Magic: The Gathering Drive to Work Podcast
Magic: The Gathering Drive to Work Podcast

Join Magic: The Gathering Head Designer Mark Rosewater as he shares stories, insights, and more while driving to work. Listen and learn more about how Magic is made!

This episode is part one of a five-part series. In it, I go through every single Mood Swings card, in collectible number order, and talk about how they were designed, including many of the changes they went through and some strategic tips on how to play them. Note: This is a bonus episode for this week.
What is "the rule"? Why does Magic have it? (It didn't always.)
In this episode, I talk about putting together the larger story arc of the Phyrexian War storyline from Throne of Eldraine through March of the Machine.
How did I make Mood Swings into a simple, fast-paced trading card game? This episode talks about my 28 years of iteration and, for those of you interested in how a person designs a game from scratch, walks through how I created the game.
This episode is another in my series to talk about every Magic set release. Today, I discuss the third set in the original Theros block, Journey Into Nyx.
In 1998, I came up with the idea of a more accessible trading card game. That game is called Mood Swings and goes on sale starting June 1 on MagicSecretLair.com. This podcast talks about my 28-year journey to get it made.
In this episode, I talk about all about my adventures at MagicCon: Las Vegas 2026.
Who is Goat Guy? Why is he important? There's only one way to find out.
This is another in my quest to do an episode on every Magic set release. This one is about the design of Born of the Gods, the second set in the Theros block.
In this episode, I talk about the role games can play in a person's identity and how that affects our approach to designing Magic.
In this episode, I sit down with Creative Lead Lauren Bond to talk about the worldbuilding of Secrets of Strixhaven.
For eight years, I was in charge of overseeing final-day video production for the Pro Tour. In this podcast, I talk all about it.
In this podcast, I sit down with Reggie Valk, set design lead for Secrets of Strixhaven, to talk about the set's design.
This podcast talks about the history of Charms in Magic.
In this podcast, I talk about the design of Secrets of Strixhaven.
This podcast is all about how Magic design interacts with nostalgia.
It's been over a decade since I did a podcast about Blogatog, my blog where I answer questions daily, so I felt it was time for a second podcast on it.
Last year, I celebrated my 30th anniversary of working at Wizards of the Coast and on Magic. In this episode, I look back and explore how I've changed as a designer over the last three decades.
In this episode, I sit down with Senior Director Lindsey Bartell to talk about Secret Lair.
This podcast is another in my ongoing quest to talk about every Magic expansion. In it, I talk about the third set in the Scars of Mirrodin block, New Phyrexia.
Do I have 30 minutes of content about collector numbers? It turns out I do.
In this podcast, I respond to a post that proposed Magic should "stick to its fantasy roots." As a Magic historian, I make the case that Magic has been stretching the boundaries of what fantasy is since Limited Edition (Alpha). For those who like deep dives into Magic history, this episode is for you.
For this week's podcast, I sit down with Magic: The Gathering® | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Lead Designer Eric Engelhard to talk about the set's design.
One of our latest design processes involves a slideshow where we show off every card in an upcoming set and make final comments before everything is locked down. In this podcast, I talk all about the evolution of the slideshow.
This podcast is all about the journey of the energy mechanic, from its original inception during Mirrodin design all the way to its first appearance in Kaladesh and beyond.
This podcast is a companion to this year's "Nuts & Bolts" column. I talk all about how to slowly add mechanics to your set.
The Magic Dojo was the very first major online gathering spot for the Magic community. In this podcast, I speak with its creator, Frank Kusumoto, to talk all about it.
This podcast is another in my quest to record a podcast about every Magic expansion. This time, I talk about Mirrodin Besieged, the second set in the Scars of Mirrodin block and a set with one of the most unique Prereleases of all time.
In this podcast, I talk about a core element of every design: making sure your creatures can get through and help the game end.
Every year, my oldest daughter Rachel and I attend BroadwayCon, a convention dedicated to Broadway, and each year I make a podcast about it, taking all the things I learned and comparing them to Magic design. This podcast is about this year's trip.
In this podcast, I sit down with Jadine Klomparens, the play design lead for Lorwyn Eclipsed, to talk about how the set was structured and balanced.
I spent eight years working on the Pro Tour overseeing the feature matches and final-day video coverage. Those eight years just happened to overlap with the greatest run in professional Magic where Pro Tour legend Kai Budde won seven Pro Tours in five years. This podcast honors Kai, who sadly passed away last week, talking all about that epic run.
In this podcast, I sit down with Neale LaPlante Johnson, the creative lead of Lorwyn Eclipsed, to talk all about the worldbuilding for the set.
In this podcast, I talk about a big theme from Lorwyn Eclipsed called "color matters."
In this podcast, I talk about a very narrow type of design: Magic cards that interrupt the game and initiate a subgame.
In this podcast, I talk all about the vision design for Lorwyn Eclipsed.
A common topic on my blog is why some players want to return to blocks. I spend this podcast talking through the various reasons this is unlikely to happen.
Part of a designer's job involves figuring out what to include and what not to include. In this podcast, I talk about subjectivity in Magic design.
In this podcast, I talk about the third set of the Shards of Alara block.
In this podcast, I call the upkeep step the appendix of Magic. Why? Listen in as I talk all about the origin and history of upkeep.
In this podcast, I talk about the second set of the Shards of Alara block, Conflux.
This is my fourth and final episode talking about 30 big design evolutions since I started working at Wizards of the Coast in October 1995. This is based on a three-part series I did in my Making Magic column.
There are a lot of costs you can pay other than mana. In this episode, I talk about different types of resources in Magic.
This is part three of a four-part series talking about 30 big design evolutions since I started working at Wizards of the Coast in October 1995. This is based on a three-part series I did in my Making Magic column.
In this episode, I talk about how the color pie has evolved over the last three decades.
This podcast is part two of a four-part series talking about 30 big design evolutions since I started working at Wizards of the Coast in October 1995. This is based on a three-part series I did in my Making Magic column.
In this podcast, I sit down with Melissa DeTora, the leader of the Casual Play Design team, to talk about Commander design.
This podcast is part one of a four-part series talking about 30 big design evolutions since I started working at Wizards of the Coast in October 1995. This is based on a three-part series I did in my Making Magic column.
In this podcast, I talk all about the design of the fourth set in the Lorwyn-Shadowmoor block, Eventide.
In this podcast, I talk about the design of every card with Mox or Lotus in the name designed as a spiritual successor to Limited Edition (Alpha)'s Moxen and Black Lotus.
In this podcast, I sit down with Lead Set Designer Chris Mooney to talk about the design of Magic: The Gathering® | Avatar: The Last Airbender™.
This episode talks about why it's good for R&D to design around a format you play.
This podcast is all about how to start a podcast of your own.
Sometimes, the greatest design skill is to never give up. In this podcast, I talk about times it took a while for an idea to make it to print.
This podcast is another in my "Lessons Learned" series where I talk about sets I led or co-led and walk through all the design lessons I learned. This time, I discuss Murders at Karlov Manor.
When the Commander Format Panel visited Wizards, I gave a presentation pitching why I felt it was important to change how hybrid worked in Commander. This podcast goes over the contents of that presentation and explains my reasoning for the change.
I just returned from New York Comic Con. This podcast talks all about it.
This podcast talks about the history of the proliferate mechanic.
This is part three of three going over my talk from MagicCon: Atlanta looking at the top 20 most influential Magic expansions of all time.
This is part two of three going over my talk from MagicCon: Atlanta looking at the top 20 most influential Magic expansions of all time.
This podcast is part one of three going over my talk from MagicCon: Atlanta looking at the top 20 most influential Magic expansions of all time.
I just got back from MagicCon: Atlanta, and in this podcast, I talk all about it.
This podcast is a look back at the early creatures that only cost one mana.
In this podcast, I talk about the things I have to do to prepare for an upcoming MagicCon (in this case, MagicCon: Atlanta).
This podcast is another in my quest to talk about every Magic expansion. This time I talk about the third set in the Champions of Kamigawa block, Saviors of Kamigawa.
In this podcast, I talk about the times we returned to settings that we'd already visited.
This podcast is another in my quest to cover every Magic expansion.
This podcast is about the most hated mechanic in the history of Magic, ante.
In this podcast, I talk about a specific aspect of the color pie and how modern design requires that we care about it.
This podcast is a companion to my three-part Making Magic series on the history of tokens. You can read the third and final column on Monday, September 8.
In this podcast, I sit down with Corey Bowen, the lead set designer of Magic: The Gathering® | Marvel's Spider-Man, to talk about the set's design.
In my podcast on Igniting the Spark (the new Magic documentary), I talked about doing a podcast that covered something the documentary didn't. How did Magic grow from a one hundred million-dollar game to a billion-dollar game?
In this podcast, I talk about a key component of design: set structure.
This is another podcast in my ongoing quest to record a podcast about every expansion. This episode is all about Prophecy, the third set in the Mercadian Masques block.
A documentary about how Magic debuted at Gen Con. I had the pleasure of participating in it, and this podcast talks all about that.
This is another podcast in my ongoing quest to record a podcast about every expansion. This podcast is all about Nemesis, the second set in the Mercadian Masques block.
Every year, I write a "State of Design" column where I talk about how I feel the last year of Magic design went. This year's column starts with Bloomburrow and goes through Magic: The Gathering®—FINAL FANTASY™. With six sets to talk about, I ended up having a pretty lengthy article, so I made a supplementary podcast where I walk through every new mechanic to give my thoughts on how they went.
This is another podcast in my ongoing quest to record a podcast about every expansion. This podcast is all about Mercadian Masques.
Magic is made not by a single designer but by a large group of people. In this podcast, I talk about how that affects game design.
In this podcast, I talk all about my trip to this year's San Diego Comic-Con.
The very nature of a trading card game is that it's always evolving. In today's podcast, I talk about what that means for Magic design.
In this podcast, I see if I can talk for 30 minutes about the Magic card back. (Hint: I did it.)
In this podcast, I sit down with Andrew Brown, the set lead designer of Edge of Eternities, to talk about the making of the set.
In this podcast, I talk about an R&D expression, "The juice isn't worth the squeeze."
In this podcast, I sit down with Ethan Fleischer, the vision design lead for Edge of Eternities, to talk about the making of the set.
In this podcast, I walk through the history of how we've used colorless in design.
This podcast explores how each of the colors interacts with enchantments.
In this podcast, I talk about how it's not enough for a mechanic to be good in a vacuum.
This podcast explores how each of the colors interacts with creatures.
In this podcast, I talk about the use of repeat mechanics on singular card designs.
This podcast explores how each of the colors interacts with artifacts.
In this podcast, I answer a question from my blog about how we decide when to name and not name mechanics.
I recently wrote a three-part article about the history of typal themes in Magic. This is my podcast on the topic.
In this podcast, I talk all about Exodus (the third expansion of the Tempest block).
In this podcast, I talk all about Stronghold (the second expansion of the Tempest block).
In this podcast, I talk about a concept called futureproofing where we design mechanics to better enable us to use them in the future.
In this podcast, I sit down with the lead designer of Magic: The Gathering®—FINAL FANTASY™ to talk about the set's design.
We design a lot of mechanics. Most don't make it to print. Why? That's my topic for this podcast.
This podcast talks about a tool we use to playtest new mechanics.
Someone on my blog asked me if I ever designed any Magic formats. It turns out that I have, so I spent a podcast episode talking about them.
In this episode, I walk through many of the design issues that occur during vision design.
In this podcast, I talk about times we decided to reuse mechanics and times we chose to tweak mechanics into something new.
Inspired by this year's "Nuts & Bolts" column, I walk through how mechanics are created.
In this episode, I walk through the history of Magic and talk about how communicating with players has changed over the years.
This podcast is part three of three on my series about the 20 worst mechanics of all time, based on my talk at last year's MagicCon: Las Vegas.
This podcast is part two of three on my series about the 20 worst mechanics of all time, based on my talk at last year's MagicCon: Las Vegas.
This podcast is part one of three on my series about the 20 worst mechanics of all time, based on my talk at last year's MagicCon: Las Vegas.
This is part two of a two-part series on the aesthetic profiles. This time, I talk about Mel, the player who aesthetically appreciates mechanics.
When Richard Garfield first made Magic, he liked to say it was "a game bigger than the box." In this episode, I walk through what exactly that phrase means and the challenges of making a game that accomplishes this.
This podcast is part one of a two-part series on the aesthetic profiles. Up first, I talk all about Vorthos, the player who aesthetically appreciates flavor.
In this podcast, I talk about the team that figures out what in-Multiverse Magic sets we'll be doing in the future.
This podcast is part three of a three-part series walking through the three psychographics. Today, I  explore the psychological analysis of Spike.
In this podcast, I sit down with the creative lead for Tarkir: Dragonstorm, Lauren Bond, to talk about the worldbuilding and creative execution of the set.
This podcast is part two of a three-part series walking through the three psychographics. Today, I explore the psychological analysis of Johnny and Jenny.
In this podcast, I sit down with Tarkir: Dragonstorm Set Design Lead Adam Prosak to talk about the set's design.
This episode is part one of a three-part series walking through the three psychographics. I start today with exploring the psychological analysis of Timmy and Tammy.
In this episode, I walk through the vision design for Tarkir: Dragonstorm and talk about the evolution of the Dragon subtype and clan mechanics.
Many years ago, I would drive my eldest daughter to school, and occasionally, we did a segment called "Replies with Rachel" where the two of us would answer questions. I then did another segment with my youngest daughter Sarah called "Small Talk with Sarah" when I drove her to camp. Today, for the first time, I have both my daughters and all three of us answer your questions. I will note the audio quality for this podcast isn't my best, but I hope the content makes up for it.
Magic's very first set had a card type that no longer exists called interrupts. In this episode, I walk through all the cards of this card type in Limited Edition (Alpha).
In this episode, I explain the value of themes by going through the various teams that work on a Magic set.
In this episode, I explain the numerous ways designers give feedback to each other by going through the entire exploratory design and vision design process.
This is part three of a three-part series going over a talk I gave at MagicCon: Chicago 2025.
This is part two of a three-part series going over a talk I gave at MagicCon: Chicago 2025.
This is part one of a three-part series going over a talk I gave at MagicCon: Chicago 2025.
In this episode, I talk about my recent trip to MagicCon: Chicago.
This episode looks back at the design of Weatherlight, the third set in the Mirage block.
This episode looks back at the design of Visions, the second set in the Mirage block.
One of the truisms of game design: make sure your players enjoy losing your game. How do we do that? This podcast walks listeners through six key lessons.
Every year, my eldest daughter, Rachel, and I go to a convention dedicated to Broadway called BroadwayCon. It's interesting going to a convention from the perspective of a fan. In this episode, I talk about this year's trip, the things I learned, and apply my learnings to Magic design.
I do a lot of interviews. A question I often get is, "Why is Magic so good?" I have a lot of answers to that question, enough for a 30-minute podcast.
In this podcast, I sit down with Yoni Skolnik, the lead set designer for Aetherdrift, to talk about the design after it was handed off for set design.
I talk about the history of drawback mechanics, what they are, how we design them, and how they've changed over the years.
I recorded this podcast two years ago when I handed off the Aetherdrift vision design to the Set Design team. Hear my thoughts on Magic's latest set as it came fresh out of design.
In this podcast, I walk through the various reasons why we reprint cards at a different rarity.
In this podcast, I talk about the history of the protection mechanic, starting from Limited Edition (Alpha) to present day.
In this podcast, I walk through Magic's history to talk about how the use of creature types has changed over time.
