Do you think in a return to Kaladesh we might see Aetherborn with the fading/vanishing mechanic? To me it feels like a nice place flavour-wise for both the mechanic and the creature type. Also some synergy with proliferating and maybe gaining counters when killing or damaging units

It’s a great flavor fit in a vacuum.

"Why the move away from core? Other factors (the popularity of Jumpstart and Arena’s tutorial, for example) made us believe that we didn’t need it anymore as a new player on ramp." - Core sets have traditionally been the set that provides a reprint outlet, as well as providing solutions to potential problems in standard without needing them to fit thematically in a set. It is problematic that WotC believes that core sets are no longer necessary when players feel that they are.

I have sales, play, and market research data that says the players don’t think it’s all that important.

Un-Rules question =) What happens if I control Gisela, the Broken Blade, and change ____'s name to Bruna, the Fading Light? Do they successfully meld at the end of my turn, even though ____ doesn't have a backside? Gisela's effect specifically says that I only need "a creature named Bruna, the Broken Blade" for it to work, am I right?

No, you also need the backside.

We are getting 10-20 new non-evergreen keywords every year? And we all hope the game will live for another 28 years at least. And even today you can see players, not only beginners, mix up fading and vanishing, forgetting that the opposing gargadon gets hast after the last time counter. When a card has no space issues (Chatterstorm?), the potential downsides of not having that little italic line of text become huge. And with every year it's more of a mental burden, for enfranchised players too.

The main versions - which accounts for 98+% of all copies of the card - have the reminder text. We’re talking about the booster fun versions that will be seen by a tiny portion of the audience, mostly enfranchised people.

Also, given how much love there is for Theros (and how much stuff is still left to cover), was there ever a plan to make it a two-set visit again? I for one wouldn't be opposed to it, specially if it gave us more gods/titans and (still holding up to my fading hope for) lore.

We can return, but this was always planned as a single set visit.

You've often talked about Vanishing being a fixed Fading. Now that both exist, though, do you consider it a mistake since more casual players now can run into either mechanic? Doesn't adding Fading cause more confusion in a world where Vanishing could be just as prevelent?

We design for the future more than for the past.

Just saw the posts saying Vanishing was a fix for Fading. What was broken on it? I played Nemesis when released and the local players in my city (which I know, it's just anecdotical) never had issues to understand how it worked.

Many players thought that the Fading cards left when you removed the last counter rather than when you couldn’t remove a counter. The former is a lot more intuitive.

I love downside mechanics like echo and fading. Are these kind of mechanics (generally) on a swinging pendulum or are they more like a some times food?

Downside mechanics have historically always tested poorly included the two you name.

There are minor changes between Fear and Intimidate/Chroma and Devotion/Fading and Vanishing. Have we had a name change without a mechanical change?

I don’t think so.Anyone?

If we ever saw Aetherborn on another plane, could they have the Vanishing mechanic?

Possibly. Note that Vanishing/Fading have never been all that popular.