Game Balance

Red and Game Restrictions

Since white likes to make restrictions such as "cast only one spell per turn," is there any design space in red for the ability to ignore such restrictions?

Breaking rules set up to protect game balance is risky.

Design Space Game Balance Red Rules White

Request for Card Errata

Hello, Mark, quick request: I'd like you errata the Outlaw batch to include Wizards effective immediately, and I'd also like you premptively errata all Lizard Warlocks in Bloomburrow into Lizard Wizards.This might have some unforseen play balance concerns and it would be tremendously confusing to have so many new cards not do what they say, but look at the upside: "Lizard Wizard" rhymes.Please and thank you.

If only creature types rhyming was a higher priority for R&D. : )

Appreciation Batches Bloomburrow Creatures Errata Game Balance Humor Lizards Warlocks

Energy on ETB Balancing

Is there a mechanical reason why most cards (especially in MH3) that give Energy on ETB give 2 Energy instead of just 1?

I assume for game balance.

Enter The Battlefield Game Balance Modern Horizons 3

Nonbasic Hate Balance

Re: Mass nonbasic hate in standard and pioneer pretty please with a cherry on topI have read the threads from my previous questions, and I now understand why most of the extreme nonbasic hate cards, stuff like blood moon, back to basics, or ruination, can feel oppressive against decks with 2 or even 1 color, which is obviously not the goal of such cards. I do want to ask now, as question of curiosity more than a specific request: what kinds of things make hate cards go too far? Whether it be blood moon or rest in peace or engineered plague; at what point does a hate piece cause too much collateral damage (like blood moon), or at what point is the punishment so severe that it can fully lock some decks out of the game (like Rest in Peace). Where is the sweet spot, how do you know you’ve found it, and what kinds of knobs do you turn to help get there? I know that’s way more than one question and might be better suited as an article, but I’d still be fascinated to hear about it.

It’s just yet another reason why play balance is so difficult. Not enough and it’s not effective. Too much and it has impacts you don’t want. Mostly it’s a lot of trial and error in playtesting, and then some finger crossing.

Back to Basics Basics Blood Blood Moon Collateral Damage Colors Engineered Plague Game Balance Pioneer Playtesting Rest in Peace Ruination Standard Trial and Error

Control Effects Balance

Is there a reason most donate and exchange control effects, especially in recent years, only do creatures? Similarly, is there a reason that almost every exchange control effect requires that the permanents share a card type?

It’s a safety valve for play balance.

Card Types Creatures Donate Exchange Game Balance Permanents

Mana-Based Ward Shift

I may be misremembering, but I feel like you mentioned in the past that mana-based Ward costs would be for White, Blue, and Green, whereas life, discard, and sacrifice-based Ward costs would be for Black and Red. However, we've recently seen Gisa, the Hellraise as a mono-black card with a mana-based Ward cost. Did I completely fabricate this rule, or has design shifted?

That’s where we started. We found mana-based ward just plays better, so we now allow black and red access to it when necessary for play balance reasons.

Black Blue Discard Fabricate Fabricate Game Balance Green Red Rules Ward White

Treasure Tokens vs Mana

Sometimes users who play other card games mention land accidents in Magic, and I see the beauty of the game in covering this uncertainty with deckbuilding and playing. (It could even allow a beginner just starting out to beat a pro player.)In the current Magic, I have the impression that the treasure tokens are able to follow up against mana screws, but seeing that more and more of them are coming out tapped these days, I wonder if it is still difficult to adjust this area? (I think it is necessary to avoid land accidents, and it is also important to avoid excessive mana acceleration.)

Treasure entering tapped is a play balance tool. Getting the right balance with mana is tricky, but important.

Beginners Game Balance Lands Mana Tokens Treasure

Debt Counters Explained

Since you mentioned them, would you mind reminding us what debt counters were and why they were eventually pulled?

Debt counters were counters you gave to a player (you could be that player if it helped you get something cheaper or stronger). Then at the beginning of the end step, you could pay some amount of mana to get rid of the counters. I think it was pay 2, but that knob could be adjusted for play balance. Then if you have any debt counters left, you lost 1 life (total not per debt counter). You tended to ignore them in the early game, but soon started being your focus. They played well, but didn’t link easily with other themes, which is something important for a faction set.

Factions Game Balance Mana

Mana Payment Limitation

Mark: please reconsider using mana payments instead of "once per turn" as a limiter. Shields down tension is interesting and mana costs are more a natural part of the game.

The problem is when we only want you to use it once for game balance reasons, mana doesn’t prevent that.

Game Balance Mana Once Per Turn

Black's Final Fortune

Can black not get final fortune because of the color pie or due to design concerns with the effect?

Color pie, for sure. Play balance, possibly.