This is another in my "Lessons Learned" podcasts where I talk about sets I led or co-led the design for. I walk through the various lessons I learned in leading the design of the set. This episode is about The Lost Caverns of Ixalan.
Almost every randomized booster product is designed to be drafted. To do that we have to build around what we call draft archetypes. In this podcast, I talk all about them.
In this podcast, I sit down with JC Tao, the lead designer of Innistrad Remastered, to talk about the making of the set.
In this podcast, I talk all about the design of Apocalypse, another set from the Invasion block.
In this podcast, I talk all about the design of Planeshift, a set from the Invasion block.
I gained a love of games from my father and a love of psychology from my mother. This podcast talks about how my interest in psychology has impacted me as a Magic designer.
Part of writing a weekly Magic column involves writing card preview articles for new sets. In this podcast, I talk all about what goes into writing them.
This is part two of my two-part series where I talk about the history of two-in-one cards.
This last fall, I wrote a two-part article about what I call "two-in-one cards," or "two-in-ones" for short. These are designs where more than one spell is represented on a single card. My dividing line is that each spell has its own name. There are a bunch of different ways we've made two-in-ones. This podcast talks all about their history. This is part one of two.
Variance is an important aspect of Magic design (and game design in general). In this podcast, I explain what it is and how we use it.
There are two ways to begin a design: from the top down, where you start with flavor, and from the bottom up, where you start with mechanics. In this podcast, I talk about how these two design processes have evolved over time.
My favorite metaphor for Magic design is that it's like running a buffet. I talk about where this metaphor came from and why I feel it's so accurate.
This is another history podcast where I explore how an element of Magic came to be and evolved over time. This time, I look into the history of drafting.
In this podcast, I talk about how to use brainstorming to come up with ideas.
On this podcast, I talk about how we design cards for the mythic rare rarity.
In this podcast, I talk about an important quality of Magic mechanics: stickiness. What is it and how do we use it? This podcast dives into the topic.
I went to MagicCon: Las Vegas and have many stories to tell. This podcast tells those stories.
This episode is the eighth and final part of my eight-part series where I go through the entire history of Magic design to talk about design evolution over the years.
At MagicCon: Las Vegas, I was honored to participate in Game Knights Live. I have my three fellow players, Josh Lee Kwai, Jimmy Wong, and Becca Scott, on the podcast to talk through all that went into putting it on and share a bunch of the behind-the-scenes stories.
This episode is part seven of an eight-part series where I go through the entire history of Magic design to talk about design evolution over the years.
In this podcast, I sit down with Carmen Klomparens, lead designer of the Magic: The Gathering Foundations Starter Collection, to talk about the design of the product.
This episode is part six of an eight-part series where I go through the entire history of Magic design to talk about design evolution over the years.
In this podcast, I sit down with Foundations's Lead Set Designer Bryan Hawley to talk about the design of the set's product suite.
This episode is part five of an eight-part series where I go through the entire history of Magic design to talk about design evolution over the years.
In this podcast, I go through all the mechanics that interact with the graveyard in some way.
This episode is part four of an eight-part series where I go through the entire history of Magic design to talk about design evolution over the years.
When we design new Magic cards and mechanics, we have to be conscious of how those cards will play with the cards and mechanics that already exist. In this podcast, I talk about what we do to make sure they play well together.
This episode is part three of an eight-part series where I go through the entire history of Magic design to talk about design evolution over the years.
Once a week, the Magic designers get together to talk through technical design issues. That meeting is called "Cardcrafting," and I talk about it in this podcast.
This episode is part two of an eight-part series where I go through the entire history of Magic design to talk about design evolution over the years.
In this episode, I take all the sets I talked about in my "State of Design 2024" article (The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth™ through Modern Horizons 3) and walk through every new mechanic with my personal thoughts on them and what we've learned about them.
This episode is part one of an eight-part series where I go through the entire history of Magic design to talk about design evolution over the years.
In this episode, I sit down with Emily Teng, the Duskmourn: House of Horror worldbuilding lead, to talk about the creation of this brand-new plane.
In this podcast, I talk about what divides normal Eternal-legal Magic mechanics from silver-bordered and acorn mechanics.
In this podcast, I sit down with Jules Robins, lead set designer of Duskmourn: House of Horror, to talk about the design of the set.
This is another episode in my "Lessons Learned" series where I look back at sets I led or co-led and walk through the many lessons I learned from doing the design. In this podcast, I talk about what I learned designing March of the Machine.
In this podcast, I sit down with Ovidio Cartagena, the art director for Duskmourn: House of Horror, to talk about the visual look of the set.
In this podcast, I sit down with Annie Sardelis, the lead vision designer of Duskmourn: House of Horror, to talk about the early design of the set. Annie also led the design of the set's Commander decks, so we talk about those as well.
In this podcasts, I talk about the history of various Magic card borders and frames.
We banned a card this week that stirred up a lot of talk. I then wrote a blog entry on it that stirred up additional talk. This podcast is me explaining the issue with the extra context that having 30 minutes to talk provides.
In this podcast, I explore why the colors are allies with those next to them in the color pie and enemies with those across.
Each August, I write an article where I review the last year's worth of Magic design. This podcast looks into the history and philosophy behind these articles.
In this podcast, I sit down with Zack Stella, Bloomburrow's art director, to talk about the visual look of the set.
Thus far, there have been seven stages of Magic design. In this podcast, I walk through each stage and explain the changes each brought to the game.
In this podcast, I sit down with Neale LaPlante Johnson, the lead worldbuilding designer for Bloomburrow, to talk about the making of the plane.
This podcast is all about my trip to this year's San Diego Comic-Con where I ran the Magic panel.
I sit down with Play Designer Jadine Klomparens to talk about the play design of Bloomburrow.
In this podcast, I talk about the various ways we can make the hand matter mechanically.
In this podcast, I talk about the design technique of making a new theme by combining numerous mechanical themes.
In this podcast, I examine what exactly power level is and how it impacts design.
In this episode, I sit down with Set Design Lead Ian Duke to talk about the later design of Bloomburrow.
In this podcast, I examine what makes for fun gameplay.
In this episode, I sit down with Vision Design Lead Doug Beyer to talk about the early design of Bloomburrow.
This podcast is part two of a two-part series based on a Making Magic article where I look back at the first 30 years of Magic and pick the top design contributions of each year.
This podcast is part one of a two-part series based on a Making Magic article where I look back at the first 30 years of Magic and pick the top design contributions of each year.
In this podcast, I talk about the Fallen Empires expansion.
In this podcast, I talk about the early portion of design where the sky is the limit.
In this podcast, I talk about how design needs to evoke an emotional response from the players.
In this podcast, I talk all about the history and design surrounding the exile zone.
In this podcast, I sit down with Lead Designer Corey Bowen to talk about the design of Magic: The Gathering® – Assassin's Creed®.
This podcast talks about the spectrum of giving players what they're asking for and surprising them with things they never thought of.
I talk all the time about the strengths of each color. This week, I delve into their weaknesses and how those present themselves mechanically.
In this podcast, I talk for 30 minutes all about every aspect of power and toughness.
In this podcast, I talk about why we don't have colors show up in different amounts in sets.
In this podcast, I sit down with Set Design Lead Michael Majors to talk about the set design for Modern Horizons 3.
In this podcast, I talk about how we design tokens and the cards that create them.
I sit down with Erik Lauer, Modern Horizons 3's lead vision designer, to talk about the making of the set.
I've talked a lot about the color pie over the years. In this episode, I talk about its history and how we've treated it as it has evolved over time.
In this podcast, I sit down with Scott Larabee, Sheldon's best friend, to talk all about the man and his life. We talk about many aspects of his huge impact on Magic (it's not just Commander) and who he was as a person.
This podcast is another in my "Lessons Learned" series where I talk about design lessons from sets I led or co-led. This episode is about the design of Phyrexia: All Will Be One.
In this episode, I talk about how we design typal cards (i.e., cards that mechanically care about creature types).
What exactly is a lead designer responsible for? In this podcast, I walk through what the lead designers do during exploratory design, vision design, set design, and play design.
In this podcast, I talk about how we design monocolor themes for both Constructed and Limited.
In this podcast, I talk about how R&D uses the alphabet to design Magic cards. I walk through the alphabet, explaining how we use each letter.
In this podcast, I sit down with Ari Zirulnik to talk about how we name Magic sets.
Back in 1999, the Magic rules had the biggest change in the history of the game in conjunction with the release of Sixth Edition. In this podcast, I walk through the major changes that happened.
My father, Gene Rosewater, died on April 17. In this podcast, I share stories about him that relate to Magic. Warning: This one's a bit of a tear-jerker.
A/B mechanics are mechanics that require a separate subset of cards to work (such as madness requiring cards that make you discard). In this episode, I talk about how we design A/B mechanics, the challenges of making them, and the history of some famous A/B mechanics.
Back in 2018, we ran the Great Designer Search 3 (GDS3). Part of that event was a multiple-choice test many contestants took to qualify for the next part of the qualification. One question from that test, question number 28, proved to be controversial. The topic recently returned to social media, so I decided to record a podcast about it. I talk about the history of the GDSs, the reasons why there's a multiple-choice test, and get into the specifics of question 28.
In this podcast, I sit down with Outlaws of Thunder Junction Lead Play Designer Jadine Klomparens to talk about the play design of the set.
In this podcast, I talk about a concept I learned from my days in Hollywood and how I apply it to Magic design.
In this podcast, I sit down with Dave Humpherys, set design lead for Outlaws of Thunder Junction, to talk about the set design of the latest expansion.
In honor of Outlaws of Thunder Junction, I did a card-by-card design podcast on cards with creature type Mercenary.
In this podcast, I talk about the early design of Outlaws of Thunder Junction.
Before I get into Outlaws of Thunder Junction, I see if I can name every non-core expansion set in order with a bit of trivia about each one.
During my MagicCon: Chicago talk where I listed my top 20 mechanics of all time, I also showed a slide for my top 20 evergreen mechanics and said that one day, I'd do a podcast on it. Today is that day. This is part two of two.
During my MagicCon: Chicago talk where I listed my top 20 mechanics of all time, I also showed a slide for my top 20 evergreen mechanics and said that one day, I'd do a podcast on it. Today is that day. This is part one of two.
In this podcast, I explain what it was like to play Magic in 1993.
In this podcast, I share what Magic R&D refers to as the "elephant in boots" problems and how we work to solve it.
This is my third podcast in a three-part series talking about the 20 best non-evergreen mechanics of all time. It's based on a talk I gave at MagicCon: Chicago.
This is the second of a three-part series talking about the 20 best non-evergreen mechanics of all time. It's based on a talk I gave at MagicCon: Chicago.
Recently at MagicCon: Chicago, I did a talk called "The 20 Best Mechanics of All Time," which you can watch here. This podcast covers part one of that talk.
In this podcast, I talk about my time at last weekend's MagicCon: Chicago.
Ten years ago, I released a podcast on playtesting, but a lot has changed. In this podcast, I look at how we playtest today.
In this podcast, I talk about the importance of synergy in Magic design.
We spend a long time designing sets, constantly improving on every aspect possible. But how and when do we decide to step away? In this podcast, I explore the subject of perfectionism.
In this podcast, I talk about the basics of designing puzzles.
In this podcast, I look back at the advertising of the first ten years of Magic.
In this podcast, I sit down with Andrew Brown, co-lead set designer on Murders at Karlov Manor, to talk about the making of the set.
In this podcast, I pay tribute to longtime Magic designer Erik Lauer who recently retired.
In this podcast, I sit down with designer and puzzle-builder extraordinaire Mark Gottlieb to talk about the making of the puzzles for Murders at Karlov Manor.
In this podcast, I tell the design story of Murders at Karlov Manor.
In this podcast, I talk about many of the products we've introduced to help teach people how to play and walk through how our philosophy about it has changed over time.
In this podcast, I define the R&D expression "strictly better," discuss its history, and talk about why it's a thing we have to care about.
In this podcasts, I talk with Rules Manager Jess Dunks about how we go about making mechanics work that do things we've never done before.
I talk a lot about all the changes cards go through early in design. In this podcast, I interview Play Designer Ben Weitz to talk about the types of changes the Play Design team makes to cards late in the process.
In this podcast, I go through the process from start to finish of designing a Universes Beyond set.
Most of the time, we create the card design before we commission the art, but not always. In this podcast, I walk through when art comes before design and when we have to design to the art.
In this podcast, I talk all about Magic's fourth expansion.
This podcast is dedicated to mana cost. I talk about its history as well as the design space it offers designers.
Sometimes it can take a while to get a particular idea to print. This podcast shares some stories of things that took a while to get out to the public.
This podcast was inspired by a number of blog posts asking why we've been adding more restrictions to cards lately.
December 3 marked my 20th anniversary as Magic head designer, and this podcast tells the story of how that came to be. It's also filled with a lot of tips about how someone can work toward their own dream job.
How do we decide when to bring mechanics back? This podcast talks all about it.
Sometimes we make a mechanic and realize later that we could have done it better. This podcast talks about how we make new mechanics that are fixed versions of older ones.
In this podcast, I talk about a procedure we do called a Vision Design Summit.
In this podcast, I talk about how we design colorless cards.
This podcast is another in my "Lessons Learned" series where I talk about sets I led or co-led and explain the many lessons I learned while making them. This episode is about what I learned leading the design for Unfinity.
In this podcast, I sit down with Graphic Designer Daniel Holt to talk all about the making of expansion symbols.
In this podcast, I take an in-depth look at the current vision design process.
In this podcast, I take an in-depth look at our current exploratory design process.
This is the tenth and final podcast in my three-color philosophy series. This time I talk black-green-blue.
In this podcast, I sit down with Ovidio Cartagena, the art director of The Lost Caverns of Ixalan, to talk about worldbuilding and the visual look of the set.
I interview Co-Set Design Lead Jules Robins to talk about how the underground set moved to Ixalan.
In this podcast, I talk about the vision design for The Lost Caverns of Ixalan. Things don't always work out, so this podcast looks into a very different take on an underground world.
This podcast is the ninth (of ten) of my three-color philosophy series. In this one, I talk blue-red-white.
In this podcast, I talk about one of my favorite effects in Magic: copying.
In this podcast, I talk about the spectrum of meeting players' desires. At one end is designing cards the players are asking for, and at the other end is designing cards they don't expect.
In this episode, I sit down with Designer Gavin Verhey to talk about the design of Magic: The Gathering® – Doctor Who™.
Our new office is open, so I'm back to driving to work. In this podcast, I talk all about the ways we design for Limited. Due to traffic, this podcast is a full hour.
This is the eighth podcast in my three-color philosophy series. In this one, I talk all about the philosophy of white-black-green.
What exactly is an iconic or characteristic creature type? In this podcast, I explain what they are and detail our long history of figuring out which ones work best.
This is another in my "Years in Review" series where I walk through an entire year and talk about many of the Magic events that happened that year. This podcast is about the year 2018.
There are many ways to win a game of Magic without reducing an opponent's life total to 0. In this podcast, I talk all about alternative-win conditions.
This is another podcast in my "Lessons Learned" series where I talk about sets I led or co-led and explain the many lessons I learned working on them. This podcast is about the design of Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty.
This podcast is my seventh (of ten) in my series on three-color philosophies. Today, I talk all about green-blue-red.
In this podcast, I sit down with Roy Graham, the person in charge of overseeing Magic Story, to talk about Magic storytelling and the making of the Wilds of Eldraine story.
In this podcast, I sit down with Play designer Benjamin Weitz to talk about the Play Design of Wilds of Eldraine.
