CONSTRAINTS FIRST
Commander, power tier, strategy, budget, and collection become one connected brief.
ALL WORKCONTACT ↗Independent Creative Exploration// DARK MATTER GRID / CASE STUDY 04
PRODUCT / BRAND / EXPERIENCE
ARCHITECT
A self-initiated Commander deck-building product and brand world that turns scattered game data into guided practice, campaign, and community.READ THE STORY ↓
DISCIPLINEPRODUCT / BRAND / EXPERIENCE
ROLECONCEPT + BRAND + UX DIRECTION
PROJECT TYPESELF-INITIATED CONCEPT / 2026
PATHPRODUCT → CAMPAIGN → SPONSORSHIP
01
THE CHALLENGE
Start with the tension.
Commander players must reconcile synergy, budget, power tier, collection, meta knowledge, and play testing across disconnected tools. A database can tell someone what cards exist; it cannot explain why a deck fails at the table or what to change next.
02 / THE ORGANIZING IDEA
“Treat deck building as architecture: set constraints, construct the system, stress-test it, and refine the structure - not just the card list.”
03
THE DESIGN LOGIC
How the system works.
SOURCES WITH PURPOSE
Scryfall, EDHREC, and tournament signals are synthesized into recommendations players can understand.
TEST BEFORE BUYING
Playtest, combo checks, and versioning reveal weaknesses before a player commits money.
THE META MOVES
Monitoring and swap recommendations keep the deck responsive to a changing environment.
04
THE IDENTITY
The idea becomes visible.
The product is presented as Architect: an identity of measured decisions, visible structure, and quiet authority. The name turns deck building from accumulation into composition.
Build less. Win more.
GEISTPRODUCT / DISPLAY
GEIST MONOCARD DATA / SYSTEM STATUS
VOID#11131AWORKSPACE
ARCANE#8B5CF6ACTION
PAPER#E6E7EBTYPE
SLATE#30394CDATA
05
THE VISUAL LANGUAGE
THE SYSTEM BECOMES A WORLD.
Architect’s data language becomes its illustration language: card plans, probability rings, dice geometry, violet resin, acid-lime signals, graphite surfaces, and the exact wordmark carried through every physical touchpoint.
06
APPLICATION
ONE SIGNAL. EVERY FORMAT.
A multi-phase launch turns product intelligence into confident, repeatable messages across feed posts, stories, reels, carousels, creator kits, responsive banners, launch films, event screens, and retail media. The work shown here is a speculative expansion of a self-initiated project - not commissioned client work.
07
EXPERIENCE
THE PRODUCT BECOMES THE EVENT.
The concept extends into two speculative sponsorship platforms: an intimate Architect Commander Night hosted at Hex&Co., and a larger Commander Lab imagined for a Magic: The Gathering event. Neither represents real client work, sponsorship, or an announced partnership.
SOCIAL LAUNCH
A modular campaign translates deck intelligence into carousels, short-form motion, creator kits, and responsive banners.
HEX&CO. COMMANDER NIGHT
A local sponsorship concept brings registration, table systems, live standings, staff apparel, deck boxes, and take-home optimization cards into a real NYC gaming context.
THE COMMANDER LAB
A speculative Magic: The Gathering event activation lets players scan a deck, see its curve and synergy, test a hand, and leave with a printed refinement plan.
THE TABLETOP SYSTEM
Dice, deck boxes, sleeves, mats, counters, credentials, and event signage make Architect recognizable before the product is even opened.
08
THE RESULT
A system with gravity.
Architect expands from a deck-building interface into a coherent self-initiated brand platform - one that can move between product, campaign, sponsorship, event design, and the physical ritual of play without losing its strategic point of view.
OPEN ARCHITECT ↗