Land cards: quite a possibility as a background energy, or even used to draw energy.
And yes, skrying before summoning is probably a good idea ;p
Interesting idea about the paintings. Perhaps I could try something with an artists rendering of Saint Germain I saw once...
Also, you might not need to burn a card if things go horribly wrong. Just cleanse it thoroughly, bind it closed and seal it off.
Personally if I start practicing summoning creatures from the cards, I'm gonna start with my elf/beast deck. I'm more than confident in my ability to "wrestle" with them. lol.
I'll post here with the results of my experiments when I'm finished
( *mad scientist laugh in the back of my mind* )
Cheers.
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