I don't know if this is fit for a regular article, a podcast or a Nuts and Bolts, but I'm very curious to know about how you determine numbers/as-fan for Limited archetypes, especially A+B stuff. Like, why did WOE's WU have many tap triggers while OTJ's GU only had one explicit plot-matters card? Why did the tap triggers were all at uncommon but other themes usually have at least one common trigger? I understand it's a feel and testing thing mostly, but any effort to put it into words would be appreciated. :)

The short version is every theme is different and we endlessly playtest to get a sense of the appropriate as-fan. Maybe I can turn that into a whole column or podcast. Not sure.

Hi Mark, I was listening to your podcast episode on the alphabet in magic, and you say something along the lines of "I can't quite remember why we used Q for the untap symbol". If you still don't know, could it be that Q in English is almost guaranteed to be followed by a U, which is what you most likely would have used if it was not already used by Uncommon and Blue?

I think it most looked like the circle of the tap symbol.

Since sets now have more uncommons than commons, are there some cards printed at uncommon that might have previously been common?

Yes. Threaten (temporary creature stealing in red) effects are now uncommon, as an example.

Hi Mark! What led to all the uncommon signposts being named "mentors" unlike uncommon signposts in other sets?

The world building.

What was the goal behind the hybrid commons in bloomburrow? This set doesn't seem to have either the strong multicolor focus or the strong monocolor focus that tends to necessitate that kind of thing in limited

It gets the as-fan of creature types up.

Does Bloomburrow prove that a typal-themed set doesn’t need changeling to work? Or will Changeling stick around for typal sets with heavier creature type emphasis?

The as-fan of typal themes is a lot lower than sets like Lorwyn or Ixalan. “Here’s a snippet from my article today that touches upon this:To give you a sense of what I mean by a sprinkling, here are the typal rewards for Frogs:

• A common that costs less if you have a Frog
• An uncommon sorcery with a rider if you have a Frog
• An uncommon land with an effect that helps Frogs
• An uncommon land and a rare creature that cares if a Frog entered the battlefield this turn
• An uncommon creature and a rare creature that grant Frogs an ability
• A rare creature that cares about casting Frogs

The number of typal cards can vary slightly, but that will give you a rough idea of the as-fan I’m talking about.”Here’s a link to the whole article:

The Bloom of the Burrow, Part 1

May I request that more effort be done to standardize the order of cards in a pack? I understand that different printers may have different requirements but it really hurts the enjoyment of opening packs when I can't tell which end has the commons and which has the rare.

It’s a much harder request than you might imagine due to the number of printers we use.

Hey mark, I wanted to say that I thought it was an odd decision to have your teaser include stuff that has already been spoiled (the cycle of uncommon lands that each reference four creature types)

There are a lot of moving parts to a preview season. I try my best to not hint at things already known, but sometimes it doesn’t work out.

if or when, nontoken army creature?btw I love all these new modern horizons commons! The designs are very cool and they make my melvin brain happy. Please give everyone involved in the design of Warped Tusker 3.75/3.5 high fives

If. We’re planning to keep it tied to Amass right now. High fives shall be applied.

Does the fact that play boosters have the opportunity for more rares impact what cards you print at rare and mythic for limited purposes? One of the MKM packs I opened for a draft recently had 4 different blue rares in it.

We’re designing sets such that common and uncommon have more answers to the rares and mythic rares.