Do you ever encounter issues where a mechanic that you want to be core to a set is too niche in its slice of the color pie? Like, food was a big theme in both Eldraine sets, but it is a mechanic that can only appear WGB, so you were limited somewhat in just how much you could use it compared to something disguise, which is a completely color-pie agnostic mechanic. When designing full custom sets I often have ideas for mechanics that seem to be total slam dunks, but are actually kind of limited in how much I can use them.

It happens from time to time. It’s why vision design checks in with the Council of Colors.

FYI on May 16th I asked that given how disguise reworks morph and the dev issues with heroic, what would you consider changing to rework heroic. You replied “there is an upcoming set that answers that very question”. I presumed you were referring to a Marvel set, but qanadhar left a comment certain it was Bloomburrow. Just some of the fun foreshadowing of Blogatog. :)(I presume there’s an article or podcast that explains the rework soon?)

Next week’s article talks about the mechanics. Short version: heroic looked into allowing abilities, but there existed things you could repeatedly activate for 0, so we left it off. Valiant added abilities back in to help it trigger more, and used the once a turn restriction to deal with the problem interactions.

Hi, Mark! Do you think letting Disguise use Ward {1} for its face-down creatures may have also led to greater game play and still letting players unmask their creatures? From what I've heard Gavin say about Ward, Ward {2} is good, but can be tough to interact with, especially when faced against multiple creatures. Plus, paying {3} for a 2/2 with Ward {1} is very aesthetically pleasing to me.

I think we need to be careful where we use Ward 2 in general, but I don’t think disguise is where it’s caused problems.

Why are Embalmed/Eternalized seperate mechanics? I understand for lore reasons the Eternalized are Embalmed infused with Lazotep, but it is a bit confusing to play with, not to mention the weird scarcity of each card's corresponding token.When/If a return to Amonkhet, will both mechanics still be used? Or would there be a redesign of the mechanics, ala Morph/Megamorph > Disguise?

They weren’t quite the same, so they needed different names. I’m not sure if either returns, as the world the represented is fundamentally changed.

"Players will do many unfun things in their quest to win. Our job as Magic designers is to try and make the best ways to win fun." One development that surprised me recently is bringing a sticker deck to a tournament while not playing any sticker cards. This is done to disguise the player as someone who's playing "name sticker" goblin. This seems to be a very unfun way to go about getting an edge in a match, but I'm having hard time finding a reason why a player wouldn't do this. Do you think name sticker specifically missed the mark or is it symptomatic of something else?

We once had an issue where a pro-player wore a shirt to a draft Pro Tour with the words “I prefer drafting white”. Was that against the rules? Not technically at the time. Min-maxes are going to min max. We’re not going to stop making things players will enjoy because min-maxers exist. No matter what we make, they’ll find ways to bend the system to eke minimal advantage. Note this is in contrast to a mechanic like gotcha where the core way to play it makes the game less fun.

Is it true that Bloomburrow is just Lorwyn wearing a disguise?

Yes. A top hat.

How were Disguise and Collect Evidence received and where are they on the Storm Scale?

I haven’t seen the data yet, but well is my guess.

"With disguise taking over for morph, I think the return of any version of morph is low. And megamorph (at least with that name) was already pretty low." It will never happen, but I think that the name Megadisguise is hilarious.

We’re going to probably need another Un-set for that.

Can we get a batch storm scale rating for morph, manifest, disguise, and cloak?

Facedown mechanics are a 4. We, and the players, like them.

Why every set needs to introduce so many new keywords? I believe there are already enough. Stuff like Disguise, Cloak, Collect Evidence, Suspect, are born (and I believe dead) within Murders at Karlov Manor. LCI had Craft, Descend, Discover, Explore. OTJ has Crimes and probably more. I understand that it's fun to draft with new mechanics, but I hate when I am playing any format and have to search online what a specific new mechanic does.

We make new mechanics because players tell us it’s the number one factor of why they buy new sets. Disguise and cloak are just us updating Morph and Manifest, which I do expect us to use again. Collect evidence played well, so I assume it will return. Suspect is the mechanic I’m least sure we’ll use again, but I’ve said that about plenty of mechanics that went on to come back.If an excess of mechanics is frustrating for you, you might want to try a rotating format, like Standard, which greatly limits how many mechanics are available at a time. Non-rotating formats are just going to continually go up in mechanics. It’s their nature.