A number of years ago, Wizards started a new employee appreciation program which resulted in us making not quite official Magic cards. In this podcast, I talk about how they got made and walk through the designs.
This podcast is another in my three-color series. Today, I talk all about red-white-black.
In this podcast, I have Jeremy Geist on the show to talk about the design of the Wilds of Eldraine Commander decks.
In this podcast, I talk about the influence of Throne of Eldraine on the design of Wilds of Eldraine.
In this podcast, I discuss Wilds of Eldraine set design with Ian Duke, the set's lead set designer.
In this podcast, I talk about the meaning and philosophy of "inclusion over exclusion" from a game design standpoint.
In this podcast, I talk about Wilds of Eldraine vision design with guest Chris Mooney, lead vision designer for the set.
This is another podcast in my three-color series. In this episode, I talk about red-green-white.
In this podcast, I talk about all the cards that are also set names.
In this podcast, I talk about one of my last trips of the summer to Gen Con 2023.
In this podcast, I talk all about my trip to MagicCon: Barcelona.
In this podcast, I talk about my trip to the 2023 San Diego Comic-Con and my history with the San Diego Comic-Con.
In this podcast, I talk all about mechanical bends and breaks in relation to the color pie.
Today's podcast marks my last Drive to Work where I drive into our offices at The Landmark. In this episode, I talk all about the history of our Wizards of the Coast offices.
This is another podcast in my three-color series. Today, I talk about black-red-green.
In this podcast, I finish talking about all the cards with subtype Ape and Monkey.
In this podcast, I talk about cards with subtype Ape and Monkey.
In this podcast, I talk about the design and development of the set Coldsnap.
This is another podcast in my three-color series. Today, I talk about blue-black-red.
In this podcast, I talk about being inducted into the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design Hall of Fame (i.e., the Tabletop Gaming Hall of Fame).
In this podcast, I talk about the concept of "mapping" and how we use it to design Magic sets.
In this podcast, I talk about the three-color Esper shard, white-blue-black.
In this podcast, I talk to Glenn Jones, set design lead for The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth™, about the making of the set.
In this podcast, I talk about the narrative arc of the Phyrexian storyline.
In this podcast, I talk all about the design of The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth™.
In this podcast, I talk about the biggest design mistakes made by less experienced designers.
In this podcast, I start talking about three-color combinations in Magic, with today's episode focused on green-white-blue.
This is part two of a two-part series where I talk about zero-mana artifacts.
This is part one of a two-part series where I talk about zero-mana artifacts.
In this podcast, I talk about the Ice Age Prerelease in Toronto, the first-ever Magic Prerelease.
In this podcast, Scott Larabee and I reminisce about Magic's distant past.
In this podcast, I walk through the making of Eldritch Moon and designing the set's mechanics.
In this podcast, I walk through the making of Shadows over Innistrad and designing the set's mechanics.
In this podcast, I talk all about the history of mana symbols, how we use them, how they were created, and more.
In this podcast, I sit down with the Brian Weissman, long-time Magic pro and expert in card advantage, to talk about the concept of card advantage.
You can't say "yes" to every idea when designing for Magic. In this podcast, I explore reasons why we might not move forward with an idea.
In this podcast, I sit down with the Jadine Klomparens, lead play designer of March of the Machine, to talk about the play design process for the set.
In this podcast, I walk through all the phases and steps of a turn to talk about how design creates cards for each part of the turn.
In today's podcast, I sit down with Ellie Rice from the Casual Play Design team to talk about their process for March of the Machine.
R&D uses a philosophy in design known as F.I.R.E. design. There are a lot of misconceptions as to what it means, so I walk through its philosophy in this podcast.
I sit down with the lead designer of the March of the Machine Commander decks to talk about their design.
In this podcast, I talk about one of the most important tools we use for Magic design—databases. I walk through the history of our databases and explain how we use them.
I sit down with March of the Machine's Lead Art Director Taylor Ingvarsson to talk about the visual identity of the set.
This podcast is another in my "Lessons Learned" series where I talk about sets I led or co-led and all the lessons I learned from designing them. In this episode, I talk about what I learned from making Innistrad: Crimson Vow.
In this podcast, I sit down with Dave Humpherys, the lead set designer of March of the Machine, to talk about the making of the set.
In this podcast, I tell the design story of March of the Machine.
In this podcast, I sit down with Senior Game Designer and Graphic Designer Daniel Holt to talk about how the frames and icons for March of the Machine were designed.
Gavin Verhey recently did a video about the Invitational cards on his YouTube channel Good Morning Magic, inspiring me to do a podcast telling the behind-the-scenes stories of how we made each card.
In this podcast, I talk all about the making of Magic's third expansion, Legends, which, among other things, introduced multicolor and legendary permanents.
I recently wrote a new "Nuts & Bolts" column where I talked about the elements a set needs to work well in Limited play. This podcast goes over all the details from that article. If you're interested in building your own set or cube, this is worth a listen. If not, it's still a good insight into the process.
In this podcast, I sit down with Harless Snyder and Natalie Kreider to talk about the role of Magic story in the game and the revival of The Magic Story Podcast.
In this podcast, I talk through numerous mechanics that we've designed but never published.
In this podcast, I sit down with Art Director Ovidio Cartagena to talk about the art direction of Phyrexia: All Will Be One.
Today, I talk about the role of the product architect and the importance of the position.
In this podcast, I talk about the history of artifacts and enchantments and how they evolved to become closer mechanically.
I went to Philly to attend MagicCon. This podcast tells of my journey.
So far, I've talked with all five color representatives. That means it's time to talk with a sixth, the colorless representative Ben Weitz.
One of the teams I work closest with is the Creative team. In this podcast, I talk about how the Vision Design and Worldbuilding teams work hand in hand.
In this podcast, I talk about all the different ways cards can impact the players mentally and how we have to account for it in design.
In this podcast, I talk about how this concept came about and how we design for it.
This is another in my series where I sit down with color representatives from the Council of Colors. In this podcast, I talk with Chris Mooney about white.
In this podcast, I look at the history of die-rolling cards.
This is another in my series where I sit down with color representatives from the Council of Colors. In this podcast, I talk with Corey Bowen about black.
This is another podcast in my "Lessons Learned" series where I look back at sets I led (or co-led) to talk about the design lessons I learned. Today's podcast is on Strixhaven: School of Mages.
This is another in my series where I sit down with representatives of the colors from the Council of Colors. In this podcast, I talk with Ethan Fleischer about blue.
In this podcast, I talk about an important aspect of design, something we call logistics (all the physicalness of using a card).
I sit down with Set Lead Designer Adam Prosak to talk about the design of Phyrexia: All Will Be One.
In this podcast, I talk all about Phyrexia and the design of Phyrexia: All Will Be One.
This is the second in my series of interviews with color representatives from the Council of Colors. In this podcast, I interview Jules Robins about red.
To celebrate my 1,000th episode, I talk all about the making of Drive to Work.
In this podcast, I sit down with Megan Smith, the representative for green in the Council of Colors to talk all about green.
I've covered almost every aspect of designing a new set but haven't talked about how our budget impacts design. Today's podcast is all about designing under a budget.
In today's podcast, I talk about the seventeen noncreature artifact tokens from across Magic's history.
In this podcast, I look back at the history of artifact destruction.
In this podcast, I talk about how we design activations that require a color not found in the mana cost of the card.
In this episode, I talk about the history of bonus sheets from Time Spiral to The Brother's War.
I sit down with Yoni Skolnik, the lead set designer of The Brothers' War, to talk through its design.
I do a lot of interviews on my podcast, so this podcast is all about what it takes to interview people and offers some tips on how to do it well.
In this podcast, I'm joined by Ari Zirulnik again (he oversaw names and flavor text for Unfinity) so that he and I can give more off-the-cuff canon material about the characters from Unfinity.
In this podcast, I walk through all the various things that have to be done when doing a top-down design.
Part of my job involves talking in front of large crowds. In this podcast, I talk about what that's like and offer tips on how to do it well.
Magic constantly changes and evolves, which means that we as designers must keep changing how we approach design. This podcast talks about the challenges of making Magic in a world where the most popular tabletop formats are larger.
In this podcast, I sit down with Rules Manager Jesse Dunks to talk about choosing acorn and Eternal Unfinity cards.
In this podcast, I talk about how we go about costing cards.
In this podcast, I sit down with The Brothers' War Lead Art Director Taylor Ingvarsson to talk about the world building and art for the set.
In this podcast, I talk all about the design of The Brothers' War.
In this podcast, I talk all about my time at Magic 30 in Las Vegas.
At Magic 30, I did an hour-long panel sharing personal stories about 30 different pictures I'd chosen from 30 years in Magic. In this podcast, I go over why I chose those 30 pictures and stories to share.
In this podcast, I sit down with Ari Nieh, the lead vision designer of The Brothers' War, to talk about the set's vision design.
Unfinity is the first time I ran a Set Design team. This podcast talks about what I learned about set design from the experience.
I travelled to Victoria, Canada to participate in the Unfinity Pre-Prerelease with Loading Ready Run. In this podcast, I tell the story of my trip.
This is part four of a four-part series on the design of Unfinity.
I sit down with Graham Stark and Kathleen De Vere to talk about writing names and flavor text for Unfinity.
This is part three of a four-part series on the design of Unfinity.
I sit down with Ari Zirulnik to talk about overseeing the names and flavor text creation in Unfinity.
This podcast is part two of a four-part series on the design of Unfinity.
I sit down with Annie Sardelis to talk about what card concepting is and how she did the card concepting for various cards in Unfinity.
This podcast is part one of a multi-part series on the design of Unfinity.
Chris Mooney was my strong second on Unfinity from the first day of exploratory design to the last day of set design. We sit down to talk about the stories of several card designs.
Only one person has been an Alpha playtester, Head Designer and Brand Manager for Magic Joel Mick. I sit down with Joel in this podcast to talk about his time with the game.
This podcast is about the history of the feature matches and my involvement with them.
In this podcast, I sit down with Erik Lauer and Ian Duke, the co-lead set designers of Dominaria United, to talk about the expansion's set design.
This is part two of a two-part series talking about the history of blocks.
This is part one of a two-part series talking about the history of blocks.
In this podcast, I sit down with Ethan Fleischer, the lead vision designer of Dominaria United, to talk about the set's vision design.
You all learn about new Magic sets one at a time, but that's not how they're made. This podcast will illustrate what it's like to make many products all at once.
In this podcast, I talk about designing cards that are meant to inspire players to build decks around them.
I've briefly told listeners how I came to work for Wizards, but this podcast goes a bit more in depth into how it happened.
In this podcast, I interview Barry Reich, Magic's very first playtester.
In this podcast, I go through all the enchantment subtypes of Magic.
In this podcast, I go through the history of playtest cards from Richard's first playtest through modern day.
In this podcast, I talk about the history of the snow supertype.
In this podcast, I talk about the history and design of all the Scarecrows in Magic.
In this podcast, I talk about a tool R&D uses called a use case.
In this podcast, I talk about my latest trip to San Diego Comic-Con, including discussing the many things I talked about in my Magic panel.
My eldest daughter Rachel and I again went to New York City to attend a convention about Broadway, so I again made a podcast about it.
When we make a new mechanic, how do we figure out how many cards can be made with the new mechanic? This concept is called mechanical depth, and in this podcast, I explain how we figure it out and the ramifications it has on design.
This is another podcast in my "Lessons Learned" series where I look back at sets I led (or co-led) to talk about the design lessons I learned. Today's podcast is on Zendikar Rising.
I sit down with Tom Jenkot and Sarah Wassell to talk about the making of Booster Fun variants (all the cool alternate-art cards and special card frames that we do in a set).
In this podcast, I talk about the history of the Vehicle subtype.
I sit down with Designer Bryan Hawley to talk about the design of Double Masters 2022.
In this podcast, I give my feedback on Spice8Rack's video about the history and influence of the Un- sets. You can watch that here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYYjjrG-hCo
This podcast is part three of a three-part series on the design of Return to Ravnica block. In this episode, I talk about the design of Dragon's Maze.
This podcast is part two of a three-part series on the design of Return to Ravnica block. In this episode, I talk about the design of Gatecrash.
This podcast is part one of a three-part series on the design of Return to Ravnica block. I start by talking about the design of Return to Ravnica.
This podcast talks about what being deciduous means for mechanics and then goes through the list of all the deciduous mechanics.
In this podcast, I talk about the history of basic lands and how their evolution over time influenced the rest of Magic.
For this podcast, I walk through all the different issues that have to be addressed when designing a new mechanic from early exploratory design all the way through the end of the design.
I sit down with Designer Gavin Verhey to talk about the design of Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate's Commander decks.
For this podcast, I look at how the creative components (name, art, flavor text, card concept) are made from start to finish in the making of a Magic set.
I sit down with Designer Corey Bowen to talk about the set design of Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate.
For this podcast, I look at the history and design evolution of double-faced cards.
I sit down with designer Glenn Jones top talk about the vision design of Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate.
This is the third of a three-part series looking at the design of original Mirrodin block.
This is the second of a three-part series looking at the design of original Mirrodin block.
This is the first of a three-part series looking at the design of original Mirrodin block.
I talk with Editor Gregg Luben about the challenges of editing a Magic set. In particular, we talk about his editing of Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty.
A carpenter has his hammer and drill. What are the most important tools for a Magic designer and how are they used to solve the essential challenges of making a trading card game?
I sit down with Chris Mooney, lead set designer of the Streets of New Capenna Commander decks, to talk about their design.
In this podcast, I talk about the many types of restrictions R&D uses on spells and abilities, and why they're important for the game.
I sit down with Jules Robins, lead set designer of Streets of New Capenna, to talk about the design of the set.
In this podcast, I talk about designing Streets of New Capenna.
I sit down with Creative Team Member Emily Teng to talk about worldbuilding and the making of Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty.
In this podcast, I talk about the lovable Myr creature type. I discuss how they came to be and run through the design of every Myr card.
I sit down with Senior Director of Game Design Brady Bell to talk about what it takes to put together a Magic design team.
In this podcast, I talk about my history with Magic trivia and how to make your own Magic trivia.
In this podcast, I sit down with Andrew Brown to discuss the design of Zendikar Rising.
This podcast is another in my "Lessons Learned" series where I explore what I learned during the making of sets for which I led or co-led design.
When Unglued was first concepted, the idea behind it was that we could design cards for non-tournament play. What exactly does that mean, and what does it entail? In this podcast, I explore the parameters of non-tournament design.
I sit down with Designer and Rules Manager Jess Dunks to talk about the challenges of managing the rules and dealing with me as head designer.
I sit down with Designer Ethan Fleischer to talk about the design of Oath of the Gatewatch.
One of the cool perks of my job is that I've had a lot of opportunity to travel to other countries. The country I've visited the most is Japan. In this podcast, I share three stories from three different visits to the Land of the Rising Sun.
I sit down with Designer Aaron Forsythe to talk about the design of Lorwyn.
In this podcast, I talk about using different card frames as a design tool and get into the history of card frames that changed for mechanical reasons.
I sit down with Designer Matt Place to talk about the creation of New World Order, something he and I created many years ago to tackle a big problem the game was having.
This podcast is about my latest Nuts & Bolts article on initial ideation. In it, I explain how one starts designing a Magic set around an idea.
I sit down with Senior Copywriter Ari Zirulnik to talk about what exactly Magic copywriting is. He and I also lightly touch on writing the names and flavor text for Unfinity.
In this podcast, I explain the history of watermarks, talk about the various ways we use them, and explain why we can't mechanically care about them outside of Un- sets.
