Ethan Fleischer

Goreclaw Backstory Reveal

New 13 Jul 2024 Asked by clownstripedcat 10 Comments

Hiya Mark! Today is my birthday, and I would like to invoke birthday trivia please if that is okay! Is there anything you can share about my favorite woman in all of magic, Goreclaw?


Ethan Fleischer, winner of the second Great Designer Search, has a Commander deck based around Bears. I believe he made Goreclaw for that deck. Happy Birthday!

Evolve Mechanic's Independent Origin

New 23 Jun 2024 Asked by lazcarno 3 Comments

"The first set was prehistoric. Then we jump thousand of years to the second set that was medieval. Then we jumped thousands more years to the third set which was futuristic. The block was all the same world, but seen through three distinct time periods." That was based on the same idea Ethan Fleischer had for which he first designed the Evolve mechanic (the Simic mechanic from Gatecrash), correct?


No, we actually came up with it independently. We were quite humored when Ethan later pitched the same idea.

Bear Facts

New 11 Feb 2024 Asked by mountainlord 35 Comments

At the beginning of upkeep, I'd like to move birthday trivia phase please!
Can you please tell me anything about Duskana, Ayula, or Goreclaw? Love me some Bear facts.


Ethan Fleischer has a bear deck and is a huge fan of bears. Many bear cards have his hand in them. Happy Birthday!

Universes Beyond Role

New 20 Oct 2023 Asked by chairsarefornerds 24 Comments

what's your typical role in the universes beyond sets?


Ethan Fleischer oversees the Universes Beyond designs, and he and I have regular check-ins. I’m occasionally on Universes Beyond design teams (for example, I was on Lord of the Rings vision design).

Modern Horizons Complexity

New 30 Sep 2023 Asked by piccadilly-blue 35 Comments

Adding on, it's true that Horizons doesn't do new mechanics, but it does use existing mechanics in interesting ways, which is a huge draw.


I was one of the two people (along with Ethan Fleischer) who first came up with the idea of Modern Horizons. It’s a great product. Mixing and matching old Magic mechanics and riffing on them in new ways is super fun. Be aware though that it’s aimed at a very enfranchised audience. It’s not the solution to a complexity issue. Modern Horizons is the most complex product we make (at least in randomized boosters).

Recent Design Handovers

New 06 Aug 2023 Asked by watdattho 30 Comments

What set was the recent handover from vision design to set design that you (or the lead of that set) did?


Volleyball was the last set to go from vision design to set design. Its lead vision design was Ethan Fleischer.Wrestling goes from vision to set design this week. It’s lead vision designer is Mark Gottlieb.

Great Designer Search

New 08 Jul 2023 Asked by j-waffles 29 Comments

You’ve mentioned how GDS requires a lot of setup and infrastructure to do. I don’t really know very much about the last two, would you mind explaining what kinds of things went into it, and also what it was?


You could enter if you were 18 or older and capable of working in the U.S. To make it to each next step, you had to qualify.Step 1 - Answer 10 essay questions (3000 words total).Step 2 - Take a multiple choice test on Magic knowledge.Step 3 - Do a design test.Top 8 compete in a competition that resembles a reality show that tests a skill (think Project Runway or Top Chef). Each week there is a design challenge. Judges review all the entries and give public notes. The person doing the worst overall is eliminated. The top three get flown to Wizards for a day of interviews and other tests.The winner gets a 6 month internship in R&D. The top three of each of the three Great Designer Searches, as well as a few others, were eventually hired full time by Wizards (although not all in R&D).Top 3 Finalists:GDS1 Alexis Jansen - winnerKen Nagle - runner-upGraeme Hopkins - thirdGDS2 Ethan Fleischer - winner Shawn Main - runner-upScott Van Essen - thirdGDS3Ari Nieh - winner Jeremy Geist - runner-up Chris Mooney - third

Color Pie Philosophy

New 08 Sep 2022 Asked by estufe 22 Comments

Good morning, Mark! Which people have the most influence on the modern philosophical color pie, i.e., the colors’ beliefs and values irrespective of any game mechanics?


The Council of Colors has the largest influence on what the modern color pie philosophy is. Here are the current representatives:White - Chris MooneyBlue - Ethan FleischerBlack - Corey BowenRed - Jules RobinsGreen - Megan SmithColorless - Benjamin WeitzI oversee the council with help from Mark Gottlieb.

Dominaria United Boxtoppers

New 28 Aug 2022 Asked by rakdosfiesta 29 Comments

Did Vision Design have any influence on the Dominaria United boxtoppers? They're a very cool concept and I love seeing old bad cards "redeemed".


Ethan Fleischer who lead vision design led the design of the Dominaria United boxtoppers, so the two are connected.

Warhammer 40K Design Lead

New 22 Aug 2022 Asked by joseph-greenwood 22 Comments

Hi Mark! Who led the design for the Warhammer 40K decks?


Ethan Fleischer.

Column Authorship Mix-up

New 21 Aug 2022 Asked by saintgear 16 Comments

Hello Mark. Read the Making Magic column for Dominaria's Vision Design Team. Noticed something a little odd: reading team introduction, seems like the article was written by Ethan Fleischer, not by you. Any particular reason for this Blooper?


