this post was submitted on 31 Jul 2023
37 points (100.0% liked)

MTG

1959 readers
22 users here now

Magic: the Gathering discussion

General discussion, questions, and media related to Magic: the Gathering that doesn't fit within a more specific community. Our equivalent of /r/magicTCG!

Type [[Card name]] in your posts and comments and CardBot will reply with a link to the card! More info here.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
[email protected]
[email protected]
37
State of Design 2023 from Mark Rosewater (magic.wizards.com)
submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
18 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

This is Mark's 20th (!) anniversary as head designer! He lists out a bunch of highlights and lessons from each of the sets in the previous year, a few that stood out:

  • There needs to be more synergy between sets. This has been true since blocks went away and one I really hope they improve upon (or just bring blocks back!).

  • Many players liked having a set (Brother's War) that looked back at one of Magic's greatest stories. "Players liked seeing old characters they recognized in card form.... They also liked how the design made the artifacts feel like a throwback while still applying modern design technology."

  • The Transformer cards (in Brothers War) felt out of place. Happy he identified this one. "[T]he core of the set for many players was nostalgia. These players felt seeing cards of a different IP flew in the face of that."

  • All of the lessons from Aftermath! Set was too small, most (all?) players didn't like paying the same amount for fewer cards, the set was sold as story-focused but not much happened story-wise, and many players were unhappy about Planeswalkers losing their sparks.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Feels like a lot of complaints this year was for story or product reasons. I think gameplay wise the sets were all pretty great. DMU and ONE took some old, maligned mechanics and revamped them into much more popular cards, BRO was a masterclass in nailing the old-school feel while innovating with both new and old mechanics, and WAR was just full of creative designs and the Battle card type seems like it went down pretty well. Unfinity feels like the only major stumble this year, with both the new mechanics being a pain to keep track of, made worse by the fact that they're eternal legal.