Hello Mark! Could I get a “maybe” for a colorless companion in the future? Thanks very much for all you do!!!

Maybe. : )

Please pass my thanks to whomever decided otters should be a thing in Magic.I've carried an otter plushie around with me to events through my entire Magic playing career, so almost 15 years. Ive had an otter along for the ride from pretty much every FNM to PTQs to traveling everywhere I could drive within 8 hours to play Legacy for several years or even trips to the other side of the US for large events a couple of times.I was screeching and immediately tried building an otter deck when Lutri and Theving Otter came out with Ikoria. I was literally babbling with joy at the otters in Wilds of Eldraine for MONTHS. To say I'm beside myself with excitement for Bloomburrow would almost be an understatement.My favorite thing to build or play in Magic are tribal-based decks. I built an angel one as my second ever deck (Shards of Alara/Zendikar standard) so I could teach my mom to play before she passed. I was known for a knight/Sword of _____ and _____ deck for years. I've even played Merfolk and Tribal Lightning Bolt (burn) decks a time or two. But I can now have my beloved otters as a theme for my deck.Literally the only way that it could be more perfect for me would have been if there was an Otter Knight named Rora for my little tournament companion.So thank you for making my love for Magic even stronger by adding otters.

I like making otter people happy. : )

Since Zirda's companion condition checks for Activated Abilities, could we in theory have a companion whose condition was checking for Triggered abilities?

The game can check if a card has a triggered ability.

"Designing cards is different than determining functionality of the format." [In regards to the commander format]But partner and planeswalkers that can be your commander HAVE messed with functionality of the format. The format was designed initially to use a single legendary creature, and now you've made 5 different options that intentionally changed that parameter (planeswalker commanders, partner, partner with, backgrounds, companion). I am not claiming whether those mechanics are bad or good, but you saying Wizards of the Coast has just made cards for EDH but hasn't messed with the functionality of the format feels disingenuous, because that isn't really the case. The line that's being drawn doesn't feel straight, it appears to be quite squiggly and faded at points; that, or it's a result of compromising what can and can't be changed.

Card designs impact formats. Absolutely. That wasn’t what I was saying. I was saying that we don’t make decision about how the format of Commander is structured. For example, I can make all the hybrid cards in the world, but if the team who decides what’s legal in deck construction doesn’t allow a monowhite deck to play a white hybrid card, there isn’t anything I can do about that. Card design impacts formats, but doesn’t determine the essence of how they work.

Is there any thought to designing less for commander? I know it is popular and I'm not denying that or decrying it. It seems like it needs less support than other formats It was created by players and became popular and a success without support from WotC. It has "rule 0" to limit unfun cards. 60 card formats seem more fragile. Stickers hurting legacy, companion needed errata, numerous bans. You often say "If you dont like X, ban it in your playgroup" but that doesn't work at FNM or other events

The percentages of cards designed for Commander is a much lower percentage than games of formatted play that are Commander.

I would like to pose a minor critique about the Classic Doctors Commander deck; the Deck, despite having blue colored Cards with Doctor's Companion, none of the Doctors were White Green. All of the Doctors in the deck were either White Blue and Green Blue, I feel as if at least one doctor could have stood to have been White Green so there would have been more legal combinations of Doctor and Companion in the deck.

The Doctors’ colors need to meet their characters, and the Doctor is core blue.

For a mechanic you feel is outdated, would you ever consider updating the rules for it? I.e. just adding ward 2 to morphs and manifests? R&D has changed rules for power level reasons in the past (cascade, companion) though always to make it weaker.
If old draft formats would be a problem there could always be a limited only rule to play it as first designed (similar to commander legends granting partner to mono colored legends in draft)

It depends what the change is. We have updated how some mechanics work, like convoke, as an example.

where is companion these days on the storm scale? Could a "fixed" companion mechanic be possible?

I think the concept is sound. It’s tricky to balance and has limited practical design space.

Judge? As far as Baron von Count is concerned, if a spell I cast has a value perpetually modified (such as by Hex, Kellan's Companion), do I check the printed value or the new value for the desired number?

We’re getting into theoretical space as the two don’t exist in the same play space. If a card is permanently changed such that the actual card text is something new, Baron von Count would hypothetically look at what’s on the card and that would be the newer thing.

You say that you are pushing back on partner mechanics but there is a partner variant on many recent sets. Ixalan has a partner with using the jurassic park cards. Doctor who had companion. Lord of the rings had partner with. Friends forever was a partner subset. Is partner with and partner variants going to be used more but original partner will be used rarely or are all partner variants dangerous and should be pulled back?

We are comfortable with doing partner with where there are strict limits to what creatures can work together as a commander. The thing we are more cautious with is open-ended partner where the combinatorics get large quickly.