I agree. It is only the cards printed in Japan that are backwards in the booster and it does decrease the enjoyment of opening the pack substantially. It seems like since only one printer is backwards it should be an easy fix! To many people it doesn't matter but when a lot of the enjoyment you get from magic is the suspense of opening, it does. Probably a minority opinion, but something that could be fixed pretty easily.

I keep saying this. It’s not as easy a fix as you think.

Hi mark. There were a few people who had commented on the technology and aesthetic of Duskmourne and how it feels too close to the present, referencing planes like Capenna or Neo-kamigawa as other examples of modernity in Magic’s fantasy setting. Because I am the main character and my opinion is the most important one, I thought I’d give my two cents on the topic.Although kamigawa and capenna are obviously more “modern” than a plane like innistrad, they still don’t feel like “now”. By definition, sci-fi is not modern. Although Neon kamigawa doesn’t feel like high fantasy, it doesn’t feel “modern” to me either, it’s too far in the future. In the opposite direction, Capenna feels too far in the past to feel “modern”. Yeah, arc spitter is a Tommy gun and the treasure token is a martini glass, but it still doesn’t feel like the present. My grandpa wasn’t even born until after the end of prohibition. Time period Capenna is based on was literally a century ago. Sure the aesthetic isn’t as far back in history as the aesthetic of a knight in shining armor, but it’s still far enough back that it feels like “another time”, at least to me. I think the reason those two planes pass the vibe check is because they feel different enough from modern day. TV’s have existed since the late 1920’s, so it would have been historically accurate if the plane themed around 1920s America had TVs. but that still *feeeeeels* wrong. The vibes are off. Yeah sci fi japan would probably have cell phones or something, but that just feels wrong. In other words, fantasy (to me) isn’t about looking like lord of the rings, it’s about NOT looking like everyday life.This is where Duskmourne comes in. I wasn’t alive in the 70’s or 80’s. Heck, I’m so young that my parents hadn’t even met until after homelands came out. But the 70’s and 80’s feels like modern day. Screaming nemesis and cursed recording have TVs in their art. The booster fun frame looks like it would be on a ghostbusters poster. I feel like I saw my baby cousin wearing the exact same outfit as Toby just the other day. The term “fear of missing out” is just such a modern day thing, even if that concept isn’t new. I’m withholding my judgement until I see the whole set, but based on what we’ve seen so far, I (somewhat) agree with the sentiment a lot of Duskmourne feels too “real”. I’m sure more detail will be given closer to release, but I would be really interested in learning the whole process of how y’all built this world, even more interested than I would be with any other plane.

We’re trying something new. Some people seem to like it, some don’t. Time will show whether it was overall a good idea. I will say we need time to better gauge it. There are a lot of very popular Magic things that had an initial negative opinion.

This might not be something you know off the top of your head, but was NEO popular in Japan?

It was.

Hey Mark, I was reading the Rabiah scale article and was a bit sad to see New Capenna had a low popularity among players. It's my favorite plane, so I have a bit of a bias. I was wondering if you knew what players disliked about it? Was it because of the limited environment? Were the cards just weak overall in the set? Or did players just not like modern concepts in magic lore? (That last one I struggle to believe because of the popularity of NEO, but that could just be because of Japanese culture)

I can’t always explain the why of the data.

Hello, mark.（My native language is Japanese. I use machine translation. I may be using incorrect English.）
I've been buying MTG since "Wilds of Eldraine". I like Kellan. I liked how he got closer to the people he met on his journey and how he changed his clothes. I heard that Kellan's journey ends with "OUTLAWS OF THUNDER JUNCTION". Will we be able to meet Kellan again? I want to see more of him.
I'm not very sociable so I'm not good at card games. MTG is great because you can enjoy the beautiful pictures and story. I'm grateful to all the people involved. Thank you.

I think we’ll see Kellan again.

With regards to the pronunciation of Gisa and Geralf, I don't know how "official" other translations of Magic cards are for this purpose, but Japanese is a language with unambiguous phonetics and it uses hard Gs for both of them. (ギサ and ゲラルフ )

FYI

Duel Masters in the west if/when. C'mon Mark, third time's the charm, put in a good word for us western fans. We'd even be happy with a translation of the japanese digital client.

If. One burned, twice shy, thrice super hesitant.

Even tho I'm very happy with the dive into deeper mesoamerican culture inspired lore. I'm extremely dissapointed by the inclusion of Incan lore into the mix. It feels like it was all meshed together "because they're latam, they're the same/similar" and I was hoping for a South American inspired plane in the future. Feels like mixing chinese and japanese cultures "cuz they're asian", and I couldn't feel less forgotten as a South American myself. Any chances of getting a proper South American inspired plane anytime?

It is on the “short” list.

I've always been a big fan of the alternate arts found in japanese boosters of some sets, so I'm extremely happy to see them available in english boosters, but also in set boosters as well! (I was worried they'd be collector only.) Please high five whoevers responsible for this for me :)

Will do!

Hi Mark! Since the preorder of WOE has begun, I'd like to make sure if the anime borderless cards can be found in non-Japanese boosters. If I'm understanding the article released a few days ago correctly, I suppose they are can be found in any kind of boosters, regardless of language?

I asked Mike Turian, the product architect for Wilds of Eldraine. Here’s what he said:“There are Borderless Anime Enchanting Tales cards in Set, Draft and Collector Boosters. Japanese boosters will receive Japanese language versions. All other languages of boosters will have English language versions. We will have full information shared around this in our upcoming Collecting Wilds of Eldraine article in a couple of weeks.”