Hey Mark, I was wondering something about lesser loved mechanics. One of my favorite mechanics of all time is Ingest - a nd while I doubt it'll happen, I loved to see it (or a fixed/powered up version) make a return. Does the team ever try and look back at these mechanics and try and make better or "fixed" versions? If so, how often? And can I get a maybe on Ingest eventually get a redo (maybe exiling cards equal to damage dealt)?

We do occasionally redo mechanics. Discover in The Lost Caverns of Ixalan is a recent example. What do I think ingest’s chances are? Honestly, not high, but it’s possible.

I am reading Ethan Fleischer's "A First Time for Everything" article and he mentions that, while trying to make a mechanic for Kozilek's brood that was distinct from Ulamog's ingest+process mechanic, they tried a lot of different mechanics to capture Kozilek's physics-warping nature. They were interesting, but none were deep enough, so they became abilities and the main mechanic became using {C}. Do you know what any of those mechanics were? Would you describe some of them?

I was on the design team, but that is a long time ago with a lot of designs since. I don’t remember.

“Blue can’t remove creatures unless it then replaces them with another creature”. Firstly, I wholehearedly disagree and think you're playing "Excuses for me and not for Thee". Secondly, explain Phyrexian Ingester.

I respect that you disagree with how we’ve chosen to position blue’s portion of the color pie, but it is how we’ve chosen to do it. And it’s been this way for almost the entirety of the game. No argument with my in this blog is going to change that, but I do enjoy your passion.As for Phyrexian Infester. It’s a break. Blue shouldn’t remove an opponent’s creature to make itself bigger. If the card requires you to exile your own creature, it would be okay in blue.

About Battle for Zendikar block... You couldn't even remember Ingest as part of the Processors theme (not complaining, just to show how little resonant it was). Devoid has gotten a negative feedback because it doesn't do anything by itself. WHAT IF they had been the same keyword? (kiiiiind of like the process of how Infect came to be, fusing Wither with Poison.) I understand it would've been an entirely different concept for the block, but still.

I have no idea how to combine those two elements into a cohesive singular thing. Also, you would be taking a major simple theme and making it significantly more complicated. The actual solution to devoid was writing it out and not keywording it because it was the expectations of a keyword that caused the problem. Players reported that they liked how it played.

Can I get a maybe that the Gitrog Monster eats Gideon and takes his place on the Gatewatch? This would get rid of the least interesting man in the multiverse, create that nonhumanoid planeswalker people are asking for, and add black mana to the team. Plus I'm sure there are all sorts of probably plane threatening things for the Gitrog to control and ingest on other worlds.

A bold suggestion.

About green in BFZ... I have to respectfully disagree its low power was all a development problem. In a synergy-heavy format, it lacked the same Ally support as R/W/B or the Ingest/Process synergy of U/B/R. Isn't that more of a design issue?

No, it is not. Balance of volume is also development’s domain.

How come we can't eat the delicious cards, but Ingest, a mechanic all about eating the delicious cards, is ok?

When the Eldrazi eat them in the story, they’re not cards. Also, Eldrazi tend to ignore lawyers. Actually, the Eldrazi probably eat lawyers.

Ulamog's brood had Ingest-was an actual mechanic ever considered for Kozilek's brood, or did you think it'd be easier/more flavourful/less boring to give Kozilek's brood all these weird, unique abilities?

Kozilek’s peeps use colorless mana as a cost.

"The way it was explained to me was Kozilek warps physics and Emrakul warps biology." What does Ulamog do? Just consume/ingest/exile/process?

Ulamog eats things.

I have a question about the Oath of the Gatewatch spoilers. Wastes are a new type of basic land that produce colorless mana, and Kozilek and I assume other Eldrazi brood in OOG must be cast utilizing mana produced from Wastes or other colorless sources (if they have the Waste-looking mana symbol in their costs). Why was this only applied to Kozilek and I assume other Eldrazi brood in OOG, and not to Ulamog? It seems weird to only apply it to one half of the set.

It’s a Kozilek thing. Ingest and Processors were an Ulsmog thing. Different Eldrazi work a bit differently.