I sit down with Designer Gavin Verhey to discuss the making of his Good Morning Magic videos.
This is a podcast version of my article where I talk about the challenges of designing Magic when it's a different game to different players.
I sit down with designer Chris Mooney to talk about how the Council of Colors works, and he and I talk a bit about white, as he's the white representative on the council.
I walk through the history of the God creature type and share stories about how we designed the different incarnations of them.
There's no one in R&D that's a bigger fan of Kamigawa than Daniel Holt. He worked on more Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty teams than any other person at Wizards, so I sat down with him to talk about how we made sure Kamigawa was well represented in the set.
This is another in my "R&D Vocabulary" series where I explain various lingo R&D uses.
I sit down with Designer Corey Bowen to talk about the design of Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty Commander decks and Set Booster cards.
I sit down with Designer Dave Humpherys to discuss the set design of Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty.
I tell the story of Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty's exploratory design and vision design.
In this podcast, I take a look at all the named mechanics from the Champions of Kamigawa block.
I sit down with Designer Melissa DeTora to talk about the new casual play design group she's leading.
This podcast is another in my series on R&D lingo.
I sit down with Editor Matt Tabak to talk about the importance of templating.
In this podcast, I talk about the year of Magic in 2017.
In this podcast, I sit down with Designer Brian Tinsman to talk about the design of Rise of the Eldrazi.
In this podcast, I talk about the design of every card with "Urza" in its name.
I sit down with Vice President Bill Rose to talk about the design of Mirage.
I talk about the history of my set teasers and talk about how I make them.
I sit down with Designer Devin Low to talk about the design of Shadowmoor.
I had an in-person playtest at Wizards to attend, so I'm actually driving to work after twenty-plus months (I'm not in the office full time yet, so there'll be a bunch more at-home podcasts). During my drive, I share the lessons I learned from designing Throne of Eldraine.
I sit down with Richard Garfield to talk about the design of Tempest.
I go through all the guild mechanics from original Ravnica block and Return to Ravnica block to discuss what chance each has in returning to a premier set.
I sit down with Producer Mark Heggen to talk about the creation of the Secret Lair product line.
I walk through the larger design story of Innistrad: Crimson Vow.
I sit down with Designer Chris Mooney, and we talk about the design of Innistrad: Crimson Vow, especially some of the top-down card designs for Vampires and weddings.
In this podcast, I go over all the set sizes of the main sets over the years, explaining why they were the size they were.
In this podcast, I sit down with R&D member Ethan Fleischer to talk about the design of Amonkhet.
This is part two of a two-part series where I go over the various changes to the color pie as outlined in the 2021 Mechanical Color Pie article.
I sit down with Designer Erik Lauer, and we talk about the design of Khans of Tarkir.
I recently posted an update to my Mechanical Color Pie article. This is part one of a two-part series where I talk about the changes.
I sit down with Designer Yoni Skolnik, and we talk about the design of Strixhaven: School of Mages.
There are eighteen cards in Magic that start (in English) with the letter X. I talk about them all in this podcast.
I sit down with Designer Aaron Forsythe, and we talk about the design of Magic 2010.
In this podcast, I explore the alternate-reality color pie of Planar Chaos.
I sit down with Designer Matt Place, and we compare our Top 10 lists of the most influential Magic sets.
In this podcast, I talk all about World Enchantments (originally called "Enchant Worlds").
I sit down with Designer Adam Prosak to talk about the design of Modern Horizons.
This is another podcast in my Zombie series where I talk about the history of Zombie card design. It includes many card-by-card design stories of individual Zombie cards.
I sit down with Designer Henry Stern to talk about the design of Portal Three Kingdoms.
In this podcast, I look back at the history of Zombies and share some card-by-card design stories of some of the earliest Zombies.
I sit down with Designer Ian Duke to talk about the design of Innistrad: Midnight Hunt.
I talk about the design of Innistrad: Midnight Hunt.
I sit down with Designer Corey Bowen to talk about how the Commander decks for Innistrad: Midnight Hunt were created.
I went to Los Angeles to shoot the video announcing the products of 2022. This podcast tells the story of my trip.
I sit down with former Editor (and now Game Designer) Glenn Jones to talk about the editing of Unstable.
In this podcast, I continue talking about the history of the Equipment subtype and share some card-by-card design stories.
I sit down with Art Director Taylor Ingvarsson to talk about the art design of Strixhaven.
In this podcast, I start talking about the history of the Equipment subtype and share some card-by-card design stories.
I sit down with former R&D member Devin Low to talk about the design of Shards of Alara.
In this podcast, I explore the history of the many things Magic has stopped using.
I sit down with former R&D member Skaff Elias to talk about the design of Antiquities.
In this podcast, I explore the history of the popular enchantment subtype Sagas.
From time to time, I sit down and answer reader questions with my eldest daughter Rachel.
In this podcast, I talk about what a vanity card is and walk through all the ones, that I could remember, in Magic.
I sit down with Designer Jules Robins to talk about the design of Adventures in the Forgotten Realms.
In this podcast, I talk about what the term "parasitism" means in Magic design and then look at the mechanics in Standard and talk about how parasitic they are.
I sit down with designer Chris page to talk about the design of Ice Age.
In this podcast, I continue to talk about the history of creature tokens in Magic.
I sit down with former R&D member Randy Buehler to talk about the making of Odyssey.
In this podcast, I talk about the history of creature tokens in Magic.
I sit down with former R&D member Kelly Digges to talk about the making of Dominaria.
In this podcast, I talk about the history of the Faerie creature type in Magic.
I sit down with R&D member Mike Turian to talk about the making of Future Sight.
This podcast talks about one of my favorite formats, including its origin, which digs into the early days of the Los Angeles Magic scene.
I sit down with R&D member Ben Hayes to talk about the making of Unstable.
This podcast is part three of a three-part series where I discuss every Planeswalker ever made into a planeswalker card.
I sit down with former R&D member Mark Globus to talk about the making of the original Modern Horizons.
This podcast is part two of a two-part series where I sit down with Michael Ryan to talk about creating the story for Tempest and integrating it with the set.
This podcast is part one of a two-part series where I sit down with Michael Ryan to talk about creating the story for Tempest and integrating it with the set.
This podcast is part two of a three-part podcast walking through every Planeswalker that's ever gotten a card.
I sit down with Sean Fletcher to talk about the design of Shadowmoor.
This podcast is part one of a three-part podcast walking through every Planeswalker that's ever gotten a card.
I sit down with Creative team member Doug Beyer to talk about the creation of War of the Spark.
This podcast is the final of a three-part series where I discuss the design of every card in Unglued.
I sit down with Dave Humpherys, set design lead for Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths, and talk about the design of the set.
This podcast is part two of a three-part series where I discuss the design of every card in Unglued.
I sit down with Magic editor Matt Tabak to talk about the creation of Unsanctioned, the Un- box set.
This podcast is part one of a three-part series where I discuss the design of every card in Unglued.
I sit down with Magic designer Ken Nagel to talk about the design of Worldwake.
One of the very first podcasts I did was on Magic codenames. Well, enough time has gone by that I had 30 more minutes of codenames to talk about. I explain how we named them and share some stories.
I sit down with former Magic designer Tyler Bielman to talk about the design of original Mirrodin.
This podcast is another in my "Twenty Years, Twenty Podcasts" series (which has become more and more misnamed as I've done more of them) that walks through each year of Magic in detail. In this podcast, I talk about the year 2016 in Magic.
I sit down with former Magic designer Tom LaPille to talk about the design of Dark Ascension.
I asked my Twitter followers to ask me questions about which of two things were more likely in Magic's future. In this podcast, I answer a whole bunch of these questions.
I sit down with former Magic designer Matt Place to talk about the design of original Zendikar.
In this podcast, I share some more card-by-card design stories about legendary artifacts.
I sit down with Magic designer Ari Nieh to talk about the design of Strixhaven.
I sit down with Magic designer Ethan Fleischer to talk about the design of Kaldheim.
This is part two of a two-part series on the design of Strixhaven.
This is part one of a two-part series on the design of Strixhaven.
I sit down with former Magic designer Shawn Main to talk about the design of Kaladesh.
In this podcast, I share card-by-card stories about various legendary artifacts.
I sit down with former Magic designer Brian Tinsman to talk about the design of Champions of Kamigawa.
In this podcast, I talk about the From the Vault product line.
I sit down with the senior vice president of tabletop Magic, Bill Rose, to talk about the design of Invasion.
I was the lead designer for original Innistrad, and Erik was the lead developer. I have Erik on my podcast to talk about the making of the set.
This is another of my trivia podcasts where you try to guess the card I'm talking about before I reveal it. The topic? The longest names in Magic. (This is a companion to my shortest names trivia podcast last week.)
This is another of my trivia podcasts where I give clues and you try to guess the card before I reveal it. This podcast's topic—the shortest names in Magic.
Aaron Forsythe and I share memories about working on the design of Time Spiral.
I talk about the creation and design of the timeshifted sheets from Time Spiral, Planar Chaos, and Future Sight.
In this podcast, I interview longtime Magic artist Mark Tedin.
This is part two of a two-part podcast where I interview Richard Garfield about the design of Arabian Nights, Magic's very first expansion.
This is part one of a two-part podcast where I interview Richard Garfield about the design of Arabian Nights, Magic's very first expansion.
I interview Evan Erwin, a longtime creator of Magic content.
In this podcast, I continue to share design stories about various Angel cards.
In this podcast, I begin from Alpha and start talking about Angel cards and their design.
In this podcast, I interview Olivia Gobert-Hicks to talk about Commander, cosplaying, and the Magic community.
In this podcast, I interview Pro Tour Hall of Famer Luis Scott-Vargas who has worn many hats over the years.
This is part two of a two-part series on the design of Kaldheim.
This is part one of a two-part series on the design of Kaldheim.
In this podcast, I interview Graham Stark of Loading Ready Run. We talk about his and LRR's interactions with Magic.
In this podcast, I interview Charlie Catino, one of the original Alpha playtesters and longtime Wizards of the Coast employee.
This is the second of a two-part series talking about the 45 colorshifted cards in Planar Chaos. I talk about which cards they were colorshifted from and why they were in the set. I also talk about which ones were us testing changes for the future.
This is the first of a two-part series talking about the 45 colorshifted cards in Planar Chaos. I talk about which cards they were colorshifted from and why they were in the set. I also talk about which ones were us testing changes for the future.
In this podcast, I interview Randy Buehler, member of the Pro Tur Hall of Fame and former R&D member.
This is number ten in my ten-part series on the philosophies of two-color pairs. In this podcast, I talk green-blue.
In this podcast, I interview Matt Cavotta, a man who has worn many Magic hats over the years.
This is a trivia column where I give clues about the biggest creatures in the game's history and you guess who they are.
In this podcast, I interview Mike Elliott, a prolific Magic designer from back in the day.
In this podcast, I interview George Fan, creator of Plants vs. Zombies. I talk with him about his love of Magic and his year spent on the Magic design team.
This is part two of a two-part series on the design of Antiquities, Magic's second-ever expansion, where I talk about how the set got made and then go through the design of every card.
This is part one of a two-part series on the design of Antiquities, Magic's second-ever expansion, where I talk about how the set got made and then go through the design of every card.
In this podcast, I interview Brian David-Marshall on the many roles he's played in Magic, from tournament organizer and store owner to commentator and Magic historian.
October 30, 2020 was my 25th anniversary of working at Wizards. In this podcast, I talk about the many things I've done in those 25 years.
In this podcast, I interview Henry Stern, a longtime member of R&D and former pro player.
Magic has 32 Oozes. (I'm not talking about you, Changelings.) I talk about all of them.
In this podcast, I interview Scott Larabee, the esports senior league operations manager. We talk about his many years of running tournaments.
I talk about an issue that's near and dear to my heart: how to make the Magic community even better.
In this podcast, I interview Jules Robins, an R&D designer who's worked on numerous products and is the lead set designer of both Commander Legends and Dungeons & Dragons: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms (we only talk a little about his two set leads, as neither is out yet).
This is the ninth podcast in my two-color philosophy series. I talk all about red and white.
In this podcast, I interview Ken Nagle, runner-up of the first Great Designer Search and longtime R&D member.
This topic started from a question on my blog talking about the difficulty in designing four-color faction worlds and sets.
In this podcast, I interview Worth Wollpert and talk about his time in Magic R&D and running Magic Online.
This is another of my trivia podcasts. This time I look at all the current evergreen keywords (all 35 of them) and have you guess whether they were used and named in Alpha, started but not named in Alpha, or started and named after Alpha.
In this podcast, I interview Elaine Chase who has held many jobs with Magic over the years, including working in R&D, brand, and esports.
I tell the story of Zendikar Rising's design.
In this podcast, I interview Rachel Agnes, Magic brand manager. What does she do and how did she come to do it? Listen in and find out.
Before Rachel heads back to college, I thought it would be fun to do another mailbag podcast with her.
In this podcast, I interview Adam Prosak, a Magic designer who most recently led the set design for Core Set 2021.
Curious how COVID has affected the making of Magic? That's my topic for this podcast.
In this podcast, I interview Corey Bowen, a current member of R&D, one who focuses on Commander design.
In this podcast, I finish telling the in-depth story of Ikoria's design.
In this podcast, I talk with designer Jim Lin, one of the original Alpha playtesters and longtime R&D member.
In this podcast, I begin telling the in-depth story of Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths's design.
In this podcast, I talk with designer Ethan Fleischer about all the premier sets he's led or co-led the design for.
The pandemic is lasting a little longer than expected, so I've decided to have one podcast interview a week and have the other be similar to the old solo podcasts where I talk about Magic design. Today is another in my two-color philosophy series. In this podcast, I talk about black-green.
In this podcast, I talk with Graeme Hopkins, one of the finalists from the first Great Designer Search and someone who currently works on Magic: The Gathering Arena.
In this podcast, I talk with Brian Schneider, former Magic head developer. We talk about the many sets he worked on during his time at Wizards.
In this podcast, I talk with Witney Williams, the director of global events. She and I talk about all the things that go into running large Magic events.
In this podcast, I talk with Mike Turian, Pro Tour Hall of Famer and coworker. I talk with him about his time working as a Magic developer and his current job as principal product designer. What is that? Listen and learn.
In this podcast, I talk with Devin Low, former Magic head developer, about his time working on Magic.
In this podcast, I talk with Shivam Bhatt about his role with Commander and his podcast.
In this podcast, I talk with Sheldon Menery about his days of judging and his role in helping to create the Commander format.
Doug just celebrated his 20th year at Wizards, so I had him on the podcast to talk all about his work on the Creative team.
In this podcast, I talk with Brian Hacker about his time on the Pro Tour and how he and other Magic pros ended up on MTV.
In this podcast, I talk with Chris Pikula about the Pro Tour and what it's like to win a Magic Invitational.
In this podcast, I talk with Dave Humpherys about the Pro Tour and all the sets he's led.
In this podcast, I talk with Cedric Phillips about streaming and doing commentary.
In this podcast, I talk with Gaby Spartz about streaming and doing commentary.
In this podcast, I talk with April King about the challenges of keeping a Magic database and about the community of Magic Twitter.
In this podcast, I talk with Christine Sprankle, one of the best-known Magic cosplayers.
This week's podcast is an interview with Skaff Elias, one of the original playtesters and a longtime Wizards employee.
In this podcast, I talk with Jimmy and Josh, hosts of The Command Zone and Game Knights.
In this podcast, I talk with Blake Rasmussen, one of the people in charge of communications for Magic.
