Hello fellow May birthday haver! For my birthday trivia I'd like something about Hymn to Tourach or random discard in general, since it's my favorite effect in Magic. On a related note, I'm super excited to play with Crabomination!

The effect of Hymn to Tourach on the game soured us on random discard as it too often led to game losses to mana screw. It led to us making a rule that we only use random discard at a high enough mana value, that it most likely isn’t hitting land.Happy Birthday!

For the potential design idea of a card that could understandably have both Crew and Saddle, it wouldn't really work. In order to Saddle it, it has to be a creature and if it's a creature then it doesn't need Crew. And then going through the trouble to first Crew it and then to Saddle it also doesn't seem like it'd have a lot of design space for *why* you'd want to do it other than to simply say "We did it." And as the first Tibalt proved, doing something just to say you did is often bad design.

I agree I’m not sure it’s a hill worth climbing.

What was your plan for Crovax in the original Weatherlight story?

He became part of the crew. We wanted all five Magic colors, and colorless/artifacts, represented, but feel they wouldn’t let a Vampire join them. So, we wanted Crovax to prove himself before being turned into a Vampire, so there was a reason for him to stay.

I was interested to see that Saddle can only be activated at ‘Sorcery Speed’. If you could go back, would you have made Crew function the same way? I would have expected the two to work similarly. I guess with how the mounts are functioning, being able to activate it at instant speed is kind of meaningless, except I suppose to Saddle in response to removal.

We need crew to function that way because we want Vehicles to be able to block. Saddled creatures can naturally do that, and the effects we want for saddle are more offensive in nature.

Another rules question for you. Unlike Crew, Saddle's reminder text doesn't specify that the creatures you tap must be untapped. Does this mean that you can pay a saddle cost with creatures that are already tapped?

No, you cannot. You can’t pay a cost with something you don’t have.

"They have all quite literally committed crimes." So? Heroes often break laws and villains sometimes use the law for their ends. Next you'll tell us that the lawyers say not to commit delicious crimes.

Being a villain doesn’t mean you have to be unlikeable or not a protagonist. Oceans 11 is a villains heist story, but the whole crew is generally likeable and you root for them. That said, the core of the story is they are committing a crime. Yes, against an unsympathetic character, but none the less they are breaking the law.

Invoking the hallowed and ancient rite of birthday trivia, I was wondering if there was anything new you could share about your original vision for the end of the Weatherlight Saga? Failing that, is there a villain in Magic's past that you personally would like to see return?

Our original pitch was for a three-year story (with the idea that we’d tell more stories; this was the first story arc). Year one was Rath. It mostly matched with what happen save Crovax going evil and killing Mirri.Year two was Mercadia. A completely different story, and a very different world from what was made.Year three was Dominaria, but in the future. The crew returned to warn Dominaria about the upcoming Phyrexian invasion only to learn the portal they traveled through sent through time and the Phyrexians have already taken over Dominaria. The crew is able to defeat both the Phyrexians (using the hourglass pendant to rewind time) and Volrath who is aboard the ship disguised as Tahngarth.Happy Birthday!

Can I request birthday trivia for the oversized cards that went with the Weatherlight crew that modified your life total/hand size, and gave you a special ability?I think they were called Vangaurd cards?

They were called Vanguard cards. They were done in conjunction with an in-store program. The were four groups of them, each with eight cards. All of them were tied to The Weatherlight Saga, although the first two were more crew connected and the last two were more Urza connected. I was actually lead on the larger Vanguard project.Happy Birthday!

Can vehicles crew themselves once they've been turned into a creature? I have a Magda commander deck this comes up in, but I looked it up and it seems like the rules changed so you can't, but the vehicles in LCI have the rule text such that you can.

I believe animated Vehicles can crew other Vehicles, but not themselves. Not 100% sure on this.

I just want to say I really appreciate how many cards in the the commander precons offer double typal support, even for types not in the precon. Skeleton Crew working with pirates and skeletons, Deeproot Historian working with Merfolk and and druids; that sort of thing. High fives to the design team responsible.

High fives to be passed along.