Before my birthday is over, I would love to invoke my right of trivia!Anything about my favorite part of Magic's world, the Love Song of Night and Day? Or if not, Mirage in general? (I fell in love with Magic when I found my parents' old collection of Mirage and 4th Edition, making me probably the youngest grumpy old magic player to ever shake their fist at these new confangled planeswalker cards)

The Love Song of Night and Day was a poem written by Jenny Scott when she was an editor on Magic. Pieces of it were used on flavor text in Mirage block. I would later read the poem at a wedding at a Magic Grand Prix. We would also eventually making a Saga that referenced it.Happy Birthday!

Hi, Mark.
Is it possible that something like a third expansion will be added to the Mirage block, just like Cold Snap was added to the Ice Age block over time? (since Weatherlight is like episode zero of the Rath cycle) (although I have a feeling Prophecy is the third)

Weatherlight was still the third block of the Mirage block. It does have flanking and phasing cards in it.

Birthday ritual trivia question: Zhalfir and Kaervek returning have brought up some mirage nostalgia, and my favorite lost creature type: Nightstalkers. Are they high enough on the beeble scale that we could actually see them again?

I’d say not super high. Let me demonstrate:

Have you ever played with a Nightstalker?YesNoSee Results

Ok, I gotta know. What was the name of the card with upside-down art you talked about on your Designing To Art podcast? I checked all the burn spells in Mirage, and a bunch of cards with Avens in them, and I couldn’t find a card that matched your description

That’s because I named the wrong set. It was Odyssey, not Mirage. Here’s the card:

Hey mark? I think my birthday trivia got lost, I sent it two days ago. I wanted trivia about my favorite Planeswalker, ma boi Teferi.

Teferi first appeared in the Mirage block story. He then played a role in the Urza’s Saga story which took place in the past when Teferi was a young student. He lost his spark in the Mending, leaving an open-ended storyline we didn’t resolve until March of the Machine.Happy Belated Birthday!

What is your favourite black-border Magic art of all time?

Probably the original Maro by Stuart Griffin (in Mirage).

Mark, What was the first set designed for draft? some side questions: Was there a version of draft designed for before the 3 pack per person 8 person pod? What did it look like? By which set did you think R&D had really figured out how to design for draft? ( I assume it took a set or two…. Lol) I guess same questions for sealed (6 packs) as well…Thanks,
eric

Mirage was the first set developed for draft. Tempest was the first set designed from the beginning for draft.

Birthday trivia! Can I have some obscure trivia on Teferi?

Teferi first appeared in the Mirage story, but he was a planeswalker and at the time we didn’t make cards for planeswalkers, so we referenced him by name in titles and showed him in art, but he didn’t get a card. Years later we were making the Commander 2014 decks and finally found a slot to make a card for him. Happy Birthday!

Hi Mark, in your opinion which set is the first design to draft?
Thanks.

Mirage was the first Magic set which was developed/balanced with limited in mind.

I thought a recent core set pushed phasing up to deciduous, but your latest storm scale article said it was a nine. Was I mistaken, or did something happen?

Phasing - I disappear and reappear every other turn (aka the mostly creature ability from Mirage block) is a 9.Phasing out - I sort of disappear for a turn is deciduous. I’m going to change the designation in future Storm Scale articles in that difference is subtle.