In this podcast, I talk with Dawn Murin, one of the art directors for Magic.
Brian Tinsman spent many years designing Magic cards and led sets like Rise of the Eldrazi and Time Spiral. He and I chat.
I talk with editor Matt Tabak.
Erik is my equivalent in set design. He and I talk about our many years of making Magic together.
I talk to product architect Mark Heggen to explain how he got into the game and just what exactly he does for Magic.
In this podcast, I talk to Brian Weissman, an old-school pro player. He and I talk about the early days of the game as well as how he created the first Magic deck to ever get a name.
In this podcast, I talk to Bill Rose, the vice president of Tabletop Magic. Bill and I have worked together for 25 years.
In this podcast, I talk to Meghan Wolf and Maria Bartholdi of Good Luck, High Five.
In this podcast, I talk to Brian Lewis (aka The Professor) of Tolarian Community College.
Donald Smith Jr. is a member of the Play Design team, and I talk with him about what Play Design does.
For years, this has been the number-one request for a carpool guest for the podcast, but as Richard doesn't live near me, nor work at Wizards anymore, it's been an unobtainable goal. Thus, he seemed like a great guest for my at-home edition where I could call him on the phone. Richard and I talk about the design of Alpha.
Matt Place had so much to say, we had to do a second podcast.
In this podcast, I interview Matt Place, a former pro player and Magic R&D member.
I also interview Chris who is another GDS3 alum and another person I work closely with on the Vision Design team. As with Ari, we talk about what it's like being a Magic player from the outside who became an insider.
In another of my interview series, I interview Ari Nieh, winner of the Great Designer Search 3 and someone I work closely with on the Vision Design team. We talk about his early days of Magic, GDS3, and what it's like to work in R&D.
In this podcast, I'm interviewing Annie Sardelis, one of the members of the Creative team.
In this podcast, I'm interviewing my boss and longtime Magic collaborator, Aaron Forsythe.
This podcast is part 2 of my interview with Michael Ryan. We continue talking about the making of the Weatherlight Saga.
I've started recording "Drive to Work" from home due to the pandemic, so I decided to use the opportunity to do something that's hard to do in the car, interview people over the phone. This podcast is part one of a talk I have with Michael Ryan, my fellow co-creator of the Weatherlight Saga. We talk about how we made the story, including many of the characters.
This is the fifth part of a series (of five) of card-by-card design stories from Theros Beyond Death.
This is the fourth part of a series (of five) of card-by-card design stories from Theros Beyond Death.
This is another podcast in my two-color philosophy series. This time, I talk blue-red.
This is the third part of a series (of five) of card-by-card design stories from Theros Beyond Death.
This is the second part of a series (of five) of card-by-card design stories from Theros Beyond Death.
This is the first part of a series (of five) of card-by-card design stories from Theros Beyond Death.
In this podcast, I talk about what I consider to be my top 10 Magic blocks.
This podcast is another in my two-color philosophy series. This time, I start talking about my first enemy color pair, white-black.
This is another trivia podcast. I ask about elements of Magic and see if you can identify whether it was part of Magic at the start of the game back in Alpha.
My eldest daughter and I traveled to New York City to attend Broadwaycon. This podcast talks all about it and how it made me rethink how I do Magic design.
This is part five in my ten-part series on two-color philosophies. In this podcast, I talk about green-white.
In this podcast, I talk about the challenges of making silver-bordered cards.
This is part two of a two-part series on the design of Unsanctioned. In it, I walk through the designs of all sixteen of the new cards.
This is part one of a two-part series on the design of Unsanctioned. In it, I walk through the designs of all sixteen of the new cards.
This podcast is another in my two-color philosophy series.
This podcast is part two of a two-part series on a Head-to-Head I did on Twitter about possible changes to the Commander format.
In this podcast, I talk about the design of Theros Beyond Death.
This podcast is part one of a two-part series on a Head-to-Head I did on Twitter about possible changes to the Commander format.
In this podcast, I talk about a phenomenon known as success paralysis where being successful can discourage you from embracing change.
This is another in my two-color philosophy series. This time I talk black-red.
This is part four of a four-part series of card-by-card design stories from Tempest.
This is part three of a four-part series of card-by-card design stories from Tempest.
This is the second, of ten, in my two-color philosophy series.
This is part two of a four-part series of card-by-card design stories from Tempest.
This is part one of a four-part series of card-by-card design stories from Tempest.
What are the top 50 creature types in order of how often they show up on Magic cards? In this podcast, I give listeners clues for guessing as I go through the list.
This is the first in a series on the two-color pairs. I begin by examining white-blue.
In this podcast, I talk about an aspect of Magic that's core to trading card games and can influence how we design sets—collecting.
In this podcast, I talk about a popular topic from my blog about why Magic worlds aren't all as diverse as Dominaria.
This is my first podcast of a new series where I talk about various members of the Magic community that produce content. I'm going to start by talking about Maria and Meghan of the "Good Luck, High Five" podcast.
Part of Magic design is reusing things you've used before. This podcast talks all about when and how we reuse things in design.
In this podcast, I talk about the many different ways we've evolved the planeswalker card type since its introduction.
This podcast talks about when you have to change what you're doing in a design. I give numerous examples of designs where we ended up making big changes.
In this podcast, I examine all of our major planes and talk about the most important part of the plane from a design and flavor perspective.
What are the 50 words that show up in the most Magic card titles? In this podcast, I go through that list and talk a bit about how we name cards.
I'm trying something new, what I'm calling a cluster podcast, where I pick a topic and talk about a whole bunch of little topics in that category. For my first cluster podcast, I have chosen to talk about food.
This is part four of a four-part series on card-by-card design stories from Throne of Eldraine.
This is part three of a four-part series on card-by-card design stories from Throne of Eldraine.
This podcast talks about why we can't easily meet every request.
This podcast is about the similarities and differences between artifacts and enchantments, and how they've changed over time.
In this podcast, I talk about all the noncreature subtypes in Magic.
This is part two of a four-part series on card-by-card design stories from Throne of Eldraine.
This is part one of a four-part series on card-by-card design stories from Throne of Eldraine.
In game design, as in any creation—and life really—things don't always go according to plan. In this podcast, I talk about numerous times Magic design ended up having to go in a different direction.
In this podcast, I talk about the design of Throne of Eldraine.
In this podcast, I take listeners behind the scenes into the making of the Throne of Eldraine announcement stream.
In this podcast, I talk about what we have to do in design to make sure that the set and story align.
In this podcast, I talk about how Magic design involves a lot of math.
In August, I wrote an article about why diversity matters in game design. This is my podcast version of that topic.
In this podcast, I discuss when, how, and why we make changes to the color pie.
This is another of my mailbag podcasts where I answer all your questions. I do these with a carpool guest. Instead of "Mailbag with Matt" or "Replies with Rachel," we get the first-ever "Small Talk with Sarah" where my guest is my youngest daughter, Sarah.
This podcast is another in my "Other People's Lessons" series where I talk top ten lists of lessons for something else and apply them to Magic design. Today is life lessons.
This is another podcast in my "Lessons Learned" series where I talk about lessons from sets that I led or co-led the design for. This time, I talk about what I learned leading the design for War of the Spark.
In this podcast, I talk about us putting together the themes of three years' worth of sets that cover what we call the "Bolas Arc" (Kaladesh through War of the Spark).
As is normal, I went to San Diego Comic-Con, but this year, I got to reveal Throne of Eldraine to the world. It was quite fun. In this podcast, I fill you in on my entire trip.
This is part four of a four-part series on all the banned or restricted cards I had a hand in designing.
This is part three of a four-part series on all the banned or restricted cards I had a hand in designing.
This is part two of a four-part series on all the banned or restricted cards I had a hand in designing.
Not that I'm proud of this, but I have the honor of having had a hand in creating more cards that have been banned or restricted than any other designer. In this podcast, I walk through the many cards I've helped design from this list and talk about their designs.
In past podcasts, you've met my dad, my mom, and my eldest daughter, Rachel. Today, you get to meet my youngest daughter, Sarah.
Magic has six major zones plus a few others used in various formats. I talk all about them including examining the design space of zone changing.
In this podcast, I talk about the history of full-art lands and talk about all the times we've used them.
This podcast is about the history of the Demon creature type.
This is another in my series "Lessons Learned" where I examine the lessons I've learned from sets I led or co-led. Today, I talk about the third Un- set, Unstable.
In this podcast, I talk about the history of Magic's oldest alternate-win condition.
This is part four of a four-part series on card-by-card design stories from Modern Horizons.
This is part three of a four-part series on card-by-card design stories from Modern Horizons.
In this podcast, I talk all about power level. I describe what it is and how it impacts how we make Magic cards.
This is part two of a four-part series on card-by-card design stories from Modern Horizons.
This is part one of a four-part series on card-by-card design stories from Modern Horizons.
In this podcast, I talk about the history of split cards—how they came to be and the many different times we've used them.
We have a line we call the innovation products (things like Conspiracy, Unstable, and Battlebond). I'll explain what they are and talk through all the ones we've made thus far.
This podcast is all about the design of Modern Horizons.
This is part five of a five-part series on card-by-card design stories from War of the Spark.
This is part four of a five-part series on card-by-card design stories from War of the Spark.
As a new series following up my "20 Lessons, 20 Podcasts" series, I'm starting "Other Lessons" to talk about other things I've learned during my time at Wizards. This podcast's lesson is "People overrate ideas and underrate execution."
This is part three of a five-part series on card-by-card design stories from War of the Spark.
This is part two of a five-part series on card-by-card design stories from War of the Spark.
This is part one of a five-part series on card-by-card design stories from War of the Spark.
So, I went to England for MagicFest London and Mythic Championship II. This podcast talks all about my trip.
Part of my job is traveling. This podcast talks about what it's like working when traveling as well as the many things that have to be done before or after you've traveled.
This episode is another in my "Designing _____" series where I talk about how we design certain basic effects. In this episode, I talk about effects interacting with the library.
Working on Magic has taken me to many countries around the world. In this podcast, I reminisce about all the places I've visited on Magic's dime.
Magic is printed in eleven languages. In this podcast, I talk about how that came to be and how making a game printed in so many languages impacts game design.
This podcast is all about us adding two words to the rules text of one card and all the hullabaloo that followed. I explain why we did it and walk through the timeline of what happened (it's a little convoluted).
In this podcast, I discuss when rules should and shouldn't be broken in Magic design. It involves a bunch of talking about planeswalking and puppies.
In this podcast, I talk about Magic mechanics that just didn't make the cut and had to be retired.
In this podcast, I talk all about the history of the booster pack, how it's evolved, and what impact it has on the design of Magic.
In this podcast, I walk through all the Planeswalkers to explain who they are and how they're mechanically represented on cards.
I realized I hadn't done a Top 10 list in a while, so I decided to talk about bad mechanics.
This podcast talks about the vision design of War of the Spark.
In this podcast, I examine the role social media plays in modern game design.
This podcast is about the history of the block, how they came about and why they went away.
This is part two of a two-part series exploring the Rabiah Scale, a scale talking about how likely we are to visit or revisit certain planes in a Standard-legal set.
This is part one of a two-part series exploring the Rabiah Scale, a scale talking about how likely we are to visit or revisit certain planes in a Standard-legal set.
This is part three of my three-part series on card-by-card design stories from Morningtide.
This is part two of my three-part series on card-by-card design stories from Morningtide.
This is part one of my three-part series on card-by-card design stories from Morningtide.
Based on my previous article, I explain why we just can't do some of the things fans request for Magic.
This is another in my "Designing _____" series where I walk through making basic effects. In this podcast, I talk about making all the various destruction cards.
I had the pleasure to have a carpool guest, Greg Weisman, the author of the upcoming War of the Spark novel, Ravnica. He and I talked all about what went into writing a story with over 100 named characters.
This podcast is based on a recent article I did talking about the importance of empathy in game design (and life).
Magic has a number of golden rules, and today, I talk about what they are and why they're so important to design.
This is another in my "Lessons Learned" series where I talk about the lessons I've picked up from sets I've led or co-led. In this podcast, I talk about Guilds of Ravnica and Ravnica Allegiance (as the vision design for them was done together).
About once a month, R&D takes the day off to play with an upcoming set. In this podcast, I talk all about R&D play days and how they work.
One of the things I enjoy doing is answering questions from the fans. In this podcast, I explore the many ways I do that.
Brian retired from doing coverage, so I decided to dedicate a podcast to his long Magic career.
This podcast is the tenth and final in my Ravnica guild series. In this podcast, I talk about the green-blue guild, the Simic Combine.
This podcast is the ninth in my Ravnica guild series. In this podcast, I talk about the white-black guild, the Orzhov Syndicate.
My eldest daughter, Rachel, and I traveled to New York to go to a convention about New York theater. This is part two of a two-part series about that trip.
My eldest daughter, Rachel, and I traveled to New York to go to a convention about New York theater. This is part one of a two-part series about that trip.
This podcast is the eighth in my Ravnica guild series. In this podcast, I talk about the red-green guild, the Gruul Clans.
This podcast is the seventh in my Ravnica guild series. In this podcast, I talk about the Cult of Rakdos, the black-red guild.
This podcast is the sixth in my Ravnica guild series. In this podcast, I talk about the Azorius Senate, the white-blue guild.
This podcast is the fourth in a four-part series about the card-by-card design stories of Lorwyn.
This podcast is the third in a four-part series about the card-by-card design stories of Lorwyn.
This podcast is the second in a four-part series about the card-by-card design stories of Lorwyn.
This podcast is the first in a four-part series about the card-by-card design stories of Lorwyn.
Often on my blog and social media accounts, I talk about things being "bends" and "breaks." In today's podcast, I go in depth defining what those terms mean and talk about why bends (in moderation) are good for the game and why breaks are bad.
This is another podcast in my "Designing _________ " series where I discuss how we design basic Magic effects. In this podcast, I talk about designing direct damage.
This is a new series called "Other People's Lessons" where I look at lessons from other areas of art and examine how those lessons apply to Magic design. Today's lesson was by a poet named Kara Ziehl and talks about how to better write poetry.
In this podcast, I examine the many creature types that are unique to the game of Magic.
This is another in my "Lessons Learned" series where I talk about sets I led (or co-led) and explore the many lessons I learned while doing the design.
In this podcast, I talk about the many ways we learn about what the players like and don't like.
This is the first in my "Designing [Blank]" series where I talk about how to design basic Magic effects.
In this podcast, I talk about the design of the Lorwyn set.
This is another in my "Magic Evolution" series that goes through sets and explains the innovations of each expansion. This podcast is about the original Ravnica block.
This podcast is about how we design factions and build sets around them.
Gaming conventions have played a big role in Magic's history. In this podcast, I talk about many of the key ones that have intersected with Magic.
This podcast is part of my guild series where I walk through the history of each guild through all three visits to Ravnica. In this podcast, I talk all about the red-white guild, the Boros Legion.
This podcast is part of my guild series where I walk through the history of each guild through all three visits to Ravnica. In this podcast, I talk all about the black-green guild, the Golgari Swarm.
In this podcast, I talk about an aspect of the game I don't discuss often—collecting. I discuss the many ways we make the game collectible and what impact that has on how we design.
This podcast is part of my guild series where I walk through the history of the guild through all three visits to Ravnica. In this podcast, I talk all about the blue-red guild.
This podcast is part of my guild series where I walk through the history of the guild through all three visits to Ravnica. In this podcast, I talk all about the green-white guild.
This is the first of ten guild podcasts. I'll be doing five now and five when Ravnica Allegiance comes out. In this one, I talk about how we first created Dimir and the three guild mechanics.
