Hey Mark, why was it decided to remove the draft and set the booster because of confusion amongst them, but putting value booster is better, is supposed to be a support for pauper/pauper commander?

You’re conflating two things that have nothing to do with one another. Draft boosters went away because the majority of the audience preferred set boosters. Play boosters were a way to keep the essence of set boosters while still providing limited play. All of that is mostly centered in local game stores. Value boosters are addressing a need of certain mass market stores to have Magic boosters at a lower price point. They are not a product the vast majority of enfranchised players will ever interact with, and their existence has nothing to do with organized play.

With the announcement that cards of a new set are now legal in constructed formats on the same day as the set's prerelease, what about the prerelease is "pre"? Are there plans to change the name of the prerelease event now that it's not "pre" anything?

Only stores that can run prereleases can sell product on that day. All other stores, including mass market stores, can’t sell it until the release date. So, it’s still pre.

Hello, Mark! It is my birthday. Can I get some trivia about a side project you worked on? Thanks!

Over twenty years ago, I made a mass market trading card game called Mood Swings. I’ve been trying to get it published ever since. I keep returning it and trying new avenues to get it made. One day…Happy Birthday!

"Local Game Stores (LGS) and Mass Market Stores are very different things. None of your examples are an LGS, they’re all Mass Market. I don’t have percentages, but I do know a decent chunk of players don’t live within a few hours of an LGS." I'm aware that LGS's and MMS's are not the same. Let me rephrase. Do you think more Magic cards are sold at LGS's or at MMS's?

MMSs (in America, at least), but that’s just because a larger group of players live closer (let’s say within an hour drive) of an MMS than a LGS. Local game stores are a super important part of Magic’s ecosystem, but a lot of players don’t live near one.

Hi, I’m relatively new to magic and I was wondering why the core sets are released a year early? It seems odd to me that we have a 2020 set released in 2019.

The Core Set is sold for a whole year, as it’s an introductory set, and mass market stores won’t carry a product with the previous year written on it.

Mood Swings? I'm afraid I don't get the reference.

I designed a mass market trading card game over twenty years ago and gave been trying to get Wizards to make it ever since. I’m very proud of the game’s design.

Hi Mark, why do Core Sets come out a year early? It seems especially weird that eg Core 2019 won't even be Standard legal for all of 2019.

They’re labeled that way so mass market stores will carry them for a full year.

I get why Core sets are labelled a year ahead, to extend their shelf life... so how come the same reasoning isn't used for Commander precons?

They don’t stay in mass market stores as long.

Hi Mark, why is it that Core Set 2019 is being released in 2018? Why not just name it Core Set 2018? Was it a result of sets being shuffled around, or was it planned that way? Thanks.

Mass market stores won’t carry products with outdated years in the product name. We want this core set to be in mass market stores for a year, so we have to do the car thing of labeling them a year ahead.

You told me to get back to you after Question Time was over, so I'm back to ask: Could you reveal all you're allowed to about Mood Swings? I'm super curious! :D

Mood Swings was a mass market trading card game I designed back in 1998. All the cards represent emotions, there’s no necessary deck building (you can just shuffle and play) and the average game is about five minutes long. It can support limited and “constructed” play. The game is well liked by many at Wizards but I’ve yet to convince anyone at Wizards to publish it.