Have you ever designed a MTG format?
I have, a number of them actually. The two that I created/co-created that are the most popular is Minimasters (now often called Pack War) and Rotisserie Draft.
Look up the old Magic Invitational tournament. I believe Mark came up with most of the formats played.
Sending a hug to whomever invented Omen. I really enjoy the flexibility it gives game play. Personally I would love if Magic would lean heavy on it in the future. I’m looking forward to more cards with omen in the future, not just creatures but enchantments would be flavorful card type to give omen too.
Success breeds repetition.
They've said time and again they don't want a lot of shuffling. E.g. fetch lands were a mistake. Surely Omen can never be big outside of Alchemy.
An interesting discussion has formed between me and some friends, and as the silver boarder expert I was curious what input you could have on the matter. For Applejack from the My Little Pony drop in 2023, it has you put a toy you own onto the battlefield with various bonuses if it has wings or a horn. The discussion is if you make something out of Lego would it count, or are the individual bricks each a toy in this scenario?
I’d count it, but the LEGO sculpture needs to be clearly that thing.
*border
It's not easy to differentiate ability words and flavor words just by looking at the card, even though both have different purposes. Ability words mark a common mechanical concept, flavor words don't. Have you considered using a different font for flavor words so that they're not that easy to confuse with ability words?
We have discussed it. There aren’t a lot of great options.
Pox be to flavour words, and good riddance! Too seldom flavourful, always flying against mechanical cohesion as present in the game for years, sometimes actively naming something that already means something else in the game!
Why does Green Goblin have the typeline Goblin when he isn't actually a Goblin? Or is Goblin the Spider-Man set being treated as a class, not a species?
This seems to be a popular question, so let me explain how we reached the decision we did.
Many characters in Marvel are metaphorically connected to various creatures. Spider-Man, in particular, is known for having an animal-themed rogue's gallery. The question came up early when does a character get a creature type that is thematically connected to them?
The line we decided to draw was does the character have any elements of that creature type within them physically? For example, Peter Parker becomes Spider-Man because a spider bite infuses him with some spider DNA. He has spider powers because he is, from a genetic level, part spider. Dr. Octopus, in contrast, is not part Octopus. He has eight appendages, like an Octopus, but he is not, in any way, part Octopus.
Which brings us to to the Green Goblin. Norman Osborn becomes the Green Goblin because he takes a potion that alters his DNA. In the Ultimate version of the story (The Ultimate comics tackled familiar characters, but took a different spin on them), he literally becomes a Goblin. So, the big question was does the Green Goblin have Goblin DNA?
It's a hard question to answer, because the Marvel Universe is built on the real world, and Goblins don't exist in the real world. But Marvel has many fantastical elements. What does it mean to be a Goblin in the Marvel universe? The Green Goblin is such a big character, that his mere existence has warped what being a Goblin means. In some ways, the concept of what a Goblin is, in the Marvel universe, is shaped by the existence of Green Goblin.
On top of that, typal themes are very popular in Magic. When we can justify using popular Magic creature types, there's a lot of added play value.
The question of whether the Green Goblin should be creature type Goblin got raised early and was an ongoing discussion for the entire duration of the set's design. It was the source of hours and hours of discussion. I know this because I was involved in much of it.
In the end, we decided that there were good arguments on both sides. It did technically pass our DNA line if you were willing to say that the new DNA introduced into Norman was Goblin DNA (something supported by the Ultimate version of the character). So, the final factor was which would make for more fun game play? Would the Green Goblin being a Goblin be more upside or downside?
In the end, we decided it would be more upside, and made the choice to include it.
Eh, for once it's basically Magic encroaching on the other IPs world. Good stuff.
I just finished reading your "Looking Back" articles from this time last year. What do you think is the best addition to the game's design in 2024?
Not sure. Mechanical things I really liked:
Manifest Dread
Offspring
Plot
Rooms
Saddle
Spree
Offspring was good and feels good for limited. Spree as actual cards feels too game-y. Most of these are just variations on older stuff, and Plot/Foretell are criminally labled the wrong way around when each does the thing the other word means.
Hi Mark! Years-long lurker of Blogatog, I finally made an account a few months ago, so this is my first chance to ask for birthday trivia! :D Could you share something about 7ED, the set in which I started playing? (I got the starter kit) As always, big thanks for all you do!
The biggest thing about Seventh Edition is we got new art for *every* card. We consider this a mistake in retrospect. Having a threshold of recognizable art is important.
Happy Birthday!
Contrary to Mark's correct point here, WotC doesn't think this is true nowadays. We have new art being pumped in through SL constantly, plus all the extra treatments in Premier sets.
There’s a rule for no vanity cards, but what about cards for UB things that are vanity? For instance, Hideo Kojima sometimes appears in his own video games. If metal gear got a UB, could there be a Hideo Kojima card?
The vanity rule is about Wizards employees.
Again a question that surprisingly often needs to be clarified to people.
If you are looking for splashy blue effects short of extra turns, please consider doing more things like Shadow of the Second Sun instead of extra combats. That's a powerful effect and feels very blue, unlike extra combats.
We're looking at all sorts of blue messing with the turn/time.
Yes for more time shenanigans! Maybe an effect that allows one to undo UniBey?
People of tumbler, please stop using this blog to make poorly veiled insults about UB/Design Choices/MTG in general. Give Maro a break.
I wouldn’t call them “poorly veiled”. : )
I’m here to hear what people like and dislike, so if you don’t like something I really do want to know. Also, if you like something, I want to know that too.
Who says they're veiled at all? Down with UniBey!
Hi Mark!
Has any thought been put into changing the Universes Beyond frame to the normal M15 frame other cards use now that UB is going through Standard? It seems like most players dislike the UB frame.
How do others feel?
As long as UniBey gets mostly scrapped it can have any frame. Otherwise let the undesirable be seen for what it is.
Hi Mark!
Just wanted to let you know that in recent years I have shifted to play more draft, sealed, and cube. I think it might actually be the greatest way to play mtg and the team at WotC has done an amazing job of consistently making stellar draft formats! Could you give a high five to the people who have worked on Bloomburrow's as well as Aetherdrift's limited formats for me?
Will do.
Limited players represent!