In this podcast, I talk about the various ways we create Magic mechanics to answer the question "Where do mechanics come from?"
In this podcast, I talk about a group of people who do a lot of work on Magic, but not the part I normally talk about. This is the people to whom R&D hand off their work.
In this podcast, I talk about the vision design of Guilds of Ravnica.
As I had just dropped my daughter Rachel off at college, I talk about how a designer has to learn to let go of their work and pass it along to other people.
My family went to Chicago to drop off my oldest daughter Rachel at college, so I talk all about how the city of Chicago has intersected with Magic.
I was about to take my daughter off to college, so I dedicated a podcast to talking about what lessons college taught me that impact my life and how I design Magic.
In this podcast, I walk through each set and talk about what plane it takes place on.
This podcast is all about an unnamed but commonly used mechanic, one where you exile a permanent and then return it to the battlefield. R&D calls this ability "flickering" (it's also known as "blinking"), and this podcast will talk about its history, from its start in Urza's Destiny to present day.
This is another in my "Magic Evolution" series, where I go through the history of the game and talk about the design innovations each set brought to the table. In this podcast, I talk about Champions of Kamigawa block.
Inspired by a video about the people who playtested Magic before it came out, I go into greater detail about the various playtesters.
This is another in my series "Lessons Learned," where I examine sets I led or co-led and talk about what I learned from doing the design. In this podcast, I talk about the design of Ixalan.
This podcast talks about how Magic uses creature types and the role they play in design.
This podcast is about a concept that I wrote about in an article earlier this year which talks about the importance of games allowing its players to tell stories about the game.
This podcast tries to give a sense of scope about how many things we work on at once in R&D.
On a rare "Drive from Work," I talk with carpooler Scott Van Essen about what it was like to design Kaladesh together.
My carpool guest Scott Van Essen and I talk about the design of the new Transformers Trading Card Game, which he and I both worked on.
In this podcast, I examine the history of Squirrels in Magic.
At my SDCC Magic panel, I gave a little presentation about the history of Magic. This podcast is a slightly longer version of that talk.
Every year, I attend San Diego Comic-Con where I run a Magic panel among other responsibilities. Upon my return, I always record a podcast about it. This is that podcast.
I turn over my podcast to the color green, which explains in its own words what it believes. This is part five of a five-part series I'm calling "Color Talk."
I turn over my podcast to the color red, which explains in its own words what it believes. This is part four of a five-part series I'm calling "Color Talk."
I revisit two of my old articles ("When Cards Go Bad" and the follow-up "When Cards Go Bad Revisited") to talk about why R and D makes bad cards.
I turn over my podcast to the color black, which explains in its own words what it believes. This is part three of a five-part series I'm calling "Color Talk."
I turn over my podcast to the color blue, which explains in its own words what it believes. This is part two of my five-part series "Color Talk."
I turn over my podcast to the color white, which explains in its own words what it believes. This is part one of a five-part series I'm calling "Color Talk."
My wife and I love throwing parties, so in this podcast, I talk about the numerous lessons we've learned over the years and how I've been able to apply those lessons to designing Magic sets.
This is another in my series where I go through Magic sets and talk about what each one added to design technology. In this podcast, I talk about original Mirrodin block.
For the last three years, my daughter Rachel and I have attended Vidcon, a convention dedicated to YouTube video stars. This podcast is the story of this year's trip and all the things I learned from it.
My eldest daughter, Rachel, is off to college, but before she left, I was able to get in one more podcast with her. We chose to continue with our mailbag series "Replies with Rachel," where she and I answer questions from all of you.
To celebrate Magic's 25th Anniversary, we had five birthday Grand Prix around the world. I attended one of them, GP Las Vegas, and this podcast is all about my trip to the event.
This is the 20th and final installment in my series "20 Lessons, 20 Podcasts" based on my 2016 Game Developers Conference speech. In this podcast, I talk about how the 20 lessons all connect.
It's been two years since Research and Development started the new Vision Design, Set Design, Play Design model. In this podcast, I take a look at it and judge how I think it's going.
After three trials and five design challenges, the GDS3 top three came to Wizards' offices for the final day of the competition. This podcasts talks all about the final day of GDS3.
In this podcast, I talk all about a longstanding meeting we have every week in Research and Development.
This podcast is part six of a six-part series on the design of each and every non-Contraption card in Unstable.
This podcast is part five of a six-part series on the design of each and every non-Contraption card in Unstable.
This podcast is part four of a six-part series on the design of each and every non-Contraption card in Unstable.
For the 25th Anniversary Grand Prix, I recorded a video with Richard Garfield and Peter Adkison. This podcast is all about the day I spent shooting that video. I also talk quite a bit about the early days of Magic.
This podcast is part three of a six-part series on the design of each and every non-Contraption card in Unstable.
This podcast is part two of a six-part series on the design of each and every non-Contraption card in Unstable.
This podcast is part one of a six-part series on the design of each and every non-Contraption card in Unstable.
This podcast talks about how we decide when to keyword (or ability word) a mechanic in design.
I'm often asked about how one can be more creative, so I decided to finally make a podcast about the topic.
This is the fourth in my "Magic Evolution" series where I go through every Magic set and talk about the design innovations of each one. On today's podcast, I talk about the Odyssey and Onslaught blocks.
I go through a Magic card and talk about what impact design has on each part of the card.
In this podcast, I talk about the history of the kicker mechanic from its start in Invasion all the way through to its use in Dominaria.
For this podcast, I walk through every design team I've led or co-led and talk about what the jumping-off point was for the design to show the many different paths we start with when making a set.
In this podcast, I talk about why it's important for each plane to have a distinct identity.
This is another in my "20 Lessons, 20 Podcasts" series based on my 2016 Games Developers Conference speech. Today is lesson nineteen: "Your audience is good at recognizing problems and bad at solving them."
The Great Designers Search 3 was plugging along behind the scenes when I recorded this, so I checked in to give you some info on how it was going.
In this podcast, I talk about my days doing stand-up comedy and the lessons I learned that applied to Magic design.
This is the third and final part of a three-part series on the vision design of Dominaria.
This is the second part of a three-part series on the vision design of Dominaria.
This is the first of a three-part series on the vision design of Dominaria.
Not every card is new. In this podcast, I talk about when and how we use reprints in design.
I was asked to make some "How to" videos for Magic (alongside Gaby Spartz). This podcast is all about the day I spent making Magic videos.
I started a new feature on my Twitter where I polled the audience about various Magic design issues. This podcast goes over the issues I asked about and the feedback I received.
This podcast is another in my "Lessons Learned" series where I talk about the lessons I learned on sets for which I led or co-led the design. In this podcast, I talk about co-leading Amonkhet.
A lot of my job is giving and receiving criticism. In this podcast, I talk about the tenets to giving criticism in a way that helps the person getting the criticism be better able to use it.
In this podcast, I talk about how we design legendary cards.
In this podcast, I talk about my time as editor-in-chief of Duelist, the Magic-themed magazine Wizards used to produce.
In this podcast I walk through the history of the morph mechanic from its origin to its use in Khans of Tarkir block.
This is the third in my series "Magic Evolution," where I go through every set and talk about what design technology was created. In this podcast, I talk about Mercadian Masques through Apocalypse.
This is a fun podcast where I explain my definition of what a game is. I'm sure it's bound to prompt much discussion.
This is part eighteen of my series "20 Lessons, 20 Podcasts" based on my 2016 Game Developers Conference talk. In this podcast, I explain why restrictions breed creativity.
This is part three of three, where I share many card-by-card design stories from Dissension.
This is part two of three, where I share many card-by-card design stories from Dissension.
In this podcast, I go over the design test, the third trial for the Great Designer Search 3.
Having just read 94 design tests for the GDS3, I spend a podcast talking about many of the common mistakes novice designers make.
I finally get around to the third and final set in original Ravnica block, Dissension. This is part one of three, where I share many card-by-card design stories from the set.
In this podcast, I go over the answers for the final 25 questions in the Trial 2 multiple-choice test for the Great Designer Search 3.
In this podcast, I go over the answers for the second 25 questions in the Trial 2 multiple-choice test for the Great Designer Search 3.
In this podcast, I go over the answers for the first 25 questions in the Trial 2 multiple-choice test for the Great Designer Search 3.
To make it into the Top 8 of the Great Designer Search 3, you needed to pass three trials. In this podcast, I talk about the first trial, the essay test.
In this podcast, I talk all about the important work done by our editing team.
For many years, Magic was broadcast on ESPN2. This podcast looks back at that time and talks about the experience from behind the scenes.
Part of my job is answering questions from all sorts of different sources. In this podcast, I talk about who I answer questions from and how I do it.
This podcast was made for you to share with someone new to Magic. I walk through the basics and demonstrate the important things to do when introducing the game.
This is a companion podcast to one I did about designing sets that revisit worlds we've been to before. In this podcast, I talk about designing for a new world.
I traveled to Victoria, Canada, to participate in LoadingReadyRun's inaccurately named but very fun Pre-Prerelease for Unstable. This podcast is all about my trip.
Unstable did something different by having various versions of a card with the same name. This podcast talks about how they happened and the great lengths we went to in order to hide their existence.
In this podcast, I talk all about the history of playtest cards in R&D, including a discussion on the latest technology.
This is part seventeen in my 20-part series "20 Lessons, 20 Podcasts" based on my 2016 Game Developers Conference speech. In this podcast, I talk about the lesson "You don't have to change much to change everything."
In this podcast, I talk about the lengthy journey to make the third Great Designer Search happen.
This is part two of my "Magic Evolution" series where I walk through sets and explain what innovations they added to Magic design.
This is technically a "Drive from Work." I picked Mark up at his house to do the last podcast, so we figured we might as well do another podcast when I drove him home.
I have a special carpool guest, Magic Senior Brand Director Mark Purvis. He promised to come back when we could talk openly about Unstable. And so he did.
I had the opportunity to appear on Game Knights with Jimmy Wong and Josh Lee Kwai. The three of us and Gavin Verhey drafted Unstable before its release so we could show off how fun it was. This podcast is all about my trip down to Los Angeles to shoot the episode.
I've often said the hardest part of my job is making cool things and then not being able to talk about them for a long time. This podcast is all about the joy of getting to finally tell people news through the lens of the fun I had watching Unstable be revealed.
R&D started a new process called a "hackathon" where we take off a week and work on future speculative products. Today, I'm going to explain how it works and walk you through our first two hackathons.
One of my many jobs is Un-rules manager. In this podcast, I talk about my role and about many of the weird rules of Unstable.
In this podcast, I talk all about the history of one of the most popular creature types in Magic, Slivers.
This is Part 2 of my look back. Note that while there will eventually be a Part 3, it won't be for a while.
I took a page from my column and decided to take my 500th podcast to look back at all the podcasts I've done. It turns out 500 is way too many to do in one podcast, so I just talk about my first 100 podcasts. This is a good chance to hear about some of my early podcasts to help figure out which ones you might want to listen to. There's also a bit of behind-the-scenes information about making them.
This is another in my "Lessons Learned" series where I talk about a design I led (or in this case co-led) and walk through all the lessons I learned from doing it.
The entire third floor was recently remodeled, which resulted in R&D being moved to a different section of the floor. This podcast is all about the move and the many pieces of Magic history I discovered while moving.
Magic has had a lot of symbols show up on cards over the years. In this podcast, I talk about them all.
In this podcast, I go into greater detail of how the new vision design team works.
Last year, R&D changed the structure of how we make Magic cards. In this podcast, I explain the change and introduce the three new parts of Magic design in R&D.
In this podcast, I talk all about the history of the kicker mechanic, from its start in Invasion to modern day.
This is the sixteenth installment in my "20 Lessons, 20 Podcasts" series where I talk about each of my lessons from my 2016 Game Developers Conference talk. In this podcast, I talk about the lesson "Be more afraid of boring your players than challenging them."
I talk a lot about the process of creating what the cards do, but part of making Magic cards is also physically creating them. In this podcast, I talk about how we print Magic cards and what impact that has on designing them.
Besides designing Magic cards, I also spend a lot of time interacting with the public. This podcast talks all about this aspect of my job, including how I came to be a spokesperson.
This podcast is the third and final part of the story of Unstable's design.
This podcast is part 2 of 3 of the story of Unstable's design.
The Un- sets are where I try new things, so it seemed only apropos to experiment with having the podcast be about the design when the set is being previewed. This is part 1 of 3.
An important skill is selling your ideas live in a meeting. In this podcast, I talk about how to deliver a good pitch.
I'm joined by carpooling guest Mark Purvis, Magic senior brand director, to talk about how we took a product that no one at Wizards was asking for us to make, Unstable, and got it all the way to print.
The very first Hasbro-centric convention, called HASCON, was held in August. I was there, and this podcast is all about it.
In this podcast, I explore Magic's early sets and talk about the design innovations each one brought.
This is part three of a three-part series about the design of Ixalan.
This is part two of a three-part series about the design of Ixalan.
This is part one of a three-part series about the design of Ixalan.
In this podcast, I look at the history of the scry mechanic, from its premier in Fifth Dawn all the way to it becoming an evergreen keyword action.
I am often asked what factors determine when we choose to keyword a mechanic. In this podcast, I talk all about this topic.
In this podcast, I talk about how Wizards interacts with our freelance artists.
In my "Making Magic" column, I occasionally write articles where I blend together Magic and non-Magic topics selected by the audience. In this podcast, I talk all about the articles I've written in this format.
In this podcast, I talk all about the design of Hour of Devastation.
In this podcast, I talk about how players can best give their input about Magic.
For this podcast, I talk about how you can keep things feeling different in a game that's constantly making new content.
For the first time ever, I have a guest who isn't in the car with me. Thanks to new technology, I now have the ability to have a guest phone in. Gavin Verhey of Magic R&D tests out this new technology with me.
This is the fifteenth podcast in my 20-podcast series "20 Years, 20 Lessons." In this podcast, I talk about the importance of designing a component for the audience it's intended for.
I attended another SDCC and had another Blogatog Live Magic panel where I talked for the first time about Unstable. In this podcast, I talk all about what happened, including a few tidbits about Unstable from the panel that didn't make it out to social media.
In this podcast, I talk about the history of the Pit—the area where R&D works.
I'm often asked questions about how best to start a design. In this podcast, I go into detail about how to do just that.
In this podcast, I talk about the history of poison counters in the game.
In this podcast, I talk about the many different multicolor blocks we've made and how we went about making them.
For the first time, I review a book. Okay, it's a book about the history of Magic.
We have to make a lot of Magic sets, and while we always make new things, a lot of our job is taking the staple things we do all the time and finding small ways to make them feel different. In today's podcast, I talk about how we do that.
In this podcast, I look back at some of the different formats from the early days of Magic including things likes Grand Melee and Emperor.
In this podcast, I talk about one of the most important tools for a Magic designer.
For the second year, I took my daughter to VidCon, the convention for YouTube stars. As an outsider looking in, I always get a lot of insights that I can apply to Magic.
My daughter and I visited eight colleges in five days, which spawned this podcast.
Back in June, we had a week with more announcements packed into it than we had ever done before in that condensed amount of time. This podcast walks through all the reveals of that week with some behind-the-scenes info about making it happen.
This podcast is dedicated to Magic trivia, focusing mostly on trivia from the early days of the game.
In this podcast, I talk about the biggest constant of Magic—change.
This is my first mechanical color pie podcast where I go in depth on one mechanical aspect. For my maiden voyage, I chose to talk about how the five colors handle creatures.
