The most important fact about double-faced cards (DFCs) in Magic Set Editor is also the one most guides get wrong: there is no double-faced switch in the program itself. Whether you can make a DFC depends entirely on the template pack you have installed. DFC support lives at the template layer — the frames, fields and face-handling are defined by the template, not by the MSE program, whose own changelog contains no DFC feature. If your current template has no DFC frame, no menu setting will add one; you need a template that includes one.
Where DFC frames actually come from
Community template packs are where DFC support lives. The actively maintained Full-Magic-Pack, for example, bundles a wide range of Magic frames and explicitly includes double-faced-related template artwork sourced from CardConjurer — its file list credits CardConjurer for, among others, the Innistrad Double Feature templates. Template packs are still being updated in 2026, and newer DFC frame styles arrive through pack updates like these, not through program updates — the program itself has been frozen at the author’s 2.1.2 since 2020, with the community distributing its own builds.
Practical consequence: if a guide or video shows a DFC frame you cannot find, you are almost certainly looking at a different — usually newer or larger — template pack than the one installed on your machine.
Finding the right template pack
- For the widest frame selection, use one of the large community packs (the Full or Advanced-style bundles collect the most frames, including the showcase and DFC variants).
- If you installed only the author’s 2.1.2 program zip, you have no game templates at all — DFCs or otherwise. Install a template pack first; our installation guide covers the data-folder step.
- Check the pack’s own file list or README for the DFC frames it includes before downloading — pack contents differ, and ‘includes DFC templates’ is a per-pack fact, not a program feature.
Working with two faces
Once a DFC-capable template is installed, the workflow is template-driven: the DFC frame provides the structure for the front and back faces, and you fill in each face’s fields — name, type, rules text and art — the same way you edit any other card. A few habits keep two-faced designs manageable:
- Design both faces together. A transform card is one design, not two. Costs, colours and power levels on the back face are constrained by how the front face plays.
- Mind the colour indicator. Back faces that differ in colour from the front typically carry a colour indicator — in MSE that, too, is handled by the template rather than the program. See our colour indicator guide for how that works.
- Export both faces. When you batch-export card images, confirm your export includes both faces of each DFC, and keep front/back files named consistently so printers and opponents can pair them.
- For physical play, DFCs are usually sleeved over a placeholder or printed double-sided — plan that at export time, not at the table.
Bottom line: stop looking for a DFC option in the program. Get a current community template pack that lists DFC frames, and the capability arrives with the template.