Break Out

Reclusive Breakthrough

Mark, my first experience with magic was when I was very young, when Portal came out. After that, though, I didn't have many experiences with magic until Return to Ravnica, when it helped me break out of my reclusive shell on campus and meet some of my best friends. Thank you for helping make magic the amazing product it is today, and happy birthday.

: )

Appreciation Birthday Break Out Portal Return to Ravnica

Color Pie Chaos Preview

I forget, is "Planar Chaos 2: Screw the Color Pie" the next block or the one after?

It’s Ham. We had to break out the color pie dartboard.

Break Out Color Pie Colors Planar Chaos

Storyline Consequences Critique

"So the big two story complaints are “Not enough consequence” and “Too much consequence”?" That's not the point. The problem is that you basically did away with AVR's pseudo-happy ending just so SOI could be dark and gritty again. The actual criticism isn't too much/not enough consequence, but rather "there's a lot of consequence, but it doesn't matter because it can be undone at a moment's notice when it's convenient, so in reality there's little consequence."

Have you never seen a sequel? The happy ending of the first film has to be undone so there’s new conflict and threat. Phew, Ripley escaped the alien. Oh, no she didn’t. Sarah Connor is saved from the Terminator. Now she can raise her son for the upcoming apocalypse. Oh wait, no she can’t.The Avengers stop the invasion and save New York City. They’re heroes and everything is great. But wait, it’s not.The very act of returning to a world means conflict will break out and a new problem will arise usually an offshoot of the previous storyline to create continuity.

Alien Apocalypse Break Out Pop Culture Story / Lore

Card Name Simplicity

Why should card names be simple? I'd think that would be a great opportunity to break out the thesaurus and teach people new words. (I could see wanting easy to pronounce names, and names that are easy distinguishable, those make sense).

I’m not saying all cards names should be simple. I’m saying simple words are a dwindling resource.

Break Out Card Names

Red Enchantment Dilemma

Hey mark made a tumblr just to ask this question regarding red destroying enchantments. Anarchy can destroy white enchantments and it in my opinion, is one of the most red cards ever made. Do you believe this breaks color pie as it destroys enchantments? Or can red get a similar card in the future? It just seems very flavorful that red can break out of a restricting enchantment such as a ghostly prison.

If I had to list the top ten color pie breaking cards of all time, Anarchy is a shoo-in.

Blogatog / Tumblr Break Out Color Pie Colors Destroy Enchantments Flavor Ghostly Prison Red White

Time Spiral Reflections

What were the mistakes Time Spiral made? Wasn't the point of it to break out of the color pie restrictions and do things you couldn't otherwise do or explain flavor wise? Could you extrapolate on what it's successes and failures were? Thanks Mark.

Failures:
Way, way, way too complicated. Most three set blocks had somewhere between eight and twelve mechanics. Time Spiral block had well over thirty. Constantly broke color pie. Sometimes because we did it in the past. Sometimes because it was an alternate reality. Sometimes because we were exploring potential future mechanics. It, to this day, causes confusion. Too insular. Less established players didn’t get much of what was being referenced and felt left out. Successes: The bonus sheet was a cool idea and used interestingly. The nostalgia factor was compelling and while mistakes were made, it created a strong positive emotion in many players. We managed to do some good fixes on some old mechanics. Morph was executed better. Vanishing did what most players though Fading did. We managed to rein in what Kicker meant.

Bonus Sheets Break Out Color Pie Colors Fading Flavor Kicker Mechanics Mistakes Were Made Morph Time Spiral Vanishing

Celebrity Look-alikes

As long as we're asking if people say you look like people, I always thought that Glenn Beck looked a lot like you, and wanted to see you break out a chalkboard and go on a Glenn Beck style rant about how bees were a conspiracy to undermine the color pie. Am I the only one?

I have heard the comparison.

Break Out Color Pie Colors Conspiracy

Red's Flavor Flaw

Doesn't it seem like a major flavor flaw that the color of freedom can't break out of Arrest?

Why do you think red hates it so?

Break Out Colors Flavor Red

Transformative Magic Impact

I'm another player who suffered social anxiety. Note the past tense. MtG is actually the thing that helped me break out of it. A few years ago, my gaming was hidden like a deep dark secret. The idea of playing it outside the house I was sharing with other gamers at Uni was unimaginable. Then one convinced me to come to a draft with him. Now I draft in a pub, have a solid soical life, great friends, and don't care what people care about me. I like me, my friends like me and I'm happy with that.

I never grow tired of hearing stories like this. I’m so happy Magic has had a positive impact on so many people’s lives.

Break Out Gamer Limited

R&D Nerf Shootouts Frequency

How often did/does an impromptu Nerf shootout break out at R&D?

Not enough. : ) (Once every other year.) It used to happen about once a month (and often more frequent than that) back in the day. We even had Nerf War days.

Break Out Game Design Nerf War

Sorcery Complexity

As much as magic has advanced in recent years, isn't it a tad naive to say sorceries have one component? While it may be technically correct, there are many sorceries that give choices, that produce permanents, and generally break out of their "one component" history. This isn't to say that sorceries are anywhere near as complex as planeswalkers (which was your original point) but I do think that "sorceries have one component" is one that would upset the Sorceries Local 120.

95% of sorceries do a single effect. Yes, there are exceptions like charms and commands, but they are the exception and not the rule.

Break Out Permanents Planeswalkers Rules Sorceries

Planeswalkers' Design Space

Thanks for doing this blog, it's really awesome that you take the time to answer all of our questions! You said earlier that planeswalkers had the narrowest of design space. I was wondering if you guys ever intended to give planeswalkers other abilities that weren't strictly loyalty abilities like a Sorin that Vindicates upon ETB or a Nissa that gives all elves +2/+2 or gains a loyalty counter whenever an elf comes into play?

There is obviously more design space once we break out of the current planeswalker structure but I’m delaying that for as long as I can because I want to mine out what we have before advancing. One of the important things I’ve learned is that the audience is okay with you going slow, but once you show them you can do things, there’s no turning back.

Blogatog / Tumblr Break Out Design Space Elf Enter The Battlefield Planeswalkers

Complex Decks

What is the most mathmatically intensive deck you have built or seen? Doubling Season, Paradox Haze,Thallids, and Mycoloth have caused me to break out the calculator a couple of times to figure out how many Saprolings I get.

Luckily, I wrote an article about it: http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtgcom/daily/mr310

Break Out Doubling Season Mycoloth Paradox Paradox Haze Saprolings