A few months ago, I wrote an article where I spelled out what colors did what in the color pie. In this podcast, I talk all about the making of this article and why the mechanical color pie is so important.
In this podcast, I talk about the role complexity plays in game design.
In this podcast, I talk about the mechanic flashback. I discuss how it got originally designed and the many different blocks that have used it.
This is second part of my two-part series on the design of Amonkhet.
I asked for feedback about my podcast, and one of the most common replies I got was that people would like me to occasionally mix in more recent design stories. So, this is part one of a two-part series on the design of Amonkhet.
One of the questions I get most often is "How can I become a game designer?" I answer that question in this podcast.
From time to time, I dedicate a show to talking about the many people who have worked on Magic. In this podcast, I'm talking again about R&D—this time covering the group I dub the "third wave."
In this podcast, I talk about one of the design tools we use—counters. I go through the various kinds and talk about how counters help us expand what we can do in design.
Wizards has made many games other than Magic. So many, in fact, that I needed two podcasts to talk about them all.
Magic is just one of the games Wizards of the Coast has made. Today, I walk through the many, many others.
This podcast is the fourteenth in my 20-podcast series based on a GDC speech I gave in 2016 about 20 of the lessons I've learned designing Magic for 20 years. The lesson of this podcast is "Don't be afraid to be blunt."
I talk about the use of different frames and walk through the many times we've used frames to aid the game mechanically.
On my blog, there was some discussion about the mechanical theme of "vanilla matters." (Vanilla creatures are creatures without rules text.) It was a complex topic, so I decided to spend a whole car ride explaining why the "vanilla matters" theme is so hard to do.
One of my popular features in my "Tales from the Pit" comic is an ongoing "sit-com" with planeswalkers I make using the Funko Pop! figures. I call the recurring feature "Sparks." In this podcast, I talk about how it came about and what I did to find the humor in the planeswalkers.
In this podcast, I talk about the difference of designing a set for a new world and designing for a return.
This is a history podcast where I talk all about the history of Prereleases, from the first one for Ice Age to modern day.
Wizards of the Coast makes games other than Magic. Today, I talk about one of our other big games. I discuss its history, how it influenced Magic, and how it came to be a Wizards of Coast game.
I talk a lot about the design of Magic, but there are many other teams that design has to work with. This podcast talks about all these other teams. I talk through the lens of Amonkhet, so if you’re eager to hear a few Amonkhet stories, you might want to give this a listen.
In this podcast, I talk about the nuts of bolts of rarity, including some history about how different rarities have worked over the years.
This is part two of a two-part series where I examine the first Great Designer Search in detail. I walk through all the tests to get in and then all the challenges given to the contestants.
This is part one of a two-part series where I examine the first Great Designer Search in detail. I walk through all the tests to get in and then all the challenges given to the contestants.
R&D has a sign hanging on our walls explaining the principles of Magic R&D. In this podcast, I walk through all the items on the list and explain why they're important and how they impact the way R&D makes Magic.
This is another in my "20 Lessons, 20 Podcasts" series where I go over the 20 lessons from my 2016 GDC Speech. Today's lesson is number thirteen: Make the fun part also the correct strategy to win.
Telling a story can be difficult in any medium, but it's especially hard through the medium of a trading card game. In this podcast, I walk through the difficulties and how we overcome them.
This is the third and final podcast in my three-part series on the design of Guildpact.
This is second part of a three-part series on the design of Guildpact.
This is first part of a three-part series on the design of Guildpact.
This podcasts talks about all the different worlds we've visited over the years in various Magic expansions.
This is another in my series "20 Years, 20 Podcasts" where I talk in detail about all the Magic stuff that happened in a particular year.
There was a lot of discussion online about what exactly "top-down" and "bottom-up" designs were, so I dedicate a podcast to talk all about what the terms mean. I then walk through the history of Magic talking about whether or not the first set of each block was a top-down or bottom-up design.
I often talk about the many fights in R&D that I managed to win. Well, I didn't win them all, and this podcast talks about a bunch of the fights I lost.
This podcast is another in my "Lessons Learned" series where I talk about sets I led the design for and the lessons I learned from leading it. In this podcast, I discuss what I learned from leading the design for Battle for Zendikar.
This is another podcast in my "20 Lessons, 20 Podcasts" series with design lessons from my GDC talk. Today's podcast talks about Lesson #12: Don't Design Something to Prove You Can.
Wizards of the Coast doesn't give public tours, but occasionally we give them for special guests. As someone who has done a lot of these tours, I thought it would be fun to do one for all of you, virtually.
This podcast is a look at the behind-the-scenes of the "Drive to Work" podcast. Very meta.
In this podcast, I talk all about the importance of elements in your game having strengths and weaknesses.
This is another Top 10 podcast. In this episode, I talk about the Top 10 coolest things about working in R&D.
In my 21 years at Wizards, Magic has helped me travel all over the world. In this podcast, I talk about the sixteen different countries I've visited.
This is another in my series on designing different rarities. In this podcast, I talk about designing rares and mythic rares.
In this podcast, I explore the design of a trading card game, but one other than Magic. I talk about the creation of Duel Masters, a trading card game we created for the Japanese market.
In this podcast, I talk about the first five Magic World Championships.
I'm often asked about the best way to teach Magic to a new player. In today's podcast I explain how to do it.
This is the fifth part of a five-part series on the cards of original Ravnica.
This is the fourth part of a five-part series on the cards of original Ravnica.
This is part eleven in my 20-part series "20 Lessons, 20 Podcasts" where I recap 20 lessons I learned in my first 20 years working on Magic. This is based on a speech I gave at the Games Developers Conference in 2016. You can find my three-part article about the speech here, here, and here.
This is the third part of a five-part series on the cards of original Ravnica.
This is the second part of a five-part series on the cards of original Ravnica.
This is the first part of a five-part series on the cards of original Ravnica.
This is another episode of "Replies with Rachel," where my eldest daughter and I answer your questions.
I spend this podcast talking about an important lesson I've learned doing Magic design.
I spend a lot of time answering questions. In this podcast, I talk about that aspect of my job and explain what I've learned over the years about how to best answer questions.
Part of the iterative process is using feedback to improve upon your design. This podcast talks about how to best evaluate what you've done and use feedback to make your design better.
In this podcast, I look back to the early days of Magic and talk about how the Standard format came to be.
Mark talks about what an average day of his job is like.
There are five conflicts between the five colors. In this podcast, I discuss them all.
Mark talks about what an average day of his job is like.
Mark talks about his choice for the Top 10 supplemental products Magic has made.
Mark's tenth podcast in a series of 20 from GDC.
Mark talks about the special series where we've gone to the public and sought their help in creating a Magic card.
Mark pits the mechanics of the last two blocks set on Innistrad against one another.
Mark goes over some slang used by R&D in part 3 of this 3 part series.
Mark goes over some slang used by R&D in part 2 of this 3 part series.
Mark goes over some slang used by R&D in part 1 of this 3 part series.
Mark picks his Top 10 favorite evergreen creature keywords.
Mark talks about the challenges of designing uncommon cards.
Mark talks about an important aspect of card design.
Part four (of four) of Mark's series on the design of Urza's Destiny.
Part three (of four) of Mark's series on the design of Urza's Destiny.
Part two (of four) of Mark's series on the design of Urza's Destiny.
Part one (of four) of Mark's series on the design of Urza's Destiny.
Mark talks about watching what happens as the public learns about new sets.
Mark talks about the Council of Colors group that was created to help monitor the color wheel.
Mark talks about how to create in a group setting.
Mark's ninth podcast in a series of 20 from GDC.
Mark pits the mechanics of the original Mirrodin block against the mechanics of the Scars of Mirrodin block.
Mark explains the important process of figuring out what a card represents flavorfully.
Mark shares some tips on how to be creative quickly.
Mark talks about his busy weekend at PAX West.
Mark talks about his 20 favorite creature types.
Mark talks about being a magician in his youth and what he learned that he brought to Magic.
Mark's mailbag podcast with his daughter Rachel.
Mark's eighth podcast in a series of 20 from GDC.
Mark talks about may of the rules that Magic has abandoned over the years.
Mark talks about the issue of how perspective colors expectations.
Mark takes a look at the history of Magic's oldest villains.
Mark explains the six ages of design.
Mark talks about how one can best learn from their mistakes.
Mark talks about what he learned from designing Khans of Tarkir.
Mark's seventh podcast in a series of 20 from GDC.
Mark talks about the impact of flux on design.
Mark's first podcast of a series where he pits two designs against one another.
Mark's second of a two-part series on the design of Urza's Legacy.
Mark's first of a two-part series on the design of Urza's Legacy.
Mark talks about the history of Magic packaging.
Mark talks about balancing work with the rest of your life.
Mark's sixth podcast in a series of 20 from GDC.
Mark talks about how they tweak old cards in design to make new cards that fill a similar function.
Mark talks about his favorite non-design jobs he's held over the years.
Mark talks about how he uses Twitter and shares some stories.
Mark explores the history of hybrid mana and talks about how it came to be and how we design with it.
Mark's fourth podcast in a series of 20 from GDC.
Mark talks about VidCon, where he chaperoned his daughter Rachel, and the lessons he learned from it.
Mark talks about his Top 10 favorite cards that he's designed.
Mark talks about 2014 in his "20 Years in 20 Podcasts" series.
Mark tests what Magic vocabulary makes sense to someone who doesn't know Magic well.
Mark's mailbag podcast with his daughter, Rachel.
Mark talks about various (mostly early) Magic trivia.
Mark's fourth podcast in a series of 20 from GDC.
Mark talks about how the two-block model came to be.
Mark tatlks about the lessons he learned from his days of doing stand-up comedy.
Mark looks back at the early days of Limited and how it evolved.
Mark's third podcast in a series of 20 from GDC.
Mark talks about the design of Urza's Saga in part four of a four-part series.
Mark talks about the design of Urza's Saga in part three of a four-part series.
Mark talks about the design of Urza's Saga in part two of a four-part series.
Mark talks about the design of Urza's Saga in part one of a four-part series.
Mark talks about the subtypes of Magic.
Mark talks about the six supertypes of Magic.
Mark talks about the Homelands Prerelease event of 1995.
Mark talks about the changes in how gaming is publicly perceived.
Mark talks about his Top 10 favorite non-evergreen mechanics.
Mark talks about some of the interviews he has done and tips about doing good interviews.
Mark's second podcast in a series of 20 from GDC.
Mark talks about the use of market research to understand what players want.
Mark walks through a Magic card and talks about each element on it.
Mark looks at the mechanics from the Khans of Tarkir block.
Mark explains what the Storm Scale is.
Mark begins a new 20-part podcasts where he talks about life lessons he has learned.
Mark introduces his daughter as he drives her to school.
Mark reflects on his trip, including an hour-long lecture, at the 2016 Game Developers Conference.
Mark talks about the issues related to creature design.
Mark looks back to what got him involved with Wizards in the first place.
Mark explains his dislike of leaks and explains why in detail.
Mark shares stories about the changes that come late in the design and development process.
Mark talks about some of the various Magic T-shirts that he has collected over the years.
Mark begins a new series of Top 10 Lists by talking about his favorite sets that he designed.
Mark talks about the different kinds of advertising Magic has done over the years.
Mark talks about the high-profile tournaments he played in before Wizards.
Mark talks about when he was just a player of Magic and had not started working at Wizards.
Mark examines the lessons he learned from designing Theros.
Mark talks about the design space reserved for cards within a particular mechanic.
Mark talks about team dynamics and how to teams work together.
Mark talks about how people can get a job in Magic R&D at Wizards.
Mark concludes his his six-part series on the design of Limited Edition (Alpha), Limited Edition (Beta), and Unlimited Edition.
Mark continues with part 5 of his six-part series on the design of Limited Edition (Alpha), Limited Edition (Beta), and Unlimited Edition.
Mark continues with part 4 of his six-part series on the design of Limited Edition (Alpha), Limited Edition (Beta), and Unlimited Edition.
Mark talks about his experiences traveling for his job and shares a few tips as well.
Mark continues with part 3 of his six-part series on the design of Limited Edition (Alpha), Limited Edition (Beta), and Unlimited Edition.
Mark continues with part 2 of his six-part series on the design of Limited Edition (Alpha), Limited Edition (Beta), and Unlimited Edition.
Mark begins a new six-part series on the design of Limited Edition (Alpha), Limited Edition (Beta), and Unlimited Edition.
Mark remembers the life of Christopher Rush and shares stories about their interactions.
Mark talks about how and when Research and Development decide to use reprints in a design.
Mark concludes his two-part discussion with Melissa DeTora on their Magic firsts.
Mark is joined by Melissa DeTora for a two-parter where they discuss their Magic firsts.
Mark discusses his why and how he runs his Top 16 bracket activity on Twitter.
Mark shares stories of his interactions with celebrities and as a Magic celebrity.
Mark continues his 20 years in 20 podcasts with the year 2013.
Mark talks about the decisions that game designers set up for players to make.
Mark talks about working with Richard Garfield ont he Star Wars TCG.
Mark talks about the design and creative work behind creature types.
Mark defines what a dream job is and how you can get one.
Mark talks about the three times he had to dress up as an animal for work.
Mark concludes his six-part series on the design of Dragons of Tarkir.
Mark continues with part 5 of his six-part series on the design of Dragons of Tarkir.
Mark continues with part 4 of his six-part series on the design of Dragons of Tarkir.
Mark talks about important life skills people learn from gaming.
Mark continues with part 3 of his six-part series on the design of Dragons of Tarkir.
Mark continues with part 2 of his six-part series on the design of Dragons of Tarkir.
Mark begins a six-part series on the design of Dragons of Tarkir.
Mark talks about the many things design has to care about while designing a set for limited.
Mark talks about the things that will teach a new player easier.
Mark looks back as the co-lead of Dark Ascension (with Mark Gottlieb) and shares what he learned from it.
Mark continues with part 9 in his series on 10-things every game needs.
Mark talks about the difference in Magic and Wizards from when he started to today, 20 years later.
Mark talks about the questions he gets asked the most and the answers he chooses to give.
Mark talks about how he connects through social media to Magic fans.
Mark talks about the revisit to his original article about why so-called bad cards exist.
Mark bases this podcast on his article about why so-called bad cards exist.
Mark concludes his 5-part series on the design of Fate Reforged.
Mark continues with part 4 of his five-part series on the design of Fate Reforged.
Mark talks about the system which explains which colors each evergreen creature keyword falls into.
Mark continues with part 3 of his five-part series on the design of Fate Reforged.
Mark continues with part 2 of his five-part series on the design of Fate Reforged.
Mark begins a five-part series on the design of Fate Reforged.
Mark taks about an idea that Wizards tried to expand TCGs to a broader audience.
Mark talks about being the rules manager for silver-bordered Magic.
Mark continues with part 8 in his series on 10-things every game needs.
Magic is a game that often breaks its own rules. Today's podcast talks about when, why, and how you should break the rules in game design.
Wizards pulled out all the stops with Magic at the Penny Arcade Expo held in Seattle this past August. This podcast talks all about it, including the full tale of my crazy seventeen-hour day.
Finally, I've gotten to my tenth and final (and possibly most requested) two-color podcast. I talk about the colors green and blue, what they have in common and why they're enemies.
Scars of Mirrodin,-Return to Ravnica,-Battle for Zendikar. We've begun to revisit worlds we've already been to. What design issues are there when you start with a world you've visited before? Today's podcast talks all about this topic.
Mark concludes his two-parter about the creative process.
Mark begins with part one-of-two podcasts about the creative process.