Black Color Pie Final Fortune Game Balance

Battle Commander Flavor

"If. What’s the flavor?" (Regarding a Battle card as a commander)Hi Mark,As a game designer, I think your one of your most important goals should be to create designs that play well mechanically speaking that players enjoy playing with. Someone who wants to play with a Battle as a commander likely wants to do so for mechanical game play reasons, not flavor reasons.Similarly, more 4 color commanders being hard to justify with flavor shouldn't be the primary reason they are very seldom created even though there is immense demand for them.There's no flavor justification for Cycling or Kicker but they are deciduous mechanics that play very well and are extremely popular. They are examples of good game design even though one could dismiss them by saying "What's the flavor?" A hardcore Vorthros player might dismiss or dislike mechanics like Cycling and Kicker for that reason but that definitely shouldn't stop you from making designs mechanics.If you have this mentality with things like "mill", "kicker", and "cycling" and it is successful, I don't understand why you can't do other things that would lead to interesting gameplay even if it isn't a perfect flavor homerun?

Thoughts?

Intuition is a key part of good game design. You want things to play as the audience expects them to play. Flavor is an important part of that. If the flavor contradicts the card’s function, it will make players play it wrong. Some mechanics are light on flavor, so you can get away with lots of hand-waving. What does kicker represent? It doesn’t really matter. It doesn’t evoke flavor in a way that will create false expectations. Commanders, by definition, are very flavorful. We can do weird things with them, but because they are so steeped in flavor, we have to be conscious of what the flavor will be, so we can design it such that players will assume the right things about its mechanical function. In short, flavor matters in some places mechanically more than others.One last thing, the reason we don’t do lots of four-color cards is all about design and play balance, and very little about flavor.

Battles Colors Commander Cycling Deciduous Evoke Flavor Four Color Game Balance Game Design Game Play Kicker Mechanics Mill Primary

Non-Land Basic Supertype

If when a non land with the basic supertype

If. Basic lands meaning five specific things is important for play balance and tournament rules.

Game Balance Lands Rules Supertype

Restrictions Balance

Really enjoyed your restrictions podcast. I wondered what you think about restrictions where its possible to find ways around them, vs harder ones. E.g. tapping is similar to a "once a turn" clause, but there's ways to untap, which can lead to building combo decks around that. Whereas (so far) there's no way to make a "once a turn" effect happen more than once a turn

There are a lot of competing goals. Having means to work around something is nice, but is less important than other things like play balance or differentiating colors.

Colors Drive to Work Game Balance Once Per Turn Tap / Untap

Delve Mechanic Future

"Delve has significant play balance issues." Do you think like how discovery is a fixed/adjusted version of Cascade, we could one day see one such version of delve?

It’s a possibility.

Cascade Delve Game Balance Mechanics

Delve in LCI

Was delve ever considered for LCI due to its association with dungeon diving, whether as a one off or general theme in either the main set or commander set?

Delve has significant play balance issues.

Commander Delve Game Balance The Lost Caverns of Ixalan

Improving Cascade

"It's a brilliant way to balance Cascade." Cascade needed improvement? Do you feel this way, Mark?

Cascade had a number of play balance and rules confusion issues that discovery fixes.

Cascade Game Balance Rules

Dogmeat Partner Exclusion

Any particular reason that Dogmeat doesn't have Partner?

For play balance reasons, we’re trying not to use partner. (Partner with is still available though.)

Game Balance Partner

Commander Enchantments Return?

Any plans to bring back backgrounds/commander enchantments? I think they're a really mechanic to build with!

Partner mechanics, especially mix-and-match ones, have huge play balance issues.

Backgrounds Commander Enchantments Game Balance Mechanics Partner

Proliferate vs Antiliferate

We’ve had proliferate, when are we going to get antiliferate?

Proliferate is building up your own stuff, so it’s something you can build around. Removing opponents stuff is frustrating and you can’t build around it. Removing your own stuff is usually messing with play balance. We also don’t want to remove poison counters as the inability to remove them is core to their mechanical identity.

Game Balance Poison Proliferate

Casual Play Balance

With commander and casual play in general being how almost all players interact with the game system does overall game balance matter less than it has in other eras of design, and how does that effect vision design if at all?

“Almost all players” is a gross overstatement. Yes, we believe Commander is the most popular tabletop formats, but 1) it’s a minority of Magic play when compared to all the other formats in all the various the ways to play, and 2) the vast majority of players don’t even technically play a format, meaning they are unaware that formats exist and adjust their deck building accordingly. They play with what they own, with no restrictions.With that out of the way. Game balance matters even in casual play because people want a fair game regardless of the stakes involved. For example, R&D added a second play design team, one focused specifically on casual play, and they spend a lot of time worrying about play balance, just focused on a different set of cards than the competitive play design team.From a vision design standpoint, we very much think about and care that Commander exists as a format, but in the context that any set we make has a wide swath of an audience to appeal to. We want every premier set to appeal to a Commander player just as much as to a Standard player or a Modern player or a Pioneer player or a booster draft player.

Boosters Casual Play Commander Competitive Play Draft Formats Game Balance Modern Pioneer Play Design Premier Sets Standard Vision Design