Following up on my "magic for beginners" question. I think jumpstart is great, but I'm envisioning a set that exists in a way that can add complexity for each level. Like you break out the set and it starts ok here are two 30 card decks with just creatures (and those creatures just have say, haste and flying), once you're good with that, you add in 10 sorcery cards that are easy to understand, then 10 enchantments, then 10 instants. I just feel like magic throws people in the deep end.

The interesting thing we’ve learned having explored this topic for over thirty years is players are more likely to continue playing if it’s a little above them, if they feel like there’s more things to learn. When we strip a lot of things out to simplify it, many players go, “That’s it?” and leave never to explore any deeper.

Slickshot Show-Off really didn't need +2/+0 for every noncreature spell for being a cheap creature with flying and haste. And what happened to abilities triggering only once each turn? This is ridiculous. Just give cheap creatures prowess and give something like this to more costlier creatures. We're past the Phyrexian arc, can we get back to a level of normalcy please?

It’s a rare costed for constructed formats. It gets to be very good in limited.

Invoking the sacred rite of birthday trivia, do you have any trivia about Cauldron Dance? It's always been my favorite reanimation spell.

One of the things I enjoy is taking two effects that reflect one another on some vector. I had made Sneak Attack in Urza’s Saga and numerous one shot reanimation spells. I realized if I made the Sneak Attack effect return to hand at end of turn instead of sacrificing it, the two effects would put a creature from that zone on the battlefield with haste and then, at end of turn, return them to the zone it came from.Happy Birthday!

Since people seem to be complaining about extra words in cards ("cycle or discard", etc.), I've always wondered about my favourite redundant words: "if able". (For instance, "CARDNAME attacks each combat if able.") The effect would be exactly the same (rules-wise) if it merely said "CARDNAME attacks each combat". But I do wonder how many players would misplay it as if it granted haste if it was written that way!

It helps clarify there are times it doesn’t attack, so it prevents some of that mistake.

Hi mark,I understand that aggro has its place in making sure games aren’t durdly but there’s just so much haste in standard that it feels like you can just throw them all in a deck and win. It’s especially prevalent in arena where you can blitz through games in minutes, and I just never feel like I see many other archetypes there these days. I know this is my anecdotal experience and I know that there are other decks out there. It just feels like mono red is making the environment unfun.
Thanks for listening.

Thanks for sharing. I do know there have been discussions lately about game speed.

I love the little shoutout with Cunning Coyote and Resilient Roadrunner. Is there an internal codename keyword for the Roadrunner’s “can only be blocked by creatures with haste” activated ability?

Not really. It’s the “Gingerbrute ability”.

Hello! When you have a "can't be blocked except by creatures with haste" effect as on Resilient Roadrunner, do you balance it as if it made the creature unblockable altogether? Or does it get discounted somewhat since haste is more common than, say, shadow or horsemanship?P.S.: Please distribute high fives for whoever's responsible for Prairie Dog (maybe it's you). I sent an ask maybe a year ago about expanding Magic's squirrel family, so I'm pretty pleased by this one.

It’s treated similar to can’t be blocked.High fives shall be delivered (not to me though).

Whatever happened to black haste? I noticed it's not mentioned in the recent Nuts & Bolts.

It’s still secondary in black, but used less often.

-- "Skeletons you control get +1/+0 and have haste.”-- Legendary Creature – Skeleton Spirit Pirate -- Creature – Dinosaur Skeleton Horror
Did you answer that question about Skeleton typal yesterday because you knew you'd hit us with this? Super excited already; dinosaur skeleton sounds particularly awesome. Great teasers!

: )

Re: the Goblin Guide ask, I think the asker just wants a 2/2 Haste for R without any other text. So, if/when on that?

If. A 2/2 for R, with no drawback, is already over the line.