Ethan wrote the team bios. I say that in the introduction to it.

Dominaria Lore Trivia

New 03 Aug 2022 Asked by letswassermatt02love 42 Comments

Hi, Mark, August 2nd was my birthday and i would like to use my birthday wish to request trivia on the lore of Dominaria. please and thank you


At Wizards, we have a globe that shows all of Dominaria. It’s quite large. https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/feature/dominarian-cartography-2018-04-20Happy Birthday!

Baseball aka Theros Trivia

New 23 Jul 2022 Asked by mikecarlucci 59 Comments

Hi Mark! It’s my birthday today and I’m going to the Red Sox game. Can I get some trivia about baseball aka Theros Beyond Death?


When we started exploratory Baseball was going to be a second Throne of Eldraine set. The original plan was the first set was going to focus on the civilized part of Eldraine and it the second set would be focused on the woods. In the story, Rowan and Will were going to venture into the woods to find their father, the king. Mid-exploratory design, the decision was reached to keep Eldraine to just one set. When that happened, I pitched pulling forward our return to Theros which was going to be Cricket. I handed off the design to Ethan Fleischer who was going to lead Cricket (and thus return to Theros), so I had time to figure out what Cricket was going to be. We had already planned for Theros’ return to involve the underworld, as we knew Elspeth’s escape was the story we wanted to tell. One of the major mechanics made in vision design to reflect the underworld was stygian (referencing the river of the dead, Styx) where the battlefield was divided in two by the river and players had to decide which side of the river each creature was. Stygian ended up causing major play design and digital issues and got pulled in set design and replaced with escape. Happy Birthday!

Role in Brothers' War and Lacrosse Design

New 10 Mar 2022 Asked by honor-basquiat 17 Comments

"I was on the exploratory design and vision design team for each, and I worked one-on-one with each of the vision design leads (Mark Gottlieb abs Ethan Fleischer, respectively) as the person who oversees vision design." Cool. Did you also have a similar role for The Brothers' War set and Lacrosse?


Yes, for Brothers’ War. Vision design was led by Ari Nieh. I led the vision design for Lacrosse.

Influence on Upcoming Sets

New 10 Mar 2022 Asked by honor-basquiat 27 Comments

While you weren't lead designer for Streets of New Capenna or Dominaria United, which one did you influence more and spend more time working on?


I was on the exploratory design and vision design team for each, and I worked one-on-one with each of the vision design leads (Mark Gottlieb and Ethan Fleischer, respectively) as the person who oversees vision design.

Design Leadership for Sets

New 01 Feb 2022 Asked by honor-basquiat 42 Comments

Interesting. So you're not leading design for Dominaria United OR The Brothers War? Or did you leave those out? If so, I'm kind of bummed you aren't leading Dominaria United. The Dominaria set was brilliant, one of your masterpieces, maybe your greatest of all time.


I oversee vision design and I was on both teams (exploratory design and vision design), but led neither. Ethan Fleischer led Dominaria United and Ari Nieh led Brothers’ War.

Current Council of Colors Members

New 08 Jan 2022 Asked by karakur1-blog 42 Comments

Who is currently on the Council of Colors? I heard in a podcast today that Chris Mooney had become the white councilor, so I was wondering if there had been a shake-up in the roster.


Here’s the current Council of Colors Overseer: MeAssistant Overseer: Mark GottliebWhite: Chris MooneyBlue: Ethan FleischerBlack: Corey BowenRed: Jules RobinsGreen: Megan SmithColorless: Benjamin Weitz

About Warhammer 40k

New 07 Jan 2022 Asked by forrestlupin 30 Comments

Hi Mark! Do you know much about Warhammer 40k? Are you a fan?


I do not, but Ethan Fleischer, who led the design the whole way through, is a huge fan.

Dominaria Trivia Request

New 27 Nov 2021 Asked by kmalsom 62 Comments

For my birthday, can I request trivia on Dominaria. The set or the plane


Dominaria is the only plane to have the whole plane physically mapped out. We have the map in the office. Ethan Fleischer is the most knowledgeable one in R&D about it.Happy Birthday!

Deeper Into Egyptian Myth

New 17 Nov 2021 Asked by cleverancho 61 Comments

In the podcast with Ethan Fleischer, the two of you say that how deep the Amonkhet design could go on Egyptian mythology was limited by how much the average person knows about it. Would the audience’s familiarity with Amonkhet combined with the need to find new material mean that a return visit could dig deeper into the mythology?


When we do a top-down world, we can do a limited amount of “deep cuts” (aka references only the knowledgeable on the topic would get), usually at higher rarities, but top-down designs lose their resonance if the majority of the audience doesn’t know what’s being referenced. That problem is exacerbated with top-down structures because they require the audience to understand the references to see the connections. Audiences lose the holistic cohesion if the pieces don’t fit together. A second visit can go a little bit deeper, building on the knowledge the audience has from the last visit, but not a lot.


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