Does Bloomburrow’s lighter emphasis on more creature types set a precedent for how sets with more typal themes will be treated in the future? I think I remember you claiming that Lorwyn’s typal density created balance and draft issues, which Bloomburrow’s lighter focus seems to solve.

The big lesson of Bloomburrow is Innistrad is a better model for typal sets than Lorwyn.

Is the Ubiquitous Token of a plane something we should expect from visit to visit? Like, how Capenna has its gw citizens, Innistrad has black decayed zombies, LTR had orc armies [applicable to some silmarillion-based visit, I guess]I was looking at the Fish tokens in Bloomburrow and Mercenaries in otj and wondering if those were also more Worldbuilding statements or not.

It’s a mechanical tool that adds flavor, and something we definitely use when shaping a set.

How was it decided for RTR to be the cutoff point for pioneer? I think around that time period was probably about right in order to achieve the intended goal of the format, but I’m curious why/how it was decided to be RTR block specifically as opposed to innistrad or theros or something else around that time

Play design spent a lot of time looking at all the options. Return to Ravnica ended up being their first choice for what it allowed and what it kept out.

Was it intentional to have Duskmourn release exactly 13 years after OG Innistrad?

Let’s say yes. : )

When Duskmourn comes out, can you talk about the design and trope differences between it and Innistrad?

Sure.

You said Duskmourn and Innistrad would likely be spaced out, are there any other planes you'd probably not do back to back?

We tend to change up the feel between sets, so back-to-back sets that have a similar tone are usually avoided.

For what it is worth, I get where everyone who is talking about "crossing the line" is coming from. They have an image of what Magic is, and Duskmourn doesn't fit that.However, I am of the belief that if Magic just played in the same high fantasy space all the time, the game would be missing something important. Having different planes that play by different creative rules gave us great planes like Innistrad, Eldraine, and Theros that would not exist if you all just played it safe.Does that mean everyone has to be happy about Duskmourn, no. Am I happy with Duskmourn?Yes, actually! I am excited to play with glitch ghosts, slasher monsters, possessed toys, and all kinds of other weird monsters that can't exist on other planes. This is the kind of genre space that I am very interested in.

The way I like to state it is think of your all time favorite set. The one that defines what Magic can and should be. The one that just makes you smile thinking about it. Every set is that for someone.

For what it’s worth, I actually think the biggest issue with Duskmourn isn’t the “modern” stuff, so much as Magic’s trend towards so many cards representing a genre trope, often literally by name. That said, it’s really exacerbated by the modern setting, which is unusual territory and thus feels like it’s there only to really ensure those tropes and references are as blunt as possible, rather than being a part of a cohesive world.A third factor that really makes this not gel for me is that modern horror relies on a threat that is anomalous and unique to be scary. Innistrad made a world full of Frankensteins and Draculas into a believable ecosystem, and I just don’t know that I can get there with a world full of Jasons, Freddys, Samaras, etc.All of this is to say, I would be a bit disappointed if this setting does poorly and the takeaway is just “no more tennis shoes.” I know there’s an audience for the tropey cards, but it feels like they’ve become so numerous and so blunt that it’s overshadowed the world building and left me far less curious and excited about new planes than I used to be. Generally, a magic plane with more modern technology and culture intrigues me, but when it’s just a vehicle for references I lose interest.

Please read the Planeswalkers Guide to Duskmorn:

Planeswalker’s Guide to DuskmournIt is very much a carefully thought out and crafted world.

Hey Mark, I just wanted to say you've always seemed like a really cool guy. I've played magic for over 4/5ths of my life, since the early 2000s when I was only five years old, I even met most of my long time friends through it. But I think I finally feel alienated enough by it to drop it entirely.I always enjoyed every aspect of this game, from the deckbuilding, to the flavor, to the color pie and the possibilities it presented. I loved the fantasy of it, of planeswalkers and wizards, dragons and castles.Universes Beyond really was the end of it, all the way back then. When i heard the announcements I was terrified, I knew where it would lead even then. I loved the world of Magic, and it feels silly to say about a card game but I truly felt immersed in the world when I played, even with the different planes, everything cohered to an internal set of rules that seemed unbreakable.For a while I continued, our local scene created a variant format that banned Universes Beyond cards so I was able to ignore them, but then came Neon Dynasty. It felt strange to me, like it was breaking what I had come to expect out of the game. Most people disagreed, said it was still Magic enough, but I wondered just how far it would be pushed before Magic lost any identity of its own, anything that separated it from Fortnite or any other crossover soup known entirely for the things it borrows rather than the things it is.When I saw the first spoilers for Duskmourn, I think that was the straw that broke the camel's back. When I play at the table with my friends, I enjoy the fact that all the cards feel like part of one larger universe. And when I see cards with televisions and smartphones in them, with modern clothing and internet references, I just can't fit them together in my mind. It seems like a cool world, much like a lot of the crossovers are cool worlds, but I play Magic for well... Magic. If I wanted to play Fallout or Warhammer 40k, or watch Insidious or Walking Dead, then I would. But when I play Magic, I want to see magic.And it's canon, just as canon as Innistrad or Alara. We can't excise it like we can Universes Beyond, and if we can't, then what's even the point of trying to "protect the tone" with those bans? What tone are we protecting, that's already been shattered from within?More and more it feels like the game just isn't for me, doesn't want the kind of player that feels strongly about cohesion and immersion. And that's fine, it doesn't have to cater to me, and the current approach seems to bring in more people than it drives away. But it still just makes me sad, on a deep personal level, to give up on what has been such a major part of my life.In all likelihood, I'm an outlier, and you could easily say that Magic getting even broader in what it covers is only a positive thing. Take my critiques only as the lamentations of a single person. But when you can put anything in a piece of media, when there's no unifying idea of what is and isn't possible, then it just starts to feel meaningless.I'm sorry, I know you'll probably never read this, I mostly just needed to get it off my chest- and you're the closest thing to a human face Magic the Gathering has. Thank you for all the work you've put into it over the years, and I'm sorry that I can't enjoy it anymore.

Thanks for writing. From a big picture, Magic excels at creating variety and does poorly at consistency. The core idea of a trading card game is we make lots and lots of pieces you can play with and then you, the player, customize your game as you see fit. History has shown us, the wider we spread the potential of what Magic can be, the more people find something they enjoy and are attracted to the game. Think of it this way. Each player has a different sense of what Magic is to them. There’s no cutoff point where we make the majority of players happy. In fact, for many players, it’s the ever-expanding quality to the game that they enjoy most.This does mean though that we might make choices that don’t connect with what you personally enjoy, and I respect that. If Magic isn’t providing what you want out of it, that’s okay. My only recommendation is don’t get rid of your cards. Many Magic players rotate in and out of the game, and the number one complaint I hear from players who rotate back in is them having gotten rid of everything when they rotated out. Magic might not be what you need right now, but maybe a few years from now you’ve changed in ways which makes it something you will enjoy. Or maybe Magic will evolve in a way that speaks to you. The only constant I know is you and Magic will both change. Just leave yourself the possibility of reconnecting. Thanks for playing all these years, and I hope to see you again.

Would you try and space out Duskmourn and Innistrad or try and have them closer due to how much synergy they have

I don’t think we’d currently do two horror themed sets back to back.