Quick Gary-related question: Does R&D and other departments use community nicknames like "Gary" (Gray Merchant of Asphodel) and "Bob" (Dark Confidant) and so on internally in conversation and playtesting?

We use slang just like the players.

Mark, thanks for all you do for the magic fans out here. My birthday is the 21st and I would love some trivia about my favorite card Gray Merchant of Asphodel. I like to think his sack is full of tasty cards on the way to market.

Grey Merchant’s nickname is Gary. That was 100% fan generated. Few nicknames have become as popular or used. Happy Birthday!

After most block mechanics getting no more than two or three Standard relevant cards for a long time now, devotion appears to be making a stronger mark on the format, between the gods, Master of Waves, Gray Merchant of Asphodel and Fanatic of Mogis. How do you like this change from the usual and whose idea was it to make devotion a bigger player in Standard than block mechanics usually are?

Devotion has this quality that once one is good in your deck it increases the chances the other devotion cards of the same color are as well.

I noticed Gray Merchant of Asphodel and it made me curious. Since both spellings are accepted, is it always spelled "Gray" or have cards had "Grey" in the name or has it never been noticed?

I’m not 100% sure but I think the Magic spelling is “gray”. I didn’t realize that last week when I used “grey” in a “Tales from the Pit”.