Mark continues his 20 years in 20 podcasts with the year 2012.
Mark concludes his seven-part series on the design of Khans of Tarkir.
Mark continues with part 6 of his seven-part series on the design of Khans of Tarkir.
Mark continues with part 8 in his series on 10-things every game needs.
Mark continues with part 4 of his seven-part series on the design of Khans of Tarkir.
Mark continues with part 4 of his seven-part series on the design of Khans of Tarkir.
Mark continues with part 3 of his seven-part series on the design of Khans of Tarkir.
Mark talks about the things that a game designer must be on the lookout for.
Mark continues with part 2 of his seven-part series on the design of Khans of Tarkir.
Mark begins a seven-part series on the design of Khans of Tarkir.
Mark talks about the color pair white-red.
Mark concludes his two-parter about the inspiration behind each block in the history of Magic.
Mark begins a two-parter about the inspiration behind each block in the history of Magic.
Mark continues his 20 years in 20 podcasts with the year 2011.
Mark talks about the history of evergreen keywords
Mark continues with part 7 in his series on 10-things every game needs.
Mark talks his level 4 judge time experience.
Mark talks about the three trips Wizards sent him on before he started full-time.
Mark talks about the color pair black-green.
Mark concludes his 4-part series on the design of Avacyn Restored.
Mark continues with part 3 of his 4-part series on the design of Avacyn Restored.
Mark continues with part 2 of his 4-part series on the design of Avacyn Restored.
Mark begins a 4-part series on the design of Avacyn Restored.
Mark discusses the Pro Tour with his carpool guest, Melissa DeTora.
Mark shares his carpool with special guest, Melissa DeTora and what it is like to start to Research and Development.
Mark continues with part 6 in his series on 10-things every game needs.
Mark continues his 20 years in 20 podcasts with the year 2010.
Mark talks about what he learned from leading various Magic teams.
Mark looks back as the lead of Dark Ascension and shares what he learned from it.
Mark looks back as the lead of Innistrad and shares what he learned from it.
Mark talks about the color pair Blue Red
Mark concludes his 4-part series on the design of Dark Ascension.
Mark continues with Part 3 of his 4-part series on the design of Dark Ascension.
Mark continues with Part 2 of his 4-part series on the design of Dark Ascension.
Mark starts a new podcasts 4-part series on the design of Dark Ascension.
Mark talks about the history of the Legendary supertype.
Mark continues his 20 years in 20 podcasts with the year 2009.
Mark continues with part 5 in his series on 10-things every game needs.
Mark about the color pair White-Black.
Mark talks about the origin story of Magic.
Mark talks about 10 principles of good design.
Mark talks about his trip to the 2015 Game Developers Conference.
Mark concludes his 5-part series on the cards of Innistrad.
Mark continues telling the stories behind the cards of Innistrad in part 4.
Mark talks about the Green-White color pairing.
Mark continues telling the stories behind the cards of Innistrad in part 3.
Mark continues telling the stories behind the cards of Innistrad in part 2.
Mark starts a 5-part series about the cards of Innistrad.
Matt Cavotta joins Mark talking about their travels across the world.
Mark continues his 20 years in 20 podcasts with the year 2008.
Mark continues with part 4 in his series on 10 things every game needs.
Mark talks about the technological tools that design uses to do its job.
Mark explores the value of making mistakes.
Mark looks back at a number of things Magic used to do that it stopped doing.
Mark talks about how iteration changes design and the importance of it.
Mark continues his series on the two-color pairs with a discussion on red and green.
Mark gives a follow up to the basics of design introduced in Drive to Work 154.
Mark finishes with part 3 of his 3-part series on the design of Arabian Nights.
Mark continues his 3-part series on the design of Arabian Nights.
Mark begins a 3-part series on the design of Arabian Nights.
Mark continues his 20 years in 20 podcasts with the year 2007.
Mark explores a little more in depth the changes he would make if he could start over.
Mark Rosewater talks about interactions as he continues his 10-part podcasts series about 10 things every game needs.
Mark shares his third podcast in his series on two color-pairs, talking about the interactions between black and red.
Mark talks about the importance of feedback.
Mark explores the design of the special holiday cards.
Mark talks about the process of playtesting in design and walks through the various stages.
Mark continues his 20 years in 20 podcasts with the year 2006.
Mark concludes with the last of his 4-part series on the design of Scourge.
Mark continues with part 3 of his 4-part series on the design of Scourge.
Mark continues with part 2 on the design of Scourge.
Mark starts his series on the design of Scourge.
Matt Cavotta joins Mark to talk about what the creative team must do to create a new world every year.
Mark talks about the process of how a card is made, from the blank page to holding it in your hand.
Mark Rosewater talks about rules as he continues his 10-part podcasts series about 10 things every game needs.
Mark talks about what Matt does at Wizards.
Mark does another mailbag column with his special carpool guest, Matt Cavotta.
Mark talks about the design of Portal.
Mark talks about Blue and Black.
Mark concludes his 4-part series on the design of Legions.
Mark continues his 4-part series on the design of Legions with part 3.
Mark continues his 4-part series on the design of Legions with part 2.
Mark Rosewater begins a series on the design of Legions.
Mark continues his 20 years in 20 podcasts with the year 2005.
Mark Rosewater talks about the history of banding and explains its fate.
Mark talks about Tribal cards.
Mark Rosewater talks about goals in games in this first of 10 podcasts about 10 things every game needs.
Mark shares stories from the early Pro Tours in Europe.
Mark Rosewater talks about the exploratory design team and how it came to be.
Mark talks about making design that the audience would expect.
Mark Rosewater explains the design philosophies of the white/blue color combination.
Mark Rosewater shares part 6 of his lessons about Magic design.
Mark Rosewater shares part 5 of his lessons about Magic design.
Mark continues his 20 years in 20 podcasts with the year 2003.
Mark concludes his 6 part series on the design of Onslaught.
Mark continues with part 5 of his 6 part series on the design of Onslaught.
Mark continues with part 4 of his 6 part series on the design of Onslaught.
Mark talks about the difference between design and development.
Mark continues with part 3 of his 6 part series on the design of Onslaught.
Mark continues with part 2 of his 6 part series on the design of Onslaught.
Mark starts a multi-part series on the design of Onslaught.
Mark talks about the challenges of designing a block centered around enchantments.
Mark talks about how much design space a mechanic or theme has.
Mark continues his 20 years in 20 podcasts with the year 2003.
Mark talks about what design changes went into the Scars of Mirrodin through Khans of Tarkir blocks.
Mark talks about what design changes went into the Ravnica through Zendikar blocks.
Mark talks about his history with SDCC and the Magic panel.
Mark talks one of the first supplemental Magic products, Vanguard.
Mark talks about keeping secrets secret.
Mark talks about the most common mistakes designers make.
Mark gives his second podcast about the people who have made Magic.
Mark completes his series on the design of Unhinged.
Mark continues with part 4 of his five-part series on the design of Unhinged.
Mark continues his 20 years in 20 podcasts with the year 2002.
Mark continues with part 3 of his five-part series on the design of Unhinged.
Mark continues with part 2 of his five-part series on the design of Unhinged.
Mark starts a five-part series on the design of Unhinged.
Mark talks about how restraint is important to design.
Mark describes how to get a job in R&D
Mark explains redflagging and the common red flags.
Mark finishes his podcast series on the Duelist Invitational.
Mark answers the question: Where do you get your inspiration?
Mark continues his "20 Years in 20 Podcast" series, exploring the year 2001.
Mark concludes his five-part series on the design of Rise of the Eldrazi.
Mark continues with part 4 of his five-part series on the design of Rise of the Eldrazi.
Mark talks all about what goes into playtesting during design (and a little bit during development).
Mark continues with part 3 of his five-part series on the design of Rise of the Eldrazi.
Mark continues with part 2 of his five-part series on the design of Rise of the Eldrazi.
Mark starts a five-part series on the design of Rise of the Eldrazi
Mark shares a ride Matt Cavotta and they talk all about the role of art in Magic.
Mark today talks about the challenges of designing common cards.
Mark talks about how we tell stories through design.
Mark talks about the history of the story of Magic.
Mark continues his "20 Years in 20 Podcast" series, exploring the year 2000.
Mark completes his series about the design of Worldwake.
Mark continues his series about the design of Worldwake.
Mark starts with the first (of a three-part series) about the design of Worldwake.
Mark concludes his podcast on Lenticular Design.
Mark starts a two-part podcast about a new design concept.
Mark talks the impact creature types have on design and vice versa.
Mark talks about different people who were instrumental in the making of Magic.
Mark talks about the role repetition takes in Magic design.
Mark finishes his discussion of Zendikar in Part 4.
Mark continues his discussion of Zendikar in Part 3.
Mark discusses many of the stories of the designs of cards and cycles in Zendikar.
Mark shares stories about his time producing the Pro Tour video coverage.
Mark discusses many of the stories of the designs of cards and cycles in Zendikar.
Mark shares stories about his time producing the Pro Tour video coverage.
Mark finishes his examination of 20 controversies of magic history.
Mark examines 20 controversies of magic history.
Mark talks what a typical day is like for a R&D member.
Mark shares a look at 1998 with his 20 Years in 20 Podcasts series.
Mark shares the third part in his series Mark on Judgment, the third set in the Odyssey Block.
Mark continues his talk about Judgment, the third set in the Odyssey Block.
Mark talks about Judgment, the third set in the Odyssey Block.
Mark talks about The Duelist/Magic Invitationals 7, 8, and 9.
Mark talks about an important design tool called the design skeleton.
Mark takes a look back at R&D and talks about the many games we played.
Mark talks about 1997 in another of his 20 Years in 20 Podcast series.
Mark has a podcast with his mom.
Mark talks about the card with his namesake.
Mark talks about how the ever-changing nature of Magic impacts its design.
Mark continues with the third part of the Torment discussion.
Mark continues his series on the design of Torment.
Mark starts with first in his series on the design of Torment.
Mark focuses on the fourth year of Magic-1996.
Mark talks all about his Tumblr blog.
Mark talks about how the New World Order came to be and what it means to design.
Mark talks about the importance of an emotional connection between the game and the players.
Mark continues his series on the history of the Invitational, taking about the ones in Sydney and Capetown.
Mark looks at how we design when we start from the flavor.
Mark does his first mailbag column with his special carpool guest, Matt Cavotta
Mark chats with Matt Cavotta about the role of card names.
Mark starts a discussion on the five stages Magic design has gone through.
Mark concludes his discussion on Theros.
Mark continues discussing Theros in part 7.
Mark talks about the third year in Magic History and the year he started working for Wizards.
Mark continues discussing Theros in part 6.
Mark turns in the fifth part of his Theros series.
Mark returns to his Theros series with Part 4.
Mark turns in one of the longest episodes yet, taking a step away from his Theros epic series.
This is the third part of the epic eight-part series about designing Theros
This is the second part of an epic eight-part series on the design of Theros
This is the first part of an epic eight-part series on the design of Theros
Mark finishes his series on color philosophy. He saves the most misunderstood color for last.
Mark talks about the crazy tale of the making of the video for the very first Pro Tour.
Mark talks about what he believes creativity is and how one can become more creative.
Mark talks about the second year of life of Magic.
Mark finishes his podcast on card types with Enchantments.
In this podcast, I talk about the Duelist Magic Invitationals in Barcelona and Kuala Lumpur.
Mark talks about the Invitationals in Hong Kong and Rio de Janeiro.
Mark concludes his podcast about Odyssey.
The third part of Mark talking about Odyssey.
Mark continues discussing the first set design he led, Odyssey.
Mark explores the design of the fourth set he led, Odyssey.
Mark talks about a design tool that he had dedicated an entire article to.
Mark talks about what the creative team does.
Mark spotlights the development side of Magic.
Mark discusses Red's role in Magic color theory.
Mark discusses the Walking the Planes video series.
Mark talks about the year 1993.
Mark completes his podcast about Communication Theory.
Mark talks about Communication Theory.
Mark talks about Communication Theory.
Mark concludes his podcast about Champions of Kamigawa.
Mark continues his podcast about Champions of Kamigawa.
Mark talks about Champions of Kamigawa.
Mark talks about his podcast.
Mark talks about lands in Magic.
Mark discusses flavor text.
Mark talks about Magic's history with The Queen Mary, docked in Long Beach, California.
Mark dives into the darkest of Magic's colors: Black.
Mark wraps up his discussions around Scars of Mirrodin with part four about the set.
Mark continues talking about Scars of Mirrodin with part three.
Mark dives into Scars of Mirrodin with his second discussion about the set.
Mark dives into Scars of Mirrodin with the first in a series about the set and the block.
Mark Rosewater shares part four of his lessons learned in Magic design.
Mark Rosewater talks about Instants and Sorceries in Magic.
Mark Rosewater introduces his father Gene Rosewater.
Mark Rosewater talks about Making Magic, his column on DailyMTG.com.
Mark Rosewater finishes his series talking about Mirage.
Mark Rosewater continues his three part series about Mirage.
Mark Rosewater starts off his three part series about Mirage.
Mark Rosewater looks back and discusses the journey for Wizards of the Coast.
Mark Rosewater dives into randomness in Magic and in game design.
Mark Rosewater talks about Unglued 2.
Mark Rosewater discusses Unhinged in part 3 of his Lessons Learned series.
Mark Rosewater talks about his comic, Tales From The Pit.
Mark Rosewater dives into blue in Magic's color pie.
Mark Rosewater wraps up his series about Future Sight with Part 3.
Mark Rosewater continues his discussion about Future Sight with Part 2 of the series.
Mark Rosewater dives into the Time Spiral set Future Sight with Part 1 of a series.
Mark Rosewater finishes his two part series about the lessons he's learned from designing Magic sets.
Mark Rosewater starts a two part series about the lessons he's learned from the sets he's lead in design.
Mark Rosewater hits the road and talks about creatures in this episode.
Mark Rosewater talks about the set Planar Chaos.
Mark Rosewater expects traffic on the road, and so he picks a topic that he can talk extra about: Bad Cards.
Mark Rosewater talks about white and its place in the color pie.
Mark Rosewater talks about Homelands, a set he didn't design, didn't develop and wasn't even at Wizards during it.
Mark Rosewater talks about the concept of the Mana System.
Mark Rosewater talks about the concept of the Color Pie.
Mark Rosewater talks about the concept of the Trading Card Genre.
Mark Rosewater finishes his Innistrad series.
Mark Rosewater talks about Innistrad some more.
Mark Rosewater talks about Innistrad.
Mark Rosewater talks about artifacts.
Mark Rosewater talks about the Duelist Magazine.
Mark Rosewater talks about Urza's Saga.
Mark Rosewater talks about codenames.
Mark Rosewater talks about the creation of the Pro Tour.
Mark Rosewater talks about Unglued.
Mark Rosewater talks about the Great Designer Search
Mark Rosewater talks about a popular article he did called "10 Things Every Game Needs."
Mark Rosewater talks about the Time Spiral set. It's his most-requested topic!
Mark Rosewater talks about the psychographics of Magic players: Timmy, Johnny, and Spike.
Mark Rosewater talks about Cycling.
Mark Rosewater talks about the Alliances set.
Mark Rosewater talks about gold cards.
Mark Rosewater talks about the Ravnica set.
Mark Rosewater talks about the Invasion set.
Maro carpools with Matt Cavotta as the two talk about how the planeswalker card type came to be.
Maro explains how his idea for a "land set" turned into one of the best selling sets of all time.
In his very first podcast, Maro talks about leading his very first design, Tempest.