Hey mark! I enjoyed your alphabet podcast, but I might have another one for you. When guilds of Ravnica came out, R&D referred to the nightveil predator cycle of cards as costing CCDD. Does that give you an entry for D?

D moved to N when C moved to M. Now the translated version of that sentence. We used to use C to mean any colored mana, so if we were making a tight cycle (all the cards have the same mana value) where all the costs cost two generic mana and one colored mana, we’d write it as 2C. If we were making a cycle of two-colored multicolor cards, we’d use D for the second color. For example, if it was a tight cycle with two generic mana and one of two different colored mana, we’d write it as 2CD.But then Oath of the Gatewatch came out and we introduced colorless mana in costs. We needed a letter for that, so we used C for colorless. That meant we had to change the old usage of C as it would make a cost of 2C ambiguous. We changed from C to M to mean any colored mana. When we changed it to M, we changed the secondary color to N as N follows M like D followed C.

What was your favorite mechanic from Guilds of Ravnica or Ravnica Allegiance?

Debt counters. Too bad we didn’t print it. : (

Hi Mark. One of the concerns I have had for future sets is that there aren't any sets that take place on the same plane i.e. a plane that takes place over multiple sets. This makes it feel like the planes don't get enough time to be fleshed out and that it feels too much like we're jumping back and forth between planes too quickly. Is this a common concern or do most people prefer the variety of moving between a lot of different settings?

The message that we got loud and clear during the block era was that players generally don’t like staying on the same plane. We do on occasion though stay on the same plane for two or more sets (Guilds of Ravnica/Ravnica Allegiance/War of the Spark, Innistrad: Midnight Hunt/Innistrad: Crimson Vow, Dominaria United/The Brother’s War).

I’m really liking how MKM is being handled as a Ravnica backdrop set. I feel you guys did a great job of setting expectations this time around. If going into spoiler season I was expecting a true multicolor set, I’d be disappointed with the multicolor presence. Instead, I’m pleasantly surprised. This was a great way to return to Ravnica. It feels like Ravnica, but it feels fresh. I love Ravnica, but it was beginning to feel stale during GRN/RNA. This makes me look forward to future backdrop sets.

Happy to hear that.

Can you give another example besides LCI of a set vision design handed over that ended up radically different once set design was done?

Guilds of Ravnica and Ravnica Allegiance changed a lot from the mechanics handed off from vision design. Adventures in the Forgotten Realms also went through a lot of changes in set design.

I assume that it’s mostly just coincidence, but of the 10 Paruns who founded the guilds of Ravnica, six of them have a card (Azor, Razia, Szadek, Niv-Mizzet, Obzedat, and Rakdos) and the four that don’t (Svogthir, Cisarzim, Mat’Selesnya, and Biomancer Simic) are the ones with green in their color identity. Is there a particular reason you can think of why none of these four have a card? What are the chances of us ever getting cards to represent them?

I think it’s about whether or not they’re still alive as all the Ravnica sets have been in the present day.

So is Camaraderie from GRN a bend/break?

It’s a little more bend than when it was printed.

When you last tried Splice, do you consider another card type to too(like Arcane but not Arcane?) to limit its abuse?

We tried splice onto instant for Izzet in Guilds of Ravnica. EDIT: I forgot Modern Horizons 1 made some.

What do you think about creatures having the "Splice onto Instant or Sorcery" ability?

It was the Izzet mechanic for a short time in Guilds of Ravnica. It has repetition of play issues.

Hey Mark,As a huge fan of original Kamigawa block, I have really mixed feelings about NEO. The story, aesthetic, and mechanics - all of the individual components, in a vacuum, are all really cool. But it doesn't feel like a Kamigawa set. It feels so focused on the tech vs tradition theme that a big part of what makes Kamigawa, the kami, got tossed to the side or just left to be references peppering the set. To me, this is like releasing just War of the Spark, without GRN and RNA before it, and calling that a return to Ravnica.

I get that people interpret what Kamigawa means to them differently, so if this feels less Kamigawa to you, I get it. The reason there’s less of a Kami feel is that the main storyline is different. The original trip was about a war between the humans and the spirits. As such, the Kami played a larger role. This time, the story isn’t focused on that, so the Kami exist at a lower level.