander
Whenever you play a card, you may put a “charm” counter on a servant on a target square.
{T}, remove 3 “charm” counters on a target servant: take control of them.

This was a pre-alpha commander that did not make the cut. The rest of the cards in the deck played around those “charm” counters to activate other effects. But the issue was, if you play this commander, the optimal choice is to play all the cards that share this mechanic, and that’s why it’s parasitic.

Monpa-specific tips

There are few keywords

Monpa has few keywords: quick, upkeep cost, foretell. Try not to invent new ones, because they make the cards harder to understand. If you do create some, try to remind the full effect in parenthesis whenever possible.

You have to question whether a new keyword is relevant. It’s not just there to shorten an effect, you have to interact with it.

Example of a custom keyword

“Infiltrate”: “This servant can attack directly even if the opponent controls a servant.”

Is this keyword relevant? By itself, no. Even if you use it on a dozen of cards, still no. But if I say…

Example of a card referencing the keyword

Secret guild of assassins {1} (Abyssal)
Charm : place
Upkeep cost: {1}
Servants with infiltrate have “{T}: this servant deals 1 damage to another servant on a target square.”

Here, by creating an effect that interacts with the keyword, we make it more interesting. We can also counter it:

Example of a counter to the keyword

Squeaky parquet floor {1} (Air)
Spell
Quick
When a servant with infiltrate tries to attack you directly, instead force it to fight the servant on a target square of your field.
In Bista, even the floor is designed to ward off intruders.

But beware of not making this keyword parasitic!

Do not use artworks on which you have no rights (this includes the official artworks), or AI-generated art (you will get banned from the Discord server). This applies only if you publicly share your cards. In private, you do whatever you want.

You can find copyright-free/free to use artworks on Unsplash or Wikimedia Commons.

Be also cautious to not publish cards depicting characters that you do not own.

The mana costs in Monpa

Mana costs in Monpa are lower than in similar games: a 3/3 for {3} is pretty bad. But balancing becomes harder for higher costs: a 7/7 for {5} is not bad.

The card Straight to the heart is the gold standard of effects that destroy servants and get a victory point. A card that costs less mana should be weaker, and a stronger card should cost more or have some alternative cost.

The standard of destruction effects

Straight to the heart (Water) {3}
Spell
Destroy the servant on a target square.
Years of training, a iron-clad will… The arrow does not care.

Often, we tend to create cards that are too weak. But a weak card is harder to playtest, because once in your hand, you don’t want to play it. Don’t be afraid to create stronger cards that you tune down later.

An upkeep cost is a huge restriction. Even if it’s just {1}, it’s one turn of delay from your opponent.

Other details and less useful tips

In the deckbuilder, if a custom card has the same name as an official card, it will get replaced by the official card.

Be original when naming your cards! Instead of “magician”, you could say “necromant”, “shaman”, “elementalist”, “warlock”… The more original a name is, the more iconic it becomes. As an example of the huge diversity of names, I like animal names. In the family of mustelids, you can find martens, sables, ferrets, ermines, polecats, otters, badgers, weasels, stoats, minks… You can find neghbouring words and synonyms in a thesaurus.

Rules specific to official cards

These last rules are applied to official cards, but you’re not obliged to follow them in your custom cards.

The elements of servants

Each race in the Monpa world is linked to an element, and servants that represent members of those races try to have that element. But for more freedom, we allow using the neighbouring elements.

The elemental chart of Monpa is: Starry ⇄ Fire and Air ⇄ Nature ⇄ Water ⇄ Abyssal

As such, the allowed elements for each races are as follows. In bold, the main element.

  • Angel: starry, air, fire
  • Kitsune: starry, air, fire, nature
  • Harpy: starry, air, fire, nature
  • Cat: air, fire, nature, water
  • Human: air, fire, nature, water
  • Lamia: air, fire, nature, water
  • Mermaid: nature, water, abyssal
  • Slime: nature, water, abyssal
  • Succubus: water, abyssal

The maximal statistics

9: this is the highest possible mana cost of a card, base attack and defense, and also the maximum number of tails of a kitsune.

The minimum for cost, attack, defense and tails is 0, even if an effect reduces them further. A cost, attack, defense or tails number of less than 0 are considered 0.

Good luck!

Have fun creating your custom cards and decks, and come share them on the Discord server! We have a channel dedicated to custom cards :)