Time Warp Dandân background
Saprazzan Heir by Terese Nielsen
Dandân
Dandân is a Magic: the Gathering variant where two players play with a shared 80 card deck, built around the Arabian Nights fish creature Dandân as the main threat, the counterspell Memory Lapse (to counter and then draw your opponent’s spells), text-changing spells like Mind Bend (to kill Dandân), and library manipulation effects like Halimar Depths (to control your opponent’s draws):
Typically the deck is mono-blue or U/x, and plays ~10 Dandân, ~8 Memory Lapse, and various other cards as 2-of’s.
More background on Dandân: The Ultimate Guide to Dandân (Forgetful Fish) | TCGplayer Infinite
Time Warp Dandân
I made my own version of Dandân with all custom cards (variants of Time Warp, Accumulated Knowledge, Ojutai’s Command, etc.) and emblems that modify the rules to make the gameplay smoother and more interesting. I loved playing UW Miracles in Legacy, so I wanted to create a format that captured a feeling similar to that deck’s gameplay, with lots of cantrips, stack interaction and decision making. My goal was to create something that was more than just a nostalgic meme - a format with lots of depth, replayability, and a high skill cap. If you enjoy grindy control mirrors, taking extra turns, or casting Dig Through Time, you’ll like my version of Dandân!
Contents
Card Gallery
How to Play
Cockatrice
Google Docs
Mpcfill Project
Sample Gameplay
Card Gallery
See all the cards here:
How to Play
Cockatrice
You can play the deck for free using Cockatrice, an open source client for playing trading card games online.
Download the Time Warp Dandân card images, xml and decklist here
To add the custom card set to Cockatrice:
In the menu bar, go to “Card Database → Open custom image folder”. Put the “Time Warp Dandân” folder there.
Then go to “Card Database → Open custom sets folder”. Put the “04.twd.xml” file here.
Navigate up one folder, then open the “decks” folder. Put both decklists there.
To play a game in Cockatrice, go to Actions → Start Local Game (while not connected to the server) and create a 2-player game. Load the Dandân deck for player 1 and load a deck with a single Forest) for player 2.
Card Images printout
You can print out the card images from the google docs here
(You’ll also need 10 Islands)
MPCfill Files
You can order high quality proxies of the deck from MakePlayingCards.com by following these instructions:
Download the MPC-ready card images and xml here.
Download the MPC Autofill tool for your operating system here.
Move the MPC autofill script to the same folder as the downloaded card images and xml files, then run the script.
Basic instructions for the autofill script (detailed instructions here) -
Choose the web browser you’d like to use, then press enter ~4 times to select the default option each time.
When the script asks you to select xml files, make sure you select all four files (twd, twd2, twd3, twd4), they are all part of the deck!
After loading the xml files, the script will give a message saying “The name of the image Heaven's Favor could not be determined, meaning that its file extension is unknown. As a result, an assumption is made that the file extension is .png.” and a similar message for Endless Despair. This is fine, just ignore these messages.
Switch to the browser and log in to MakePlayingCards, then return to the script and press enter one more time.
Once the script has finished, review the project to make sure all the images loaded correctly, then click “add project to cart”.
When you go to order the deck, quit the current browser instance (that the autofill script created) and check out with your normal browser.
The cost to print the deck on MakePlayingCards is ~$48 in total ($30 for a deck in the “up to 108 cards” bracket on S30 cardstock + $11 shipping to USA + $7 taxes and tariffs). Most orders take around 2 weeks from ordering to delivery.
I prefer the S33 cardstock - it’s a few dollars more, but it feels a lot sturdier in your hand, and the print quality looks better as well. I also prefer the “Gloss” finish - it looks much better than the MPC or Beta finishes, for the same cost. After you add the project to your cart, you can use the drop down menu to change the card finish to Gloss. You can also add a plain white tuck box for $0.50.
If you order the deck from MakePlayingCards, send me a message on Reddit, I’d love to hear your feedback!
MPC ordering screen -
Sample Gameplay
(Some cards might have been changed since these were recorded, so the cards in the videos might not match what is in the card gallery).
Thanks for reading! If you have any comments or suggestions, you can message me @blackmetallic. (with a dot) on Discord or leave a comment on this reddit post.
Holy Strength by Terese Nielsen
Time Warp Dandân is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast. © Wizards of the